Low Country Scallops and Bacon over Quinoa

I love scallops...one of my favorite seafood. I love it fried, sauteed, grilled wrapped in bacon...you name it, I'll eat it with scallops if I could. Sea scallops can be a little pricey so I was thrilled when I was in Albertson's last week and they were on sale for $8.00/lb. I bought a pound and a half...since that will feed me and my son, Ross. I froze them because I had other things to cook last week and didn't really want to try to think up something good and different to do with them. Mind you, I would have eaten them fried, but I'm trying not to eat fried foods so the goal was to find a less fattening way to have these wonderful treats! 

Ross and I went to lunch last week at Ruby Tuesday's and new, on their menu, was Low Country shrimp and grits. I LOVE shrimp and grits...I mean, I love them and I try them any where that I go...even Ruby Tuesday's. Ruby's had the right idea but the wrong cook since the andouille sausage was crisp...WRONG!!. Anyway, I digress, just a little only because it was those shrimp and grits that was my inspiration for my dinner tonight...that and a recipe that I repinned on Pinterest for bacon wrapped scallops (been there, done that quite well). 

So...I put my sick thinking cap on (I've had the flu-y/cold since Thursday) today while I was sitting on the couch watching this great movie, The Eagle (with Channing Tatum) and came up with an idea. A few weeks ago I cooked rabbit in white wine with bacon and mushrooms so I decided to steal some ideas from that recipe and steal some ideas from other dishes I have had in the past. I came up with Scallops and Bacon over quinoa. Now, here I will confess that I would have loved to have served this dish over some cheese grits...but alas, I didn't have any grits and finding them here in Idaho isn't that easy. So, I decided to use quinoa, which will be much healthier than the cheese grits...even though I'm secretly wanting the cheese grits! I decided to call this dish "Low Country" because I used bacon and Old Bay seasoning and if Ruby's can call their recipe low country because they throw in some Cajun seasoning, I can too. :-) One disclaimer, I've stated in other recipes that I don't do bell pepper. Typically in Cajun cooking, you use bell pepper but I cannot handle them. Instead, I've been buying bags of mini-sweet peppers. Honestly, they don't taste sweet at all, they taste like a pepper without the strong bell pepper taste. 

Low Country Scallops and Bacon over Quinoa

1/2 lg. onion, sliced
2 lg. cloves of garlic, minced
3 small sweet mini peppers, diced (here is where you might deviate and use bell pepper instead)
8 slices of bacon (chopped up)
2 lg Roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup (or so) fresh sliced mushrooms (really, you could use however many you like)
1.5 lb.s sea scallops
2 tbsp. EVOO
1 cup white wine (cooking wine is what I used but you could use the real deal too)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning (Old Bay is the only thing I can get here in Idaho...my typical go to is Tony Chachere's). 
Cooked quinoa (I cooked one dry cup)
3 tsp. cornstarch. 

Instructions: 
Cook bacon in pan until crispy, remove and set aside. Saute the scallops (season lightly with a little sea salt) in the bacon drippings for five minutes, then remove (you don't want to cook the scallops done since they will be simmering later). Add EVOO and saute onions, garlic and peppers until onion is tender on medium high heat. Add tomatoes and mushrooms and stir until tomatoes are cooked down. Add wine, scallops and bacon, bring to a boil over medium high heat, then turn down to low. Add the bay leaves and Cajun seasoning (normally I would add more than a tsp but my son doesn't like things overly spicy), then cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes. During this time, you can cook the quinoa. 

Since the scallops will create liquid, before serving, you will want to use the 3 tsp. of cornstarch dissolved in just enough water so that it isn't goopy. Add this to the pan and stir to thicken up the sauce. Serve immediately over quinoa (or you can choose rice, cheese grits or pasta). This would also be nice with some toasty garlic bread (I didn't cook any because I was trying to keep my caloric intake down but if you can eat bread, by all means do). You can also season with a little hot sauce, if you like it a little more spicy than I cooked it. 

If I must say so myself...this turned out to be fabulous! Happy Mother's Day to me!!! 

-Kim
Be Well, Eat Fresh

Crab Stuffed Avocado

I had some crab left over from my crab stuffed jalapeno recipe that I cooked on Sunday evening.  I needed to do something with it so it wouldn't ruin and I wouldn't have to toss money in the garbage. I wanted to stick with something a little lighter tonight and since I had some avocado and tomatoes that needed to be used, I decided to create a crab salad and stuff it into avocado. I looked up a few recipes online but I really didn't like what I found. One had raw onion and bell pepper (I don't do raw onion and I never do bell pepper) but I liked that the recipe called for olive oil. A second recipe that I found used mayonnaise, I didn't want to use mayo, but I liked the idea of using cucumbers. 

So...armed with some ideas, I decided to create my own version of an avocado crab salad. Here are the results: 

Crab Salad

Serving size: 1

1 lg. avocado (pull the majority of the meat out to use in the crab salad but leave a little in the avocado shell if you like...I did). 
1/2 lg. cucumber, diced
1 Roma tomato, diced
4 oz. crab meat (I used real meat...not the kind you find by the tuna but I guess you could use that in a pinch).
2 lg lemon slices (since I was only making this for me, I didn't need to go overboard on the lemon) 
1/4 tsp. fresh cilantro (chopped)
Jane's Krazy Salt (I love this stuff because it has other seasonings)
2 tsp. EVOO
2 tsp. Balsamic vinegar

Cut the avocado in half and scoop out the meat. Put in bowl along with cucumber, tomato, crab. Squeeze lemon over mixture. Add cilantro, then season to taste (you can use just plain ole' salt and pepper instead of the Jane's). Add EVOO and balsamic vinegar and mix.  Scoop mixture into avocado skins, garnish with a fresh piece of cilantro. 

Nutrition information: Avocado (234 calories), 4 oz. crab meat (100 calories), 1/2 cucumber (8 calories), Roma tomato (23 calories), EVOO (approx. 80 since 1 tbsp is 119 calories), and balsamic vinegar (8 calories). So...overall, this delish dish is about 450 calories. 

I served it with a side of sliced fruit. Yep...filling, fresh and yummy!!! 

-Kim
EatFresh, BeWell

Cinco de Mayo

I have always found it to be a bit amusing that people celebrate Cinco de Mayo since it isn't a US holiday. I'll bet if you ask half the people you know if they know what Cinco de Mayo is, some of them won't. However, a friend of mine I believe adequately described it as just another excuse to drink. I think I have to agree since bars and restaurants offer drink specials on Mexican beer and margaritas or they serve up some Mexican inspired fare...even if it's nachos. 

Well...keeping with the tradition...celebrating a holiday that didn't affect my heritage, I have been cooking some Mexican inspired dishes. Sunday night it was jalapenos stuffed with crab and bacon and Monday night, I made fresh guacamole. I LOVE guacamole so I'm unsure why I have only decided to make it just now, in fact, I bought some fresh made guacamole at the grocery a few weeks ago and I must saw, I enjoyed mine a whole lot more.  I always keep avocado in the house, so as I was cooking fajitas, I decided to make guacamole. The recipe is quite simply, it's fresh and oh so yummy! 

Simple, Fresh Guacamole

Serves: 1-2 with one avocado
1 lg. avocado (if you are making for more than two people, use 3 lg. avocados) (mashed)
1 Roma tomato (if you are using 3 avocado, use two Romas) 
1/4 fresh cilantro
1 tbsp. lime juice
Cumin
Pepper
NOTE: I did not use chopped onion because I don't like raw onion and I was typically use fresh jalapeno but I stuffed those on Sunday night so I was out (Stuff Jalapeno Recipe to follow). 

Mash the avocado in a bowl (I didn't use a food processor or blender because I didn't want it to soupy...I like my guacamole with some chunks of avocado). 
Add the tomato, cilantro and lime juice and stir. Season with cumin (this is a must seasoning) and pepper to your taste. I didn't use salt because I try not to salt unless it's absolutely necessary. 

I ate the guacamole with fresh corn tortilla chips (they make them fresh at my local grocer)! 

The second Mexican inspired recipe was stuffed jalapenos and this is my own creation: 

Crab & Bacon Stuffed Jalapenos

6 lg. jalapeno peppers (seeded and cut in half) 
1/4 cup crumbled bacon (use fresh bacon, not fake bacon bits) 
1/4 cup of crab
1/2 whole lemon
1/2 onion (diced)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
6 oz. cream cheese (use neufchatel for lower fat, which is what I used) 
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
Cumin
Pepper
1 tbsp. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Colby Jack or PepperJack cheese (whichever you prefer) 

Cook the bacon and crumble. In a saute pan, heat the EVOO then add garlic and onion. Cook onion until tender. Add the bacon and crab. Squeeze the lemon over the crab meat (this helps tone down the crab so that it blends well with everything else). Turn burner to medium low then add the cream cheese. (NOTE: Instead of pre-softening the cream cheese, I added it to the saute pan so that the cheese would blend better with the rest of the ingredients. Season mixture with cumin and pepper. Scoop mixture into jalapenos. 

Here is where you might want to deviate. As you can see from the photo, I have the jalapenos on aluminum foil. I did this because I put mine on the grill. So...I sprinkled the stuffed peppers with Colby Jack cheese, covered and creased the seams. I cooked on the top rack of the grill for 20 minutes. These peppers could also be cooked in the oven on 350 at 20 minutes in a pan.  

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I did! 

-Kim

God Bless Texas

Okay...so after my sorta cathartic post about my life and how it isn't what I expected, which occurred (well, it did occur well before I landed in Dallas for this conference) while I was at an education conference in Dallas. I am so thrilled to have met some fabulous folks, I mean some REAL folks who were really honest about their lives, who they are and what they have been through. 

While we all had different stories, the story that resonates is the fact that we've all been through some "stuff". My stuff might not be your "stuff" but still, "your stuff" might be just as daunting as "my stuff". What I really appreciated was the honesty that was shared as I met these people from different walks of life, different life circumstances and just different. 

Boy...do I feel excited to know that I can actually meet people who are *true*, who aren't afraid of telling you or showing you who they really are. This is absolutely refreshing. I have been struggling to have real friendships over the last year. Part of it is because I telecommute and the other part is that I really just don't give many people the *time of day*.

We, as individuals, spend so much time trying to make ourselves look good to people we meet that we sometimes forget that we are just *people* (and, no, I'm not going to break out in a Barbra Streisand medley about people), who really do need to identify with other people (okay, so that's a little bit Barbra and I am hearing "people who need people" in my head) however, it's just fabulous to meet folks who are just real. 

When was the last time that you met someone for the first time and it was just *real*? Yeah...I don't have a whole lot of timeline stories with that until this business trip. 

So...I want to give a big *shout out* to the REAL people that I had the distinct privilege of meeting here in Dallas in April 2014. I met folks who were here for the education conference, folks who were here for Southwest Airlines and folks who were here for a tech presentation (a little hush-hush, but still fabulous to chat with) and then just others. This has probably been one of THE BEST business trips I have had the pleasure of being able to go for a very long time because I really got to meet people. 

It might be that it was because this trip was in Texas and like Alabama, they are known for their southern hospitality so it just exudes itself (the atmosphere) to people who visit or it might just be the timing of things for me...the need to move forward. Regardless...I'm totally agreeing with the artwork at the House of Blues tonight...*God  Bless Texas*! 

Is it Tough Love, Not wanting to Enable or Just Deciding That You've Had Enough

Okay...so the purpose of this blog is about health, happiness and well-being...mine. It's sort of turned into a food blog and quite frankly, that's about all of those three things. I've cooked some great low calories, gluten-free fabulous and fantastic recipes over the last few weeks and I have pics. I've done shrimp/scallop with green chile tacos, some fabulous shiritaki noodle recipes....essentially, I've been promoting health but what is body health without mental health? 

Well...I have a really hard time expressing my feelings, letting people in and generally opening up. You can ask any friend or family of mine...I'm a hard one. I've always been a hard one...losing your parents at a young age (that's a story for another time) but it has definitely affected how I approach relationships. I have never, ever, ever felt like I have belonged anywhere with anyone, any family or just anywhere. So, feeling like that, I have always had too big of a heart and I forgive too easily because I want to be accepted. Some folks may say that forgiving is a good thing but when it is detrimental to your health, happiness and well-being, you know...it's okay to not forgive easily...I am working on this. 

So...here's something that some people know and some people don't....I'm an abused person. No, not an abused woman but an abused person. I've had bad things happen to me as a child (I am not going to point any fingers), I've had bad things happen to me as a teenager (again, no finger pointing) and as an adult...here is where I finger point, I point it at me because I tolerated it. 

My last relationship was the worst ever. I married someone that I thought was my perfect match. He was great for me until we got married and then when things didn't work out, the abuse began. I must also own the fact that alcohol was a contributor as well. The crazy part is that I didn't rely on him to support me, I had that covered, I make my own way and my own money...I was just always taught that you should forgive. Oh yeah, I forgave and one night in December 2012, my forgiveness almost cost me my life. I laid in the floor of my house, fighting against someone who was much stronger than I was begging him not to kill me because I had grandchildren that I wanted to see grow up. It was in that plea that I was able to get away and run to the neighbor's house so they could call the police and save me from dying. 

Yet...the worst wasn't over yet. After I had been physically abused with my eyes black and blue, my throat swollen from being strangled, I couldn't get anyone that I knew to pick me up from the emergency room...broken and bruised. I ended up walking from the ER to a friend's house, who hugged me and took me home. I had another friend and her husband come over the next day to check on me but guess what...that was it. 

You know what happened after that...people I knew did the "tough love" or "I'm not going to enable you" or "I'm sick of hearing about this because this isn't the first time" you allowed the abuser back into your life. Well, you know, I didn't think that I did anything to you, I might have made bad decisions but I didn't deserve to be abandoned because I thought I was being a good person by forgiving and allowing another broken person to try again. Oh yes...I paid a price, I could have died but I didn't. 

What I did learn is that as a friend (here's where my need for emotional well-being begins), I might not like the decisions that you make but if I am going to be your friend, I will NEVER turn my back on you. Unfortunately, in our efforts to not "enable" or to enact "tough love" we actually forgot what loving someone is. It doesn't mean you have to enable but you can still be there...you can offer your love, your support and your understanding. 

I don't always approve of my friends or my kid's choices but I will say that today I am here as much as I can be and need to be and I will always offer my hand. I cannot guarantee that I can make anything better for you but that hug, that hand, that friendship without walls when you need it might just be what you need to feel better.

I struggle every day...heck, I moved across the country and I do get to see my grandchildren often but am I emotionally better...I'm working on that and it is a long road!

Egg Salad Twist

I love being on Pinterest because it not only gives me a place to organize and place items, such as recipes, it also gives me access to other people's boards so I can see the recipes that they are pinning. It's been my goal to try recipes instead of just collecting them...I mean, what good is collecting a recipe if you aren't going to try it, eh? 

This weekend, someone pinned one of my recipes and because I have notifications enabled on my phone from Pinterest (yeah, not sure why I haven't changed that) so I checked out her recipe page where she pinned the recipe I had on my board. Lo and behold, I found an avocado recipe (If you've read any of my entries on this blog, you know how much I dig avo!) But, I digress. I found an avocado egg salad recipe and being the egg salad lover that I am, while I don't eat it very often at all, I decided I wanted to try it this weekend. It looked quick and easy so during my midnight grocery run on Friday night, I was pleased to find the large Haas avocados on sale for 2/$5. I usually buy the little avocados because I can get them on sale for $.99 or $1.29 at Albertsons but I knew I needed large avos for this recipe so I was totally in luck! Yes...obviously I'm bored if I get excited about avocados on a Friday night. 

The original recipe was really pretty simple: 

• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 1 large avocado, cubed as you see above
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise or Vegenaise (we used it b/c we don't love mayo)
• 1 teaspoon curry or fenugreek powder
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Of course, I had to adjust since I have my own "style" of eating, meaning things I love and things I don't love. One thing in particular are the yolks in the egg. UGH! I will eat deviled eggs and I realize the *devil* are the yolks but typically I shy away from the yolks in a hard boiled egg. So, here's what my recipe looked like: 

• 4 hard-boiled eggs (yolks removed)
• 1 large avocado, cubed as you see below
• 10 cherry tomatoes in quarters (you could choose to use more if you think that you would like more, 10 just seemed like a good balance)
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil Mayonnaise (depending on your eating habits, you could switch this out for the Vegenaise from the original recipe if you are on a gluten-free diet. Apparently the Kraft OO Mayo is gluten-free, which is what I use). 
• Season with Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt
• Pepper

I love the Jane's mixed up salt because it has onion and garlic in it as well as other spices. One other thing that I will do when I make this again, since I didn't include the yolks, I will not use 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise...it was just a little too much unless you LOVE mayonnaise. Quite frankly, I do love it but it was too much, even for this southern girl. 

Anyway, I just cut up the eggs, avocado and tomato and placed them in a bowl: 

I added the mayo, seasoned and it ready was to go. I decided to eat it as a wrap (see below) but I know this would be fabulous over a bed of spinach (I probably should have gone with that option but I was just wanting a wrap today), on a gluten-free roll, on regular sandwich bread...well, you get the picture...you choose how you want to eat it! 

This was fantastic! Fresh tasting, light, filling and enjoyable. Oh...did I mention aside from the 10 minutes boiling the eggs that it really only takes about 5 minutes to make, which includes chopping the avocado, tomato and egg. Fast, easy and fresh! 

Additionally, this whole salad was only 497 calories (that's just the salad). The biggest calorie item was the avocado at 289 calories. So...put it on a bed of greens and enjoy the whole thing! 

Enjoy your day! 

#eatfreshbewell #eatfresh #bewell #avocadolover 

~Kim

Noodle Me This: Thai Ginger Chicken Soup

I love noodles...I mean really love them. I could eat noodles every single day; noodles of any kind. I have a very odd love of Ramen noodles, which is terrible because they are so terrible for you. One whole package is almost 400 calories and when I cook them, I'm going for the noodles, not the noodle soup so I have two packages. Oh my...terrible, terrible.

I'm working my way through other noodle types, Barilla now makes gluten free noodles, Ancient Harvest has quinoa noodles but they are still relatively high in carbohydrates. I realize there is some other nutritional value to the quinoa noodles like protein but my body just cannot handle complex carbohydrates. What's a noodle-loving gal like me supposed to do with that?

Well, I have bought shiritaki noodles in the past and used them in stir fry so I decided to splurge and buy a case of them (no more excuses to keep Ramen in the cabinets) to make noodle soups. Here's the cool thing about shiritaki noodles, they are made from yam paste and the ones that do not contain tofu have "0" calories...yep, that's right, they are also high in fiber! I bought a case from Genki USA. They had free shipping, I ordered and I swear I had them in two days. I was able to find shiritaki noodles at Publix, when I lived in Alabama, but I haven't been able to find them in the two stores I buy groceries at here in Idaho, so with free shipping, it was worth the order. Plus I'm pretty sure I paid less per bag than I did when I buy the single bags at the grocer AND they gave me a coupon to use for my next purchase.

The next challenge was to come up with something that was good, something that I enjoyed. So, when I was at Albertson's buying chicken broth, I noticed that Swanson's now has Thai Ginger broth. Well, that sounded very promising so I bought it in preparation for my new recipe. For the whole carton, there is only 120 calories (that's for four cups of broth).

To make my noodle soup I used the following:

10 oz. fresh chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces). There was no rhyme or reason to the use of 10 ounces, that is just how much chicken was in the package I bought.
1 head of bok choy (cut into slices and cut the leafy sections into smaller pieces. I only used half the boy choy in the soup)
1 small can of straw mushrooms
2 pkgs of Angel Hair Shiritaki Noodles

(This recipe easily makes four servings or less, depending on how hungry you are). Let's do the math on the calories for the whole pot. 1 oz. of chicken breast is 35 calories, so we have 350 calories of chicken. There are 9 whole calories in a cup of bok choy (I probably used 1 1/2 cup). 120 calories for the broth and 15 calories for the whole can of straw mushrooms.

Total Calories for the Whole Pot: 500!!!

Pour broth into saucepan and add chicken. Cook on high until chicken is done. Add the bok choy and cook for five minutes on medium. Add the straw mushrooms and the shiritaki noodles and cook for three more minutes on medium. Remove from heat and serve.

 

 

The bottom photo is the finished soup in my bowl that I had for lunch today. I really did enjoy it, got my noodle fix, ate healthy and low calorie. Oh yeah!

#EatFreshBeWell
-Kim