A quick trip to the islands

Coconut shrimp with apricot dipping sauce

A few days before Christmas and things around my house are CRAZY (hence the lack of regular blogging) ! I still have a little shopping left to do and a LOT of presents to wrap. Tonight, though, we took a break with a fun dinner (that also just happened to use up the bag of shrimp that's been sitting in my freezer!)

Where this recipe came from
I love coconut shrimp! Unfortunately, traditional coconut shrimp is NOT good for you. And while deep-fried shrimp is delicious...I wanted to make a healthier version. This is one that I've been making for a while and it's always good! I usually use panko to make these crispier, but didn't have any. Instead I added some pecans which seemed to help!

Making the recipe
This is an easy one to do, but does take some time. While it was a great weeknight "getaway" dinner, it was a little bit of a rush and took longer than expected (I underestimated the time it takes to peel shrimp). Start to finish, it took a good 45 minutes (maybe longer). Totally worth it though!

The results
Brett and I both gave these a thumbs up! It was a great dinner, but would also make a great appetizer or snack. I didn't bother giving them to the kids, but they were pretty content with hot dogs nonetheless.

The recipe
1 bag frozen raw shrimp, thawed, shelled (is that word?) and deveined
1/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/3 cup coconut
2 eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400. Remove the shells (and other good items) from the shrimp. Put the pecans, breadcrumbs, coconut and salt and pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth and pour in a shallow bowl. Whisk the eggs, olive oil and salt and pepper in another shallow bowl.

 Dredge the shrimp in the egg mixture, bread crumb mixture and then put on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes and serve with apricot dipping sauce (recipe below).

Apricot dipping sauce
1/2 cup apricot jam
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp mustard (I used grey poupon)

Mix all ingredients until smooth.

Five spice rice
I served this with brown rice flavored with Chinese Five Spice Powder. (If you've never had it, it's a great spice. It tastes sort of cinnamon-y exotic...or something like that). I thought the rice was good, but felt like it was missing something - maybe citrus. If I made it again, I would have mixed in some orange zest and juice.

3/4 cup brown rice
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 scallions, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat chicken stocked over high heat in a small saucepan until boiling. Add rice and turn heat down to med-low and cover. Cook until tender, about 30-40 minutes. Add in Chinese five spice powder, scallions, olive oil and salt and pepper and serve.

Pasta primavera

Pasta primavera

So last week found our house Brett-less once again. Obviously, that means it was time for a veggie meal that would last a few day...Enter veggies and pasta!

Where this recipe came from
No where, really. I know I've said it before, but I LOVE pasta. Pasta mixed with a random bunch of veggies...viola dinner! As much as I love pasta, I rarely make pasta with red sauce. As a kid I always requested my pasta with butter instead of red sauce. Don't get me wrong - I love tomato sauce (alot actually, I could sit and eat a bowl with a spoon). But for some reason, whenever I think of making pasta it involves an olive oil-based sauce,

Making this recipe
Easy! Cook pasta, cook veggie, mix together! The one thing I would change is the lemon. I added the juice of a half a lemon and I think next time I would bump it to a whole. Also, I had intended to add a pint of grape tomatos, but by the time of the week I got around to making it, I didn't have any left. It was fine as is - but I think it would have been better with the grape tomatos.

The results
I loved it! The kids ate it -Adela picked out veggies (that's my girl!) and Bodie mostly ate pasta. Under "encouragement" though I got him to eat a broccoli and some edamame. Overall, I marked it down as a winner!

The recipe
1/2 box whole wheat angel hair pasta
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 package baby portabella mushrooms, wiped off and chopped
1 bunch of broccoli, chopped
1 can of diced tomatos, drained
1/2 cup frozen edamame
2 scallion stalks, chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
juice of a half a lemon (what i used - but you might want to add more)
2-3 tbsp chicken stock
shredded parmesean

cook pasta according to package directions and drain (I think it takes less time to cook than it says on the box - so watch it early). Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp olive  oil over med heat in a large skillet. Add broccoli, mushrooms and garlic. Cook until mushrooms and broccoli soften about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato, edamame, scallions, oregano, basil, lemon, and salt and pepper, stirring.

Let cook 1-2 minutes for lemon to infuse. Add remainder of olive oil, chicken stock and pasta. Serve with cheese.

Nuggets!

Pecan chicken nuggets with honey mustard dipping sauce

Sunday night was our "decorate the tree" night, so I thought a snacky dinner we could eat while decorating would be fun.

Where this recipe came from
A few years + ago, I was watching an episode of Emeril where he was making chicken nuggets. Previous to this, it had never occured to me that one could make homemade nuggets. Although I'm not sure why, since they are essentially smaller pieces of breaded chicken. Anyway, this is my version.

Making the recipe
I used to make do a half-package of chicken whenever I made these. Since it's sort of a lot of work to bread all of the tiny pieces, I now do a whole package. I use the thin slice breasts and chunk them up, but you could easily do large breasts or tenderloins (although I hate the white stringy things that come in the tenderloins). Also - leftovers are great to stick in the freezer and pull out to top salads or for quick snacks.

The results
The kids eat these...homemade chicken nuggets!!! That in itself is exciting. On this particular night, the fact that they got to eat these off of paper plates on a chair in the living room was an added bonus!

The recipe
1 package of chicken breasts (Mine was 1.87 lbs), cut into large chunks
1 bag of pecans
1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Put the pecans, bread crumbs, salt and pepper in a food process and process until smooth. Put in shallow bowl. Mix eggs, olive oil, salt and pepper in another shallow bowl.

Dredge chicken in egg mixture and then bread crumbs. Put on baking sheet spreayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway.

Honey mustard dipping sauce
1/2 cup mayo
3 tbsp mustard (I usually use grey pupon dijon, but this time used Koop's southwest heat)
2 tbsp honey
pepper

Misx all ingerdients in small bowl and serve with warm chicken.