Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

SHRIMP WITH LOBSTER SAUCE 

2 C brown rice

1lb shrimp, peeled, de-veined, tails off

1/2lb ground pork

Garlic

2C chicken stock (or broth and broth base),  heated

2T soy sauce

1T sugar

1C frozen peas

4C broccoli florets

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3T cornstarch

Green onions, chopped, for garnish

Cook brown rice. I prefer to do mine in the InstaPot. Instapot Brown Rice

Prepare shrimp: peel, devein, remove tails.

Trim and steam broccoli in the microwave, tightly covered, 5 minutes. Stir once during cooking. Dice green onions.

In a 4-cup measure, stir together broth, soy sauce, sugar, and peas. In a smaller measure, mix cornstarch and 1/4C water to create a slurry.

Beat eggs in a small bowl.

In a wok coated with pan spray, cook pork until golden. Add garlic and shrimp. Stir fry until shrimp are done.

Add the broth mixture. Heat to a slow boil. Add slurry. Stir until sauce thickens. Add eggs, stirring so they don’t clump. Add broccoli; stir until well mixed.

Serve over rice.

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: 330

Pumpkin Carbonara

Here you go with your annual fall reminder from Ashley that (despite Starbucks) PUMPKIN IS A SAVORY, not a SWEET!

Hence the post from two years ago,Browned Butter, Thyme, and Pumpkin Pasta, and now this post today.

This carbonara is a bit easier than browned butter - browned butter can be kind of tricky - plus I was hoping for something a little healthier, this time. Carbonara calls for bacon and eggs, of course, but I drained my bacon well and eggs are definitely healthier than butter!

You’ll see, just like in the browned butter pasta, I’m using spinach to cut the calories.

PUMPKIN CARBONARA

Six slices thick center-cut bacon

1lb pasta

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan 

3 eggs

Fresh rosemary 

Fresh spinach, wilted (that’s optional, of course)

In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp. As the bacon gets done, place it on paper towels to drain.

You can cook your pasta according to package directions while the bacon is cooking. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water (or more, if you want a thinner sauce) when you drain it.

Beat eggs in a small bowl or 4-cup measure while the pasta is cooking; add pumpkin, Parmesan, and rosemary. Blend well. Add 3/4C of the hot pasta water, stirring to thin out the sauce. Add more pasta water as needed.

Toss pasta with spinach, bacon, and sauce. Top with freshly ground black pepper and more Parmesan for serving.

Instapot Brussels sprouts

I didn’t make a real success out of the pumpkin carbonara, I must say - I never but NEVER remember to reserve a cup of pasta water when I drain it - but the Brussels did turn out well.

INSTAPOT BRUSSELS SPROUTS 

Ingredients: just Brussels and beef broth 

Brussels. As many as you want - as many as your Instapot will hold, maybe I should say. Trim them, you can halve them or leave them whole. Put them in the steamer basket of your Instapot. 

Pour a cup or so (I might’ve been closer to two cups) of beef broth over them. Instapot 5 minutes, quick release, and pull them out before they steam too much!

Shrimp-Stuffed Avocados

These made a great lunch! I added a few Quaker White Cheddar rice cakes for the whole grains, you can see, for a more balanced lunch. 

SHRIMP-STUFFED AVOCADOS

1/4C plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1T lime juice

2t mayonnaise

1t Dijon mustard

1 6oz can baby shrimp

2 avocados

Mix first five ingredients together.

Halve and pit the avocados. Scoop out a little extra avocado to make the hole for the shrimp larger and mash that into the shrimp filling.

Fill the avocados and enjoy!

Chicken Yakisoba

This is what my original recipe said about Yakisoba: 

"Yakisoba belongs on the stir-fried noodle dish Mount Rushmore. Yakisoba is an insanely popular dish that first started appearing in Japanese food stalls in the 1940's. When you think of soba noodles you may be reminded of the buckwheat noodles often served cold with a dipping sauce, but in Yakisoba, the noodles are made of wheat and resemble something similar to what you'd see in a lo mein."

Obviously, since we're gluten free here, we're not going to go with anything made out of wheat. I used the same noodles I use for a lo mein, which are the rice noodles from my local oriental market.

They worked great. This wound up tasting like seconds - and maybe even thirds!

CHICKEN YAKISOBA

14oz rice noodles (use yakisoba noodles, if you can find them and you're not GF)

12oz chicken breast, trimmed and cut into stir-fry size strips

3C broccoli florets

1/2 bag of shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix, found with the bagged salads)

Ingredients for Yakisoba sauce:

    4T Worcestershire sauce (Lea&Perrins is GF)

    2T soy sauce (Tamari is GF)    

    2T ketchup

    2T oyster sauce (Wok Mei is GF)

    1t sugar

Heat water to boiling on the stove or in an electric kettle. Pour water over rice noodles to cover, stir, and soak until soft and ready to eat (approximately 7 minutes, depending on the width of your noodles). 

While noodles are soaking, mix the ingredients for the yakisoba sauce together in a measuring cup or small bowl. Microwave your broccoli florets for 3 minutes. 

Drain noodles when they are done. 

Cover your wok with pan spray and add your chicken. Over medium high heat, stir fry your chicken until done. Remove chicken from wok. Add the broccoli and cabbage/carrots; stir fry until tender-crisp. Add chicken and noodles to the vegetables in the wok. Pour yakisoba sauce over the wok and stir until evenly distributed. 

Ashley’s Favorite Sauces: Lightened Summer ‘Alfredo’

That is, it’s not a real Alfredo at all (you can find that one here), but a lightened cream sauce with a touch of Parmesan and Neufchâtel for richer flavor.

Alfredo’s a pretty heavy sauce for hot summer days, and heavy on the calories as well. 

I put this over pasta, shrimp, and fresh steamed broccoli - and topped it with the two handfuls of oregano I wound up with when I was cutting back the herb garden this morning! 

LIGHTENED SUMMER ‘ALFREDO’

14oz chicken broth, bouillon, or broth base (Orrington Farms broth base is gluten free, and comes in both chicken and beef)

1 1/2 C milk, divided

2 T corn starch

4oz Neufchâtel cheese (low fat cream cheese)

3oz fresh Parmesan

Heat the chicken broth/water and broth base or bouillon in the microwave two minutes. (I use a four cup measure.) Add one cup of milk and stir.

In a smaller measuring cup, whisk together the other half cup of milk with two tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk together well.

Pour the milk/cornstarch slurry into the four cup measure and stir. Heat to boiling in the microwave, stirring every minute, until thickened.

Whisk in the Parmesan and Neufchâtel until melted. 

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

 I don’t often blog stir fries, because I never measure anything when I’m making them - never! - but I had my parents over for lunch today, and Mama wanted the recipe! So I’m going to give a stab at measurements. 

Stir fries are awesome for healthy weight loss, they really are - just watch the rice! Actually, when I was working on shedding my 100+ pounds, I’d often eat them without the rice, just the straight stir-fry for dinner. Lots of vegetables, lean protein, and minimal calories in the sauce - what could be better?

A couple notes on the ingredients:

Tamari soy sauce is gluten free, marked so. If you are cooking gluten free, watch out for the soy sauces - contrary to their name, they are usually made from wheat!

Rice vinegar is often sold ‘seasoned.’ That just means it has sugar and salt added. Buy the plain, and ‘season’ it yourself! The salt in the soy sauce and the honey are plenty enough for this recipe.

Get all your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking anything! That’s a hard-and-fast rule for any stir fry. You’re cooking over a pretty high heat, and everything is cut into bite sized pieces. You don’t have time to get anything else ready once you start heating that wok!

And a note on the wok: if you’re going to do stir-fries, you really need a wok. Nothing really cooks as a stir-fry in any other kind of pan. You need a good one, but even my very favorites are not expensive - I’ve fallen in love with the IKEA woks, and yes, you can order online and have them ship!

CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI STIR FRY

3 tablespoons + 1/4 cup soy sauce (I use the low-sodium Tamari, because it is gluten free)

2 tablespoons + 1/4 cup rice vinegar (plain, not seasoned!)

4 tablespoons corn starch, divided

1 pound (or so) chicken breast

4 teaspoons (or so) honey

6 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons ginger paste (such as Spice World, in the squeezable bottles)

6 cups (or so) broccoli florets

Any other vegetables you like, cut into bite size pieces (snow peas are a favorite of mine in stir fries)

Green onions or scallions, for garnish

Rice for serving, if you choose

Trim your chicken and cut it into bite size pieces. Place it in a gallon-sized ziplock bag with 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. ‘Zip’ the bag closed and squeeze the ingredients around until the chicken is well-coated and the marinade fully mixed. Place in the refrigerator while you prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Mix up the rest of the sauce in a one cup measure: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 4 teaspoons or so of honey (use more if you want it sweeter, of course), and 2 heaping tablespoons of corn starch. Whisk until well blended. Set aside.

Get your vegetables ready to go in the stir fry. Trim up your broccoli florets; steam in the microwave until just the ‘crisp’ side of tender-crisp. (You will finish them in the wok. Trust me, this is the best way to get them all done ‘just right’ when you’re stir-frying.) If you’re using snow peas, red bell pepper, whatever, get them diced up into bite sized. Dice your green onions or scallions for garnish; set aside.

Coat your wok with pan spray and add the garlic. You want to cook at a pretty high heat; I use the medium-high setting for the burner on my stove. Keep the garlic moving around as the pan heats, and when it is sizzling, get the chicken out of the fridge. Dump all contents of the ziplock into the wok. Add the ginger paste.

Keep stirring the chicken as it cooks. You don’t want anything to get too brown or to start sticking. Just as soon as the chicken is done (I’ll sometimes use my spoon to cut some of the larger pieces in half, to check done-ness), add the broccoli. Pour half the sauce over the broccoli (it might need another stir with the whisk, with that honey in there), and stir until ingredients in the wok are well combined. Pour the other half of the sauce in, and keep stirring. 

When the sauce, vegetables, and chicken are well combined, take it up from the wok quick, before anything gets too done! 

Serve hot - over rice, if you choose. *Just watch the portions on that rice!*