Dinner For Three

Since being back in Utah for Christmas I ended up having to have knee surgery, which extended my stay about a week and a half. My mom, coincidentally, had to have arm and wrist surgery a week before I got home so we ended up being two helpless gimps while Grandma was left to take care of us (lucky her). So yesterday we finally got out to the grocery store and came home with a bunch of goodies - fresh mozzarella, halibut, coconut oil, and a ton of herbs and vegetables. We decided that since its my last week being home I'm going to whip up a few culinary creations while I'm here and I can use them to blog about - Yay! New years resolution fulfilled! 

Here's what we had for dinner: 

Ingredients: Yields 4

4 strips of bacon diced
1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 large garlic cloves

5 small zucchinis

2 - 3 bell peppers 

2 roma tomatoes
1/2 tbsp Beau Monde

1/4 cup green onions
20 - 25 shrimp (we used 5 per person, ours were small)

2/3 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
2/3 cup heavy cream
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
First off cook bacon in the oven on 450° until its crisp
 - not burnt! Chop and set aside.
Now...
1. Peel and chop garlic roughly into disks
2. In a large skillet heat the olive oil and the butter on medium until they're melted together
3. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until garlic begins to turn brown then remove from the pan and set aside. In the meantime..

[PREP]
4. Peel all zucchini into long thin strips - so it looks similar to thick linguini
5. Julliene the bell peppers and the tomatoes - taking the seeds out of both before hand
6. Cut the green onion into short strips
7. Chop the parsley and grate your parmesan cheese
8. If your shrimp is frozen - like mine - thaw it out and peel it
9. Have your wine, cream, tomato sauce and shrimp ready on hand so we can

[COOK]
10. After the garlic is taken out of the pan turn the pan up to medium high add the bell peppers (saute for 3 - 5 minutes until soft)
11. Add the tomato and green onion, cook for about 2 minutes until everything is heated together
12. Add your shrimp and cook until at least one side is fully pink then add the wine
13. Let that simmer until the wine is reduced (about 7 - 10 minutes depending on the size of your skillet)
14. Add your tomato sauce - mine was homemade courtesy of Grandma but when I'm at school I usually use a canned tomato sauce like mushroom or Italian style that I get at TjMaxx
15. Now is when I usually turn the heat up to high so that the sauce can begin to bubble and thicken up a little bit - once its at a nice thick consistency is when I add the cream, parsley, bacon and the cheese (save some to sprinkle on top of each plate though as well at the parsley)
16. I let this cook until its all combined and thick then I add the garlic back in and zucchini

Now here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

And vuala!! 
This recipe can be vegetarian without the bacon and shrimp or you can add leftover chicken or sausage or whatever you want! Don't have wine? That's fine just omit that ingredient, if you don't have cream add butter instead! This recipe can be changed into whatever you want, this is my version of zucchini pasta, now you can create yours!

Like my new signature! I used this tutorial to figure out how to do place it and I used My Live Signature to create it, check it out for your blog!!

Enjoy!

Butter Lettuce and Shrimp Salad

So, if you have read some of my recent posts you'll know that I eat gluten free - an extremely difficult task at times but you do learn how to make every single kind of salad in the process! I recently also decided to try and avoid red meats for a while, so far its been working out and there are a lot of fish and chicken dishes I've been coming up with that are easily just as good as a burger. This recipe was inspired by a fellow favorite blogger and a while back she did this recipe with avocado, shrimp and endive. She also did a video on it which if you watch it you'll see how incredibly easy it is to make. 

You know me - I like to put my own twist on everything - so here is my own recipe on shrimp salad. P.S. Make sure to check out her blog Because I'm Addicted and her Vimeo channel LEAFtv as well!!

Butter Lettuce and Shrimp Salad

1 Lemon

1 Avocado

1 Vine Ripe Tomato

5 - 6 Butter Lettuce Leaves

6 Shrimp (peeled and deveined) 

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

S & P

**This recipe yields one person according to the leaves and shrimp

If your shrimp are frozen (like mine) I put them in a strainer or colander in the sink and let the cool water run over them for about five to ten minutes until they're thawed. Then I lightly pat them dry, place them in a bowl and add one tablespoon of olive oil, one half juice of the lemon and salt and pepper. Let them marinate for about ten minutes - or longer - while you get the rest of the ingredients ready. I personally like long strips of lettuce in this salad, it looks elegant and you can twirl them on your fork making it easier to eat. How I do that is I pick a few of the outside leaves and place them one on top of the other so that they all fit together; then, starting from the bottom of the leaves, I roll them into each other upwards making a little roll-up. Then simply slice the log of lettuce and you'll get them into long thin strips. Put the leaves in a bowl and move onto the tomato - I usually cut it in half and then dice it into medium sized cubes then put that in the bowl. Next the avocado - half it, remove the pit, and remove the flesh from the skin and then slice into long thin strips and add to the bow. Add the juice of the other half of the lemon and the other tablespoon of olive oil. Now you're ready to saute the shrimp. In a small skillet saute your shrimp for about two minutes on each side - they don't take very long on each side if you over cook them they become rubbery so be careful! When they're beautifully pink and cooked through add them to your salad and toss!