The Incredible Morphing Shrimp

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!

In French that means, "let the good times roll".  Today is Mardi Gras.  It honor of the day I wanted to give y'all a cajun recipe.  But there was a problem.  My shrimp morphed.  

You read right.  Morphing shrimp.

The don't acually change shape {even though that would be cool and creepy at the same time.}  My recipe morphed.  

Here's how a recipe morphs:

Original Recipe:  Cajun Shrimp

Morph #1:   Original recipe had too much sodium.  I decided to reduce it

Morph #2:   Without seasoning, it's just plain shrimp.  I needed to add flavor.

Morph #3:   I'm tired of plain dry shrimp.  It needs to be moist
Final Recipe:   Cajun inspired boiled shrimp 

Cajun Inspired Boiled Shrimp


Ingredients
1.5 lbs medium shrimp, peeled
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 T minced garlic
1 packet 
1 cup water (you could substitute seafood stock for the flavor boost and water)


Directions

1. Saute onions and green peppers with the garlic until soft
2. Mix together flavor boost and water in a separate bowl (or in the measuring cup) 
3. Add shrimp and water mixture to pan
4. Bring to a boil and cook until shrimp is pink and the water has reduced a bit

Serve over rice

This recipe takes about 30 minutes.  It's quick and simple and I love recipes like that. You could even turn this into a soup by increasing the liquid and adding more vegetables.  Look at me!  Morphing these poor shrimp again!

Do you ever morph recipes?  Does one recipe become something completely different?  What was the last recipe you morphed? 

The food I live for

The dinner theme for the month (and possibly all summer) is quick and simple.  The challenge is that dinner should take no longer than 45 minutes to make but still be healthy.  Don't think that every meal is going to be salads and processed foods.  97% of all the meals will be made from scratch just like always.  

Tonite was hot dog nite.  I couldn't find the fat free vegetarian hot dogs in the Publix so I decided to experiment with the things I already had in the house.  I made myself a hot dog using mushrooms, onions, some bread to bind it and egg substitute.  I'm not going to give you the recipe because it still needs to be seriously tweaked.  

Don't think that since I made a mushroom dog that I don't enjoy hot dogs.  I love hot dogs.  They used to be one of my favorite foods.  Before I became a pescatarian I loved anything grilled.  Hot dogs were one of my favorites.  Mr. Amazing and I still joke that we really don't need a stove.  As long as we have a working grill we're okay.  Before I got sick one of my favorite foods was a nice big porterhouse.  Until I found out that my 16 oz porterhouse that I loved to occasionally indulge in had these numbers associated with it.

Doesn't that look yummy?

Calories		707.6
Total Fat		32.5 g
	Saturated Fat	11.6 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.4 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	15.2 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		254.0 mg
Sodium		263.1 mg
Potassium		1,329.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		0.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		96.5 g

Crazy right?  But now I'm happy with a big bucket of seafood.  I'd rather eat a pound of shrimp.  

Calories		480.5
Total Fat		7.8 g
	Saturated Fat	1.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.1 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		689.1 mg
Sodium		670.9 mg
Potassium		838.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		4.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		92.1 g

You save 220 calories and almost 30 grams of fat!!  Plus there's a bunch of vitamins and minerals that you get from the shrimp.

What food can't you live without?