Mexican Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad...I'm Back

After a month of being on hiatus (from blogging that is)...I am back.  January was a month of recovery from holidays, birthdays, preparing for the new year, taking on some new additional duties and mourning the loss of friends who unexpectedly passed away, which carried a lot of emotional sadness at year's end.

It is now a new year and a new month today.  I am on the golden passage countdown and in 19 days I will be turning 50 years old.  While getting a long overdue and much deserved pedicure last week, I read a great quote from Julia Louis Dreyfus..."I try to push worry down and pull the Spanx up!", when asked how she deals with aging.  LOVE THIS!!  That has to be, without a doubt my motto!

So, in between pulling my Spanx up and trying to keep my worrying down, I am back in the competition volleyball gyms and traveling with our girls and team tournament catering every other weekend.  I am in awe of how far they have come in this sport and in their maturity and growth. They are now looking at colleges and we are praying for recruitment and scholarships to see them through their college dreams.

As always, our schedules have been beyond hectic, so quick, "post holiday figure friendly" meals have been trying to make it to the table.  I am typically the one in the house that is craving shrimp (of any kind) and my husband will always be the first one who wants "The Big Salad", (if you were an avid fan of the Seinfeld tv show, you will remember Elaine's Big Salad episode - hilarious!!).

Needless to say, I was able to pull together the best of both worlds and we had this amazing shrimp salad. It has the perfect amount of crunch, flavors and was an awesome light dinner for the two of us.

Mexican Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad

1/4 cup pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)

1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

5 Tbl. olive oil (divided)

salt and pepper

1 Tbl. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 small head romaine lettuce, leaves torn to bite size pieces

1/2 small jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 small avocado, peeled and diced

1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese

1/2 cup seasoned tortilla strips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread pepitas on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Heat grill (or you can cook on a grill pan inside on cooktop) to medium-high.  In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with the cayenne, 1 Tbl of oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper.  Grill until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

In a large bowl, combine the vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic, remaining 4 Tbl. olive oil and whisk well.  Add the lettuce, jicama, pepitas, shrimp, and avocado and toss with dressing to combine.  Plate salad and top with Cotija cheese and tortilla strips.

**Note: You may want to double this dressing portions, if you're like me and don't want an overly dry salad.

One Year Ago: Sweet Dreams Cake

Two Years Ago: Ham and Cheese Biscuit Bake

Strawberry Blueberry Crunch

Fall is in the air here.  I can feel the nights starting to cool down, the leaves are starting to turn cranberry red and golden orange and I am craving cinnamon, nutmeg and warm baked goodies.

Baking season will soon be upon us and we have had fun trying out different desserts for the upcoming autumn season.  This was from The South Beach Diet and was the perfect cure for some warm yumminess!

Strawberry Blueberry Crunch

Courtesy of The South Beach Diet Taste of Summer Cookbook

1/4 cup whole almonds plus 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 Tablespoon trans-fat-free margarine 

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1 Tablespoon granular sugar substitute

6 Tablespoons part-skim ricotta cheese 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a blender or spice grinder, grind whole almonds until finely ground.  In a small bowl, combine ground almonds, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add margarine and stir to combine.

Lightly coat an 8" x 8" baking dish (I used a glass pie pan) with cooking spray. 

Place strawberries, blueberries, and sugar substitute in the dish; toss to combine.

Dot with ground nut mixture (it will not cover entire surface) and then sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until topping is golden and fruit is hot.  Divide fruit among 6 dessert bowls and top each serving with 1 Tablespoon of ricotta.

** Since I am not a fan of ricotta (unless it's buried in lasagna), I substituted it with low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, in small portions.

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs and Old Lady Legs

They say that it is very important for a parent to bond with their children, I think that goes without saying and quite obvious, of course all parents and children should have bonding moments.  However, I didn't think that one of my bonding times would be having to wear the same type of knee brace that my daughter has also started in, due to too many floor dives in volleyball and developing tendinitis.

My new daily "accessory".

So there you have it, I now officially have "Old Ladyitis".

Last weekend as I had my knee propped up and icing it while I watched Pioneer Woman, she made these really great chicken legs and since I am a "spicy" kind of lady, I thought it was very timely and very appropriate. So in celebration of great (and not so great) legs, here it is....

Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs

Courtesy of Pioneer Woman

24 whole Chicken Legs

2 sticks Butter

1 Tablespoon Hot Salt (or You Favorite Seasonings)

1/2 cup Lemon Juice (or To Taste)

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a saucepan.  Pour 1/2 cup of lemon juice (fresh or bottled).  Now add your seasonings.  In this case, I used 1 tablespoon of Lawry's Season Salt and a few dashes of cayenne pepper.  Stir it together until combined.

Rinse and pat chicken legs dry.  With metal tongs, transfer them one by one into the butter mixture and place on a baking sheet.  Once all of the chicken legs are coated and on the baking rack, take a pastry brush and give them one last coating of the butter mixture.  Sprinkle them with some more of your seasonings.

Place them into a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes.  If they need a bit more color, turn on the broiler for a couple minutes and watch them closely.  Remove them when they are nice and golden brown.

I served our new legs with a salad version from the South Beach Diet.

Baby Greens with Tiny Tomatoes, Fresh Herbs, and Toasted Pistachios
Adapted from The South Beach Diet "Taste of Summer" Cookbook

1/2 cup shelled pistachios
6 ounces mixed baby greens
1-1/2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sherry, white wine or champagne vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Toast pistachio nuts either in a saute pan on the cooktop or in a 350 degree oven for about 8 minutes, until golden brown.  Transfer to a cutting board and roughly chop.

In a large bowl, combine greens, tomatoes, cucumber, and basil.  Add oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; toss to coat.  Divide among salad plates and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

Fajita Salad and Island Fever

Well, I am finally back blogging and life is somewhat getting back to normalcy.  The past two weeks I have packed up one house, moved and unpacked into another house, packed up an office and moved into a new office space that we just remodeled.

After being through a few moves with my husband in our life together, I have learned that moving is the true test of love and a good, strong marriage.  Exhibit A:  My husband and I are packing up the kitchen and dining room.  He says to me, and I quote "How many cake platters do you need?" Without blinking an eye I answered, "I don't know...how many golf clubs does one man need?"...silence.  I rest my case your honor!!

So in the end, all the cake platters and golf clubs made it to the new house and here is what we have established, some people in our home have a golf addiction and others have a platter, cake stand, tablecloth, and dishes addiction. 

I would much rather be here right now.

While sorting through my boxes and boxes of platters, I am having island withdrawals and want to be back at our condo on the ocean forgetting about reality for another two weeks.  Unfortunately that is not going to happen, so we are working in our new backyard, getting ready for future dinner guests and preparing the grass and clearing branches for the girls' new volleyball area.  In trying to keep our Polynesian memories the girls suggested that we decorate our new powder bath with the island flair.

To add to all the fun I have been having the past two weeks, my husband decides half way into our Hawaiian vacation that we need to lose weight, change our lifestyle and go on a diet.  Are you kidding me??? On my vacation...I have one word - BUZZKILL !  I think our chocolate chip and coconut scones pushed him over the edge, or maybe it was our dessert indulgence at Roy's with our Pineapple Upsidedown Cake and their Chocolate Lava Cake tastings we had.

At any rate, I have had to temporarily say good-bye to my food tv girlfriends Ina, Trisha and Ree.  Okay maybe my (as my friend Toni refers to) "big girl pants" were getting a little snug in some not so flattering areas.  We hit the South Beach Diet strong and I'm just taking the attitude and looking at it as trying out some new cookbooks.  Stay tuned....

So let's just recap here. In the past 2 weeks, I have moved twice and I have not had potatoes, pasta, white rice, crackers or chips.  Crankiness is setting in without a doubt.  We did succumb over Father's Day weekend and shared a bottle of  Klinker Brick Pinot Noir wine and I made fat free brownies with mini chocolate chips because the mini chips have less calories that the regular size chocolate chips, right?

As we were wrapping up our vacation, we had to start using up our leftovers for dinners and clear out the refrigerator.  Yes, sometimes you do need to have leftover night, even on vacations.

Since I had to start preparing myself for a lot of proteins and salads, I came up with this suprisingly great combination fajita salad.  I took our remaining rib eye steaks from anniversary night, the shredded chicken from our quesadilla lunch and the garlic sauteed shrimp from a caesar salad dinner and grilled them all up together with half a yellow onion, sliced and some diced yellow, red and orange peppers.

I then plated all the meats and veggies on top of chopped romaine leaves and finished it with tomatoes, cheddar cheese, avocados and sour cream.  Of course, anything tastes wonderful sitting outside on your patio watching the sun set into the ocean.