Guest Post: Fast(ing) Food - Grilled Greek Shrimp with Salad and Green Beans

by Sarah Berger

Grilled Greek Shrimp with Tomato-Cucumber-Avocado Salad and Green Beans
(Yields 2 servings) ~380 kcal/serving

Another delicious low-calorie Paleo and low carb meal from Sarah Berger. This one is low sugar, full of healthy fats, and has vitamins A-E. I can't wait to try this one out.

Shrimp:

• 1 lb large shrimp  or about 24 large shrimp (I used the frozen Argentinian shrimp from Trader Joe’s)
• 1 tbsp Greek seasoning (Mix up a batch of equal parts ground cumin, ground coriander, granulated garlic, smoked paprika and dried italian seasoning - keep it for other recipes, make as much as you want, it’s great on chicken!)
• Juice of ½ small lemon
• 1 tsp olive oil 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 wooden skewers

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Combine shrimp, greek seasoning, lemon juice and olive oil in a bag- marinate at least thirty minutes to overnight. Skewer about 6 large shrimp on each skewer. Grill shrimp for 3-4 minutes per side or until firm and pink, careful to not overcook or shrimp will become rubbery. 

Salad:

• 2 large beefsteak tomatoes, in large cubes or wedges
• ½ to ⅔ english cucumber, sliced lengthwise, then sliced into half-circles
• ½ ripe avocado, diced
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients and toss to coat---the avocado should mash a bit and become part of the dressing. 

Green Beans:

• ½ to ⅔ lb fresh green beans
• ½ large sweet onion (like Walla Walla)
• 2 cloves minced garlic 
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium heat, while it is heating, thinly slice the onion, then add it to the pan. Stir frequently until the onion becomes golden brown and softens. add the garlic and green beans and splash of water (2-3 tablespoons) , turn up heat to medium high and saute until green beans are tender but still slightly crisp. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Divide salad, green beans and shrimp skewers between two plates. Serve and enjoy!

The creator and author of this recipe is Sarah Berger. She is the blogger behind Love Muffin (also in my blogroll) which is a collection of her Paleo recipes. Sarah has been my friend since middle school and is a great cook with some culinary schooling.

Fast(ing) Food - Spicy Pan-Fried Shrimp & Tex-Mex Rice with Corn and Beans

Day 17, Fast Day #9

Sticking to 800 calories for my mother's birthday dinner didn't really worked out like I had imagined it to in my head. I ate more like 1,100 calories on Saturday. This is what happens when a loaf of fresh, crusty bread gets put in front of me when I haven't eaten in 20 hours. To be fair though, I would have eaten way more than 1,100 calories without any restriction.

I also went a bit overboard yesterday on my feast day since it was a good friend's birthday. We took her out to a hard cider bar in Portland and then to one of our favorite 24-hour greasy spoons at midnight. Eggs benedict happened. Then Zach's mother made us an apple pie (which one cannot say "no" to) so we ate a slice of that for second breakfast. Then actual lunch time rolled around and we had yet another breakfast. This time I had french toast. Zach's wonderful mother also made me a chocolate cake for my birthday, since my actual birthday is Wednesday. Did I mention there was a potato salad snack? There is a reason I had a mere salad when we got home for dinner. So I ended up slightly surpassing 3,200 calories yesterday.  Yikes.

As you can imagine, I really did not want to step on the scale this morning. Especially since I peeked at the numbers midday on Sunday after I had eaten and I had gained 5 lbs. Well the good news is that I gained no net weight this weekend and am still at a total of 9 lbs lost. I made no progress, but I also did not gain anything.

Today's fast day is already starting out pretty brutal since I am going back to 500 calories today. However, I have a yummy lunch to look forward to. These recipes are also very easy:

Spicy Pan-Fried Shrimp (Yields 3 servings) ~181 kcal/serving

Takes 70-75 minutes (if marinating for 60 minutes)

• 1 lb of shrimp (this will taste better with raw shrimp, but I was cheap, lazy, and tired when I made this at 10pm last night) so I got the pre-cooked, deveined, no shell medium-sized shrimp) (~308 kcal)

Marinade:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (~120 kcal)
• the juice of one large lime, you can substitute with a couple tbsps of lemon or lime juice out of the bottle (~15 kcal)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic, or a few fresh cloves minced (~15 kcal)
• one half of a 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (this is normally found in the "International" aisle of my grocery store), chopped, include the sauce in the marinade (~60 kcal)
• a handful of chopped cilantro, no stems (I love cilantro) (~3 kcal)
• 1 tbsp paprika (~20 kcal)
• a dash of cayenne pepper (~1 kcal)
• a dash of pepper (not even a calorie)
• a pinch of kosher salt (not even a calorie)
• a couple dashes of red pepper flakes - optional (not even a calorie)

If you are using frozen shrimp and do not know how to thaw them, look at my last shrimp recipe. Thaw shrimp and start any shrimp prep first.

If you have a low tolerance for chile spice, feel free to ease off some of the marinade ingredients or marinate for less time. I like my food spicy.

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss in defrosted and towel dried shrimp.

Let the shrimp get happy in the marinade for an hour or two in your fridge. (This will still taste good if you can only afford 30 minutes of marinade time.)

Heat up a frying pan or skillet on medium-high to high heat (my oven burners are powered by devil fire, so I use medium-high). Toss shrimp in hot pan. Cook and stir until shrimp are opaque. If you are using precooked shrimp like me, this will only take a couple minutes.

FOOD SAFETY TIP: Raw shrimp can carry salmonella like raw chicken. If you intend to use excess marinade it is very important to make sure your marinade reaches a boil in the pan for a bit and is reduced before using. You can also not use it.

Tex-Mex Rice with Corn and Beans (Yields 8 servings) ~103 kcal/serving

Takes 25-30 minutes.
This recipe is also SUPER cheap. About 50 cents a serving.

• juice of one small lime, you can substitute with a couple tsps of lemon or lime juice out of the bottle (~10 kcal)
• 1 regular-sized can of black beans, drained and rinsed well) (~385 kcal)
• 1 regular-sized can of corn, drained (~210 kcal)
• a couple dashes of ground cumin (not even a calorie)
• a handful of chopped cilantro, no stems (I love cilantro) (~3 kcal)
• Mexican-style hot sauce to taste,Tapatio or Cholula works well - optional (not even a calorie)

Rice Prep:

• 1 regular-sized 8 oz box of yellow rice (I used Zatarain's) (~98 kcal)
• water for rice prep (2 1/2 cups for Zatarain's, but use the amount of water on the box)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I substituted the butter in the directions for olive oil) (~120 kcal)

Boil water and olive oil in a medium to large pot with lid. Add rice. Lower burner to a low-medium heat (3/10). Cook for 20-25 minutes.

It is important not to peek on the rice while it is cooking. Otherwise it will take longer because it needs the steam it has built up in the pot. When the rice is done, the water will be absorbed.

Fluff the rice (aka, stir it up, especially on the bottom and sides of the the pot where it sticks). Dump the corn, beans, cumin, cilantro, and hot sauce in the pot. Done.

Fast(ing) Food - Quick Shrimp With Snow Peas

Day 11, Fast Day #6

Weighed myself again this morning and thought I was hallucinating. So I weighed myself twice more. Turns out I am down another 3 lbs, putting me at a 7 lb loss after 11 days. Crazy.

I have been busy wedding planning today, so I did not have time to finish an epic blog post. But I will leave you with a fast day recipe instead.

I basically got tired of eating just cold, mostly raw food on my fast days. So I made a heartier shrimp stir-fry for lunch today instead, yum!

Ugh, more cold, boring vegetables.

Quick Shrimp With Snow Peas (Yields 3 servings) ~288 kcal/serving
Takes about 15-20 minutes

Stir-fry:

• 1 lb medium or large shrimp, frozen, no shell, cooked, and deveined (~427 kcal) - If you have time to devote to deveining and shelling your own shrimp and cooking them from a raw state, go for it. It will taste better. However I am cheap and impatient. Most shrimp sold in the US is previously frozen anyway.
• 1 cup snow peas (~42 kcal)
• 2 green onions stalks, chopped (~10 kcal) - I have been saving the bulbs and putting them in shot glasses full of water on our window sill and growing a second batch of green onions for free.
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (~8 kcal)
• 1 tsp ginger, minced (a root piece about half the size of your thumb) (~2 kcal)
• 2 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (~309 kcal)
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup vegetable broth (~5 kcal)
• 1 tsp white sugar (~15 kcal)
• 2 tsp rice wine (~17 kcal)
• 2 tsp soy sauce (I prefer low-sodium, but if you have a wheat/gluten issue, stick with regular strength) (~7 kcal)
• 2 tsp cornstarch for thickening (~20 kcal)

For Shrimp Thawing:

• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 1/2 cup cold water
• paper towels or a clean dish towel (for drying)

Add 1 tbsp salt to cold water in a large bowl. Stir until salt is dissolved. Add frozen shrimp and defrost. This takes about 10 minutes. So do any prep work now.

Add the broth, sugar, rice wine, soy sauce, and cornstarch into a small bowl or measuring cup and whisk until blended.

Pat dry shrimp on towel(s). Otherwise your shrimp are going to make the stir-fry watery and diluted coming straight out of the water bowl.

The key to stir-fry is not taking your eye off the pan and stirring continually to avoid burning things. Bring oil to medium-high to high heat in a wok, skillet, or large frying pan depending on how hot your burners get. 

Add garlic and ginger to the pan. Stir continually for one minute. 

Add shrimp, cook and stir for about a minute. If you bought precooked shrimp like me, these are already cooked so you are just heating them up basically. Otherwise cook raw shrimp until opaque and pink.

Throw in the snow peas and green onions. Cook and stir until snow peas start getting a little floppy.

Pour in the sauce mixture and stir until the sauce thickens up. Salt & pepper to taste and eat!