Greek Week

Hey y’all! It’s a dreary Wednesday in Alabama! The weather is threatening to be bad so the whole state is in shut down mode. The good news is, all of my classes are canceled so I am able to come spend a big chunk of the day in Birmingham with my Oma who is still recovering from big time gallbladder issues. We have now moved out of the ICU! The bad news about school being canceled is that I now have to reschedule my class work and figure out how to get caught up. Oh well, I’ll figure it out and keep telling myself that this time a month from now I will be SO DONE with this semester. I hope everyone is safe in the weather today! I’ve stayed away from the scale a bit longer because I haven’t been on my routine as much as I’d like because of school and the hospital and all the driving. I have however had small victories here and there so I will weigh soon.

This week, I prepared a Pinterest-inspired recipe that was seriously bursting with flavor! It’s a Greek style tomato dish that uses shrimp. Sometimes my budget doesn’t allow fresh shrimp so ignore the use of the less expensive frozen stuff. I know fresh tastes better but luckily the dish was so tasty, I didn’t even notice the frozen, pre-prepared shrimp. This recipe has shrimp (obviously), olive oil, green onions, garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, crushed red pepper, kalamata olives, a can of petite diced tomatoes, salt, pepper and feta cheese (I used fat free). I also served it on top of a bed of quinoa. To begin, I infused the olive oil (two tablespoons) with a clove of garlic by letting it just sit in it for a bit. Then, I heated the olive oil and garlic in a non-stick pan on low-medium heat. Once the garlic got fragrant, I took out the big chunks of garlic and added the tomatoes, spices and green onions. Once that began to simmer and thicken a bit, I added the shrimp (which I thawed) and olives. I let it heat all the way through and served it by spooning it on to the quinoa and garnishing with more fresh green onions. My takeaway is that, I’m just not that into quinoa. I’d rather eat cauliflower rice to be honest. I know it has protein but my overall impression of quinoa is: meh. The tomato and shrimp dish however was DELICIOUS! Before adding the shrimp, I could have easily added some half and half and parmesan and blended it together for a yummy tomato soup with a kick. The crushed red pepper added just enough heat and then the cheese and olives added a salty layer. This was really flavorful and I’d make it again.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Frontera Texas Chili Starter. Ian and I use this quite a bit. Of course, I like to make homemade chili but this stuff has awesome flavor and the chili is ready so fast! It’s available at Fresh Market and I highly recommend it.

Ok everyone! I will post next week!

I hope the rest of your week provides shelter from the storm (both literally and figuratively)!