I've never been good at naming things...except for fur babies and boyfriends. Haha, but seriously, I can come up with a good nickname is no time, but this dang blog is giving me trouble. My smart husband (God love him) thinks I should name my blog "Women, Wine and Wieners"...and while I think that's a very interesting (and ridiculous) name...I'm still taking suggestions!
I don't have a whole heck of a lot to talk about this week because I spent a lot of my week at work helping to install a new POS (and that acronym is dual meaning) system. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to have a new system, but I don't think I was expecting to dedicate that much time to it. But anywho...I'll start with a couple of my current "can't live without" recipes.
Now, before I go into these recipes, I'll let you know, I usually only make easy/quick recipes. My bloodlines are mostly Italian, so I love to serve people. However, I work long hours and the last thing I want to when I get home is cook a big meal. We also entertain a lot of the time and I also don't necessarily like to be stuck in the kitchen forever.
The first recipe is "Shrimp With Avocado-Mango Salsa". I found it in a magazine about a month or two ago...I think we've made it 4 times since then!
I don't have a whole heck of a lot to talk about this week because I spent a lot of my week at work helping to install a new POS (and that acronym is dual meaning) system. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to have a new system, but I don't think I was expecting to dedicate that much time to it. But anywho...I'll start with a couple of my current "can't live without" recipes.
Now, before I go into these recipes, I'll let you know, I usually only make easy/quick recipes. My bloodlines are mostly Italian, so I love to serve people. However, I work long hours and the last thing I want to when I get home is cook a big meal. We also entertain a lot of the time and I also don't necessarily like to be stuck in the kitchen forever.
The first recipe is "Shrimp With Avocado-Mango Salsa". I found it in a magazine about a month or two ago...I think we've made it 4 times since then!
Ingredients
Preparation
Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray. Place 2 cups spinach in center of 1 half of each piece of foil. Combine couscous with 1/4 cup water; divide evenly among packets, placing on top of spinach. Combine shrimp, 1/4 cup cilantro, oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Divide shrimp evenly among packets, placing next to couscous. Fold foil to close and crimp edges to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 10 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, mango, avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeño and lime juice in a bowl. Carefully cut foil to open; stir contents; garnish with salsa before serving.
Per serving: 397 calories, 10 g fat, 1 g saturated, 52 g carbohydrates, 8 g fiber, 25 g protein
Another new obsession I have is chia seeds! You can put in or on anything and they have a lot of great health benefits!
Here's the first photo (I found it online because I ate mine too fast and didn't take a photo!)
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 8 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup couscous
- 1 pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt,divided
- 1 large mango, peeled and diced
- 1 medium avocado, diced
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1/2 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Preparation
Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray. Place 2 cups spinach in center of 1 half of each piece of foil. Combine couscous with 1/4 cup water; divide evenly among packets, placing on top of spinach. Combine shrimp, 1/4 cup cilantro, oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Divide shrimp evenly among packets, placing next to couscous. Fold foil to close and crimp edges to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 10 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, mango, avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeño and lime juice in a bowl. Carefully cut foil to open; stir contents; garnish with salsa before serving.
Per serving: 397 calories, 10 g fat, 1 g saturated, 52 g carbohydrates, 8 g fiber, 25 g protein
Another new obsession I have is chia seeds! You can put in or on anything and they have a lot of great health benefits!
- Help weight loss. Chia seeds are popular for weight loss. They reduce food cravings by preventing some of the food that you eat from getting absorbed into your system. This blockage of calorie absorption makes them a great diet helper.
- Feel fuller faster: They can also help your diet by making you feel full. This is because they absorb 10 times their weight in water, forming a bulky gel.
- Hydration for athletes: They are also great for athletes because the "chia gel" can hydrate the body.
- Reduce your blood pressure: There's evidence to suggest they can reduce blood pressure.
- Omega-3: They are the richest plant source of Omega-3 (the vital fats that protect against inflammation—such as arthritis—and heart disease). In fact, they contain more Omega-3 than salmon!
- Benefits for diabetes: Because chia seeds slow down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrates into simple sugars, studies indicate they can control blood sugar. This leads scientists to believe chia seeds may have great benefits for diabetics.
- They are easier to digest than flax seeds, and don't need to be ground up.
Here's the first photo (I found it online because I ate mine too fast and didn't take a photo!)
It looks kinda yucky...but I guarantee you it's so yummy! This next photo shows what you can do for parties!
Wine A Bit, You'll Feel Better!
This is a new section I decided to add because....well...I love wine and you should to :) This section is dedicated to spreading the word about good wine.
This week, I'd like to tell you about an amazing wine I had about a couple weeks ago and I'm still dreaming about it. It's the 2010 Bogle Petite Sirah. It's absolutely fantastic and usually retails for $10 or $12. Here's a photo of the label.
This week, I'd like to tell you about an amazing wine I had about a couple weeks ago and I'm still dreaming about it. It's the 2010 Bogle Petite Sirah. It's absolutely fantastic and usually retails for $10 or $12. Here's a photo of the label.
Bogle typically makes wines that are good. I like wines that are jammy, full bodied, inky, and I usually want to see the bubbles red (not white). I like a good mouth feel, but not overly dry. I want to enjoy the wine and not be slapped up side the head by it. I want to taste berries, rather than tannins. But I don't want a sweet wine. I want it to be dry, but still get some heavy berry or jammy notes, I'll take either one. I love oaky wines too, but if I had to pick, I'd like the dominate flavor to be berries or tannins. And of course it all depends on the blend...sometimes people can have a really good idea in their head, but when the wine is actually made, it's just plain weird (like the time I made a jalapeno petite syrah at home. I partially blame the grapes (they were non-vintage) - and the bad idea of course! My petite syrah wasn't as jammy as I would have liked and it also wasn't aged. I ended up using them all as a cooking wine to marinate steaks and saute veggies with.) This wine is fantastic though, specifically the 2010 vintage. The 2011 is ok, and I think it may get better in another year or so. The 2011 doesn't have the jamminess that the 2010 has. So, if you can find it anywhere (cough cough Silver Fox in Grapevine $30 cough cough), I'd buy as much as you can drink in the next couple months, because fall is right around the corner and Bogle's Phantom will be coming out soon (one of my other favorites!) They only release The Phantom in the fall and they only make it once a year. The tradition at my house is to sit around the fire pit and make all different kinds of s'mores while drinking The Phantom, but I'll save that for the fall!
I've already said too much. Night Night!
I've already said too much. Night Night!