Cabbage Salad with Almond Butter Dressing

This turned out to be a really GOOD recipe and I'm always grabbing bags of coleslaw and when I see them, the "asian" cabbage mix bags ... just toss the two smaller bags with the dressing and croutons and go to town to make this!

Here's what you need:

Chopped or shredded cabbage with carrots, etc ... in other words, a bag of coleslaw will work perfect!
cooked chicken, chopped, or in my case, when originally made, cooked turkey
cucumbers, chopped
red or any color peppers, chopped

This was from Costco back when I first made this recipe. I see it now in Target and Publix so look by your salad bags! Toss the dressing packet!

Now, time to make the dressing which really is the star of the salad!

1/3 cup almond butter (make sure you stir it well otherwise it will be real stiff)
garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbs white wine vinegar
juice of one lime
2 tbs coconut aminos
4 tbs avocado oil (or olive oil), enough to make the dressing a little pourable
salt and pepper to taste

Just so you know, coconut aminos are pretty similar to soy sauce ... and since I'm sort of/kind of back on Paleo/Whole30, this was fitting the Whole30 bill to a T.

 

                          Whole Foods                Costco (old pic as now I've got the good                                                                            stuff, JUSTINS!)

Dump all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.

Toss your cabbage mixture into a bowl (serving size or larger to share), top with cucumbers, peppers and chopped turkey. Pour the dressing over all and toss to combine. Honestly? I used my bare hands as my dressing was still a little to thick ... I ended up adding more oil to the dressing to make it thinner.

This is really good and works great with leftover chicken, turkey, pork or, I suppose, even beef if you had!

*I originally made this Thanksgiving weekend and it was PERFECT with the leftover turkey from that big day!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

Island Shrimp

This recipe comes from a book I got a while ago, Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals. which prompted me to get back in to the actual cookbook mode ... even though I have tons of them, I need more that are on track with this new way of eating!

By the way, in case you didn't know, 450 Swagbucks will  give you $5 in Amazon cash ... and that's how I've been buying the cookbooks ...

Another side note ... I do NOT like to have them on my Kindle. I mean, yeah, it's sort of cool to just open up the Kindle BUT I don't like the layout/format whatever. It's not the same as looking at the 2 pages, side by side ... so I've decided no more cookbooks on the Kindle.

Anyways ... 

It's Whole30 Compliant! Sweet! Perfect for January 2016 which is RIGHT around the corner, you know?

I renamed the recipe to Island Shrimp with Avocado, then, just Island Shrimp ... more appealing to ME than Tropical Avocado & Shrimp. And yes, there were a few modifications along the way ... if you want the real deal, buy the book and flip to page 57 ...

You can easily double, triple or even quadruple this recipe, as I was only feeding myself for a late lunch and early dinner, I made it in the quantities listed below ... Ready? Ready ...

1/4 cup mango, cut into chunks

1 jalapeno, seeds removed

Juice of 1 lime

dash of salt

3 tbs olive oil

1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (personal note, I always take the freakin tail off, it annoys me)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 avocado, cut into chunks

3 radishes, sliced

1/4 red onion, sliced

chopped cilantro (optional but recommended)

Get out the big gun food processor ... add mango, jalapeno, lime juice, olive oil and salt.

Let it rip and make a sauce. 

Put sauce in fridge to chill a little. Trust me. I wasn't crazy when I tasted to adjust the seasoning, but after it chilled for a bit, it was a whole different flavor!

Sprinkle the shrimp with the cumin and saute in a bit of olive oil til cooked (not overcooked!)

In large bowl, combine the shrimp, avocado, radish, onion and cilantro. Toss with the sauce and serve OR you can pour the sauce over prior to serving. Either way, recommend making this ahead of time and letting chill in the fridge for 45 minutes or so ...

Good? Yes it was ... the radishes really tasted good with the mango sauce. I think I was in love for a minute there.

Note: I have made this with cooked shrimp ... in that case I just added the cumin to the food processor when making the sauce ... I'm all about making do, you know?

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Shrimp and Avocado Salad

I really love it when I come across a recipe that I have ALL the ingredients on hand to make, except one!  I mean, it's like mandatory that you make it!

This original recipe comes from Skinny Taste (which, by the way, I got her cookbook for Christmas and I'm sad to say I've not cooked ONE recipe from it yet!) and of course, I made a 'few' modifications but the whole idea comes from there!

And yes, it's Whole30 compliant (of course, I made this at the start of Week 2 and was still in the excitable mode!)  It will stay around for a repeat, trust me!

Here's how I did it:

1 lime, juiced (Costco)
1/4 red onion, finely chopped (Aldis)
1/2 tsp avocado oil (or olive oil) (Costco)
dash of salt (Costco) dash
black pepper to taste (Costco)
1/2 pound of cooked, peeled shrimp, cut in bite size pieces (8 ounces or thereabouts) (Whole Foods a while ago)
4 sangria tomatoes, chopped (Costco, these are like little tomatoes)
1 avocado, diced (Costco)
1/2 tbs cilantro, chopped (Publix)

The shrimp was frozen but not to worry, a quick rinse under running cold water 

defrosted these bad boys quickly!

In a small, non-reactive bowl, combine the lime juice, oil, red onions, salt and pepper and let that sit for at least 10 minutes to mellow out the onions (cool tip, dontcha think?)

My lime was pretty juicy so I had a lot of juice but all is well!

In a LARGE bowl, combine the shrimp, avocado and tomatoes. Add the smaller bowl of the onion mixture and combine. Gently stir in the cilantro.

That looks like a LOT of avocado, but again, all is well!

Serve up and enjoy!

Looking forward to sharing at some of these Great Parties ... go check them out!

*Affiliate links are part of this post ... check out my Affiliate Disclosure here!*

Shrimp with Cucumbers and Mango

This is a really yummy dish that I love to make on a Sunday and take to work on Monday!  It makes me excited for lunchtime!

1/2 pound of cooked shrimp, peeled and those pesky tails removed! I prefer to cut in half or 1/3 to make smaller bite size (Aldi)
1/2 cup of cucumbers, seeds scraped out if really watery and chopped (Aldi)
1/2 mango, chopped (Aldi)
1/4 cup of canned pineapple, drained, and chopped (Aldi) *Make sure it's packed in it's own juice and not syrup! Or you can use fresh, of course!
1/4 of a red pepper, diced (Walmart)
1/4 of a small rd onion, diced (Aldi)
1/2 smallish jalapeno, seeds and membranes removed, diced (Whole Foods)
1/4 cup of parsley leaves, chopped (I used the little containers of the dried stuff) (Publix)
3 tbs olive oil (Trader Joes)
juice from 1 limes (Trader Joes)
1 tsp dijon mustard (Publix)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (Aldi)
salt and pepper to taste

Ready to get this going?? Let's go!

Place shrimp, cucumbers, mango, pineapple, red pepper, onion, jalapeno and parsley in larger bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl, mix all the other ingredients, whisking to incorporate well.

Pour the liquid over the shrimp mixture, cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to allow everyone to do a meet and greet and get friendly with each other.

I was so dang excited for lunch again ... 

Serve cold and enjoy!!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Just Veggies

A little while ago, I was really, really in to fresh veggies: cucumbers, red peppers, green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, all tossed together with a light dressing.

I would eat that stuff daily.

DAILY

And then, I guess I just got over veggied out. It happens, you know?

But ... it's summertime and the peppers, the cucumbers, the tomatoes, everything looks so dang appealing in the produce stores that I just have to scoop them up ... to hell with the Freezer / Pantry / No Spend Challenge!

I could justify the purchases, honestly.

It is, afterall, Summertime! And that's the time when the full fledge BBQ/Pool/Outdoor parties are kicking in ... and psst ... it's also Whole30/Paleo approved but don't tell no one THAT!

Sunday morning rolled around and Princess and the Boyfriend texted us to say they wanted to maybe come over later in the day to hang out.  Not quite lunch time, not quite dinner time ... 

and because Princess is currently in AA (long story, but for her, alcohol does NOT improve her personal being) I (me, myself AND I) try to eliminate the alcohol factor when she's around, and really stay focused on healthy, happy foods. Well, just because, that's what a mom does to encourage their child, adult or not, to stay focused and on track (right?) ... 

Hence, Veggies.

Good, ripe, in season vegetables.

Lets get to it, shall we?

2 cucumbers (mine were seedless and picked up from ALDI for $1.29 each)

1 red pepper (picked up from Trader Joes, 79 cents a piece)

1/2 red onion (ALDI, 99 cents for 2 pounds)

3 roma tomatoes (picked up from ALDI, like 8 per bag for 99 cents)

3 tbs olive oil (Trader Joes)

2 tbs red wine vinegar (ALDI)

a generous sprinkling of oregano (Costco)

dash of salt and black pepper

Peel them cucumbers, slice in half and half again so you have 4 long spears. Chop up into bite size pieces.  If you have seeds in them and they are really seedy (not in THAT way), scrap the seeds out before cutting up. Toss in a large bowl (which I always, always pick too small of a bowl!)

Cut the red pepper in to bite size pieces and toss in the bowl.

Grab your tomatoes and cut in to 4 wedges. If really juicy, pull out the seeds and juicy stuff and then cut in to bite size pieces.

Dice the red onion in to small pieces. Not, like, tiny pieces, but certainly smaller than bite size ;-) Toss those in the bowl, as well.

Grab a small little bowl and mix up the oil, vinegar, oregano and salt and pepper and then pour that over them fresh veggies. Give it a quick stir to distribute the dressing, put a lid on it, and ideally, let it chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Not necessary, but it does taste even better chilled.

Me? I didn't have time. I was close to lobbing off a finger or two from those secret snatches of the fresh chopped veggies.

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)