Love me some Shrimp & Scallops…

We love shrimp, scallops and any shellfish at the Gardner household!   Plus my freezer has way too much food and I keep adding to it so time to clean it out.   Any one else have way too much in your deep freeze?  It is Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Christmas decorations are up and the tree is trimmed.  The small 7ft tree that is – we opted to not put up the 12ft tree since we will be spending Christmas on The Disney Dream Ship & Disney World.   I first said “NO TREE” but as I was in the Christmas decorating mode with a few helpers we decided the small tree would be quick and easy in comparison to the big tree.   Decorating for Christmas is what I do on Friday following Thanksgiving.  No Black Friday for me as this is our tradition.  Before the decorating began ~ first things first…  a 90 minute spinning/cycling class at the YMCA.   Wow ~ now that was a sweat fest but it felt amazing.   After the spinning class, I still wasn’t ready to decorate as we had mountains of laundry and the fall decorations had to come down.  Finally after I made lunch and cleaned up was I able to begin the decorating.  We finally finished and the family decided they wanted Pizza Hut.  So I splurged and had my favorite:  Chicken Wings from Pizza Hut.   I haven’t had these in a few months and they were yummy and saved me the hassle of cooking.   After all the decorations were hung and we finished our take out it was Movie Time.   What a great way to finish off Black Friday.

Saturday became Shrimp & Scallop day for dinner after reviewing what all has piled up in the deep freeze.   I also had 5 large sweet potatoes that I had planned to use for Thanksgiving but found out someone else was making more traditional sugar loaded sweet potatoes.   I ALMOST made our favorite Sweet Potato fries but decided to try a mashed sweet potato recipe.

You know I love to “Healthify” my recipes and substitute for better grains, oils and cut sugars and some of the fat.   If you have any recipes that you have ‘healthified’ and adjusted I would love to here from you and we will post your recipe and share.

So Here Goes….   Cleaning Out the Deep Freeze, Fridge & Cupboard Weekend Meal

Shrimp & Scallop Scampi with Broccoli & Snow Peas

Ingredients (Shrimp & Scallops)

2 – Bags of Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 Bags of Scallops (small scallops with 80 per bag)

2 T Peanut Oil

1/2 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth

2 Limes – Juice of limes

1 clove of minced garlic

1 tsp sea salt & pepper

2 T Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

2 T Rice Vinegar

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Tumeric

Ingredients - Veggies (prepared in separate skillet)

1 Head of Broccoli

1 Bag Snow Peas, strings removed, ends trimmed

2 T Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth

2 T Cornstarch

2 T Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
Topping

2 T Chopped Fresh Cilantro (topping)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine scallops, shrimp, soy sauce (bragg’s liquid aminos), lime juice and rice vinegar.  Mix well and marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  In a large skillet, heat peanut oil, add marinated shrimp and scallops.

In separate large skillet, saute broccoli, snow peas with chicken broth and veggie ingredients.  Cook until vegetables are tender.

Combine Shrimp, Scallops and veggies adding cornstarch to thicken sauce on medium heat for 3-5 minutes.   Sprinkle with cilantro, taste and adjust seasonings.

**Note – this is one of those meals you clean out the deep freeze, fridge and cupboards**

Healthy Low-Fat Cheese Biscuits

1 1/2 Cups Organic Whole Grain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup low-fat parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fat-free cheddar cheese

1/4 cup egg white

1 T Oil  (olive oil)

8 oz plain yogurt  (I used Greek Yogurt)

Directions

Pre-Heat oven to 400 and spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients and whisk in egg whites, oil, yogurt.  Once mixed add parmesan cheese and fat-free cheddar cheese to dough mixture.

Drop dough by 1/3 cupfuls, 2 inches apart and bake 13-15 minutes

**Note the 1/3 cup was too large better option to use 1/4 cupful.   My youngest son (Mitchell-10) loved these and my husband and older children (Grady-16 & Bayley-15) decided they needed more seasoning.   Next time I will add more garlic powder and instead of 1/2 tsp salt go with 1 tsp salt.**

Next was my side dish and I originally was going to make Sweet Potato fries which is a family favorite but instead I wanted to try a Healthy Mashed Sweet Potato Recipe which was okay but most of my family does not like sweet potatoes “sweet” but they love sweet potato fries.

Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

6 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 T Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/4 cup Sugar Free-Maple Syrup  (I use Walden Farms)

1 T Olive Oil

1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

Topping

1 cup Pecans

2 T Real Honey

1 T Cinnamon

Directions

Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees.   Bring cubed sweet potatoes to a rolling boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.   Mash with mixer until smooth consistency.  Mix in other ingredients.   Spray casserole dish with cooking spray and add mashed ingredients.    Mix topping of pecans, honey and cinnamon and top the casserole.   Bake for 25 minutes

**Note this was a good alternative to the high sugar sweet potatoes served at most holiday meals.  My family did not eat much as they don’t like their sweet potatoes “sweet”.   But I was able to use the leftovers for my Sunday Pancakes and made my healthy Honey banana pumpkin raisin bread substituting the pumpkin for the mashed sweet potatoes and no one noticed!

I have to say the Shrimp & Scallops was the big hit at our house and my 10 year old is a carb lover so the cheesy biscuits were a big hit with him.  My next post is what I do with the leftover mashed sweet potatoes.

Eat Clean & Train Hard,

Your Trainer ~ TracyG