Bang! Bang! Y'all!

Hey everyone. It's the first week of school so I'm in a mad rush to start classes on Wednesday. Surprisingly, I was only up half a pound after my whirlwind, caloric Nashville trip. I didn't have the best weekend so I am starting fresh today and I've set a small goal for myself that I hope to reach by the time I go to Colorado in a few weeks. I had some pretty fierce moments of self-loathing this weekend and I'm trying to get out of that today. It'll be good to get back on a busy schedule. Staying busy always helps me on my diet struggle.

I am in love with anything that says "bang bang shrimp" or "uptown chicken." It's usually got an Asian zing type flavor but it's always fried. I attempted to achieve that flavor without frying anything and it worked pretty well. It was Taco Tuesday in my house and Ian used ground chuck for his but shrimp was on sale at Fresh Market so that's what I used for mine. I combined peanut sauce, sesame garlic sauce and sriracha and put it in a bowl. I sprayed some non-stick spray in a skillet, added the shrimp and sautéed them at medium heat a few minutes on either side. I removed the tails and tossed them in the bowl to get the sauce evenly coated. I added them to a corn tortilla and topped the shrimp with lettuce and onion. The flavor was great and pretty close to the Asian fried goodness I love so much at restaurants. In the future, I think I'll also add sesame seeds. Oh, and FYI, I also added the same sauce combo to grilled chicken tenders for a spicy "naked" tender effect. Quite tasty. Bold flavors are so important when you are trying to eat healthy.

That same night I decided to balance the healthy shrimp with homemade queso. I've never tried making it before so I found a recipe. It was a combination of white American cheese, fontina, half and half, jalepenos and crushed red pepper. It was so creamy and delicious. It hardens pretty fast but heats up nicely in the microwave with an added splash of cream. It's not a good thing for me to have around the house. I used the leftovers to make Ian a quesadilla the next day.

One thing that I never thought I would love is fruit in a salad. I'm completely on board with that now and decided to make it at home. I found a nice ginger sesame dressing that is only 45 calories per two tablespoons. It's got nice flavor and paired well with strawberries. I added some strawberry halves, the Asian dressing, reduced fat feta cheese and a 100 calorie pack of mixed nuts to a combination of spinach and romaine for a healthy, delicious salad. It was bright and very summer-y.

I am going to have a super busy schedule this semester and it's going to take a minute to get used to it but I'm off and running.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday/week.

Until next time...

Bye y'all.