Branching Out

Hey y’all! I hope your Tuesday is going well. I am SO VERY busy at work that I may even have to (gasp) work late or on weekends soon! Haha, I don’t mind because it makes the day go by faster but it is crazy around these parts. My weekend was good but short and as usual, I ate too much. Unfortunately, my plan of reeling it in on Saturday and Sunday didn’t work. In fact, the plan totally dissolved at some point on Saturday night so even though I will work hard this week, I may not get all that New York weight off until next week. Whatever, at least if I gain or don’t lose, I will know why…I’m not going to lie, the food was totally worth it. I went to a friend of a friend’s house for dinner Saturday, a kid’s birthday party and my mom’s for dinner Sunday night…it is no great shock that I had some trouble. I also may have had a late night fast food run but there is no reason to go into that. I don’t know what was wrong with me, I let myself go the first time and then it all unraveled after that. That is how it goes. I am certainly planning on having a good weekend coming up…I am really hoping to stick to it this time.







This week’s recipe is different than I am used to. This is a Mexican Shrimp Cobb Salad. I usually pick things that are cooked and have meat, potatoes, cheese…the things I would normally eat out if I could eat what I want. I had some shrimp that I needed to use and I saw this recipe and noticed all of the fresh produce in it and thought you know, this could be good, I should branch out and try it. The salad is pretty easy to make. You sauté the shrimp in chipotle powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper until it’s cooked (be careful to take the shrimp off the heat when they get pink and start to curl up, it’s real easy to burn shrimp), take the tails off and chop the shrimp in half so they are little bite size pieces. The recipe called for grilled corn so since I just needed a little, I took some frozen corn and tossed it in the hot skillet for a minute to let it get brown. Once the corn is done, mix it in a bowl with some diced red onion and a little bit of lemon juice. I would normally never put lemon on anything but the recipe called for lemon juice on the shrimp and corn. I do not like lemon flavor on my food (unless it’s in a pie) but I do know that lemon brightens up the flavor of your seafood and produce so I put just a little and I didn’t notice the flavor at all. The recipe called for black beans and chopped up avocado. I would normally leave out both of those ingredients but I made myself keep one. Because I don’t like beans, I opted for the avocado since I have been liking guacamole more and more lately if it’s fresh. In a bowl, you layer lettuce, chopped cucumbers, drained Rotel (or you can use fresh tomatoes), avocado, the corn mixture, the shrimp and then some cheese. Since there are so many veggies in this and shrimp, which isn’t high in fat, you get quite a bit of it for not a lot of calories. It was flavorful and filling and aside from a lot of chopping, it was pretty easy. I would definitely have it again!

I don’t know about you but one thing that tends to get me in trouble is dessert. I love cake and pie. I especially love chocolate and so finding alternatives to the bad stuff is important. I wanted to share a couple with you today.



I am a fan of the Fiber One bars for breakfast. I saw this brownie last week and thought I’d try it. It’s only 90 calories, full of fiber and it is quite tasty and chocolaty. It’s got actual chocolate chips in it. It’s kind of small but worth it for a quick bite of chocolate.



My mom introduced these to me (I’m sorry if the pictures are small). I love Skinny Cow ice cream and this is a new line of candy that they have out. I tried the peanut butter wafer bar they have and it was good but my favorite were the dark chocolate clusters (I think they have milk chocolate too). They were one less point than the bar they had and honestly, they are SO YUMMY. You get maybe 5 or 6 in this little pack and they taste like real chocolate and have a little caramel and maybe a little cookie or something for crunch. I have to say, I will definitely be buying me some of these.

That was all I had today.

Enjoy the new snacks if you try them…and I recommend that you do!

Bye!

“I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slap my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man
I'm going to show him what a little girls made of
Gunpowder and lead.” Gunpowder & Lead-Miranda Lambert (This one was for my Dad!)