Grilled Shrimp Ceviche

Today, I tried another of the recipes from Delight magazine's summer issue -- Grilled Shrimp Ceviche. Traditionally, a ceviche is actually done with raw seafood and the acids in the lime juice and/or vinegar "cook" the food over time in the fridge. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, but luckily this recipe had you start with grilled shrimp.

I skewered the shrimp, sprinkled a little cumin and garlic powder over them (not in the recipe but recommended by the seafood guy at HEB) and grilled them. Then, while they cooled, I chopped the red onion, tomato, and cilantro. Once the shrimp were cooled, I cut them in thirds (also not in the recipe, though I thought the picture didn't look like whole shrimp so maybe they just left that instruction out) and mixed them with the veggies, lime juice and olive oil. I chilled the whole mixture (though it was equally good when I tasted it immediately) and served them with tortilla chips for dipping. It was FABULOUS!!! (Again, if you want the measurements for the recipe, email me or pick up the magazine -- I got mine at Whole Foods and so far, their recipes have been delicious and healthy!)

Apparently it is a common practice to serve ceviche in a martini glass -- almost all the pictures online show it that way. Serving with chips is also apparently a common practice. The recipe actually called for spooning it into Tostitos Scoops and serving as individual pick-up cups, but I chose not to do that b/c I've read some conflicting info about cross-contamination gluten issues with Frito Lay products. Till I get confirmation that they're truly gluten free, I'll stick with ones I know (or at least believe!!) are.

Fewer Carbs, More Veggies, and New Stuff

Last week at a celiac group meeting, we listened to a very good and knowledgeable speaker who spoke about several key elements to good health, particularly in the face of food intolerances and allergies. Some of her presentation was on diet, some on supplementation with various vitamin type things, and some on lifestyle (including physical activity, prayer, meditation, and stress reduction). As an added bonus, for the first time ever, someone gave an explanation for why it would be a good thing to include a Fish Oil supplement in my regimen that actually made logical sense!

A couple of key points she made regarding diet were to use carbohydrates sparingly and to eat more veggies. This may sound like "duh!", but the discussion got me motivated, at least for the moment. She pointed out that those of us whose bodies have been fighting against us over our carbs (namely wheat) really need to give our systems a break from complex carbs that aren't easily digested. For me, that means that my chosen path of stopping wheat consumption but going full-out with non-wheat carbs is not helping enough (not to mention the less than stellar effects it has produced on my scale...). I just need to reduce my starches across the board. As we talked about the “eat more veggies” part, I was inspired by the notion of trying to incorporate more veggies into lots of different meals and food combinations, so I decided to explore some options. I haven't gone far into exploring new veggie varieties yet (there are more than I can count that I never eat) but one step at a time...

I started with breakfast. Let’s face it - except for eggs and fatty meats, breakfast is a carb heavy meal. IMHO, you can only eat eggs so often before you start thinking "ugh - no more!" But at least I can have eggs a few times a week if I get creative with my preparation options, and that’ll let me… get more veggies in my breakfast! For example, one day I made an omelet with broccoli slaw in it - surprisingly good! (Broccoli slaw is in the produce section pre-bagged and is mostly thin strips of broccoli -- stalk part -- with a few carrot strips and cabbage strips in it.) Another day I sautéed up some onions and mushrooms and threw them with some tomato into an egg and cheese breakfast casserole - also yummy, though next time I will use less onion and will make sure I have some diced green chilies for it too because -- YUM!!!

I had also been wanting to try out an alternative grain that is supposed to be super good for you and incidentally is higher than wheat in every nutritional quality EXCEPT complex carbohydrates (and gluten) - which works for me! Yes, it’s in the carb category that I’m supposed to use sparingly, but for something in that category, it’s considered to be exceptionally good. It's called quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I had already tried quinoa flakes for a hot breakfast cereal, and that was pretty good – especially with some diced apples and a little brown sugar – but I had never used the grain itself. It’s a bit weird looking (shown raw and cooked below)

and I had no idea how to cook it, so off I went to teh interwebz to find some recipes. I stumbled across one for Quinoa Pilaf and decided to try it out with lunch. I used the recipe here but made a few changes (added 1 or 2 cloves pressed garlic, used chicken broth instead of veggie broth, and used sliced almonds instead of walnuts b/c that’s what I had). Verdict -- it was yummy! Since I had plenty of leftovers, the next day I sautéed some chicken breasts in a tiny bit of canola oil and then I set the chicken aside and tossed some broccoli slaw in the same pan. Once that was crisp tender, I threw the meat back in and added some of the quinoa pilaf, heating it all together. It was delicious -- a lot like fried rice in its flavoring. I highly recommend it!

We also tried another really fantastic veggie and fruit salad dish this week that I found in a GF magazine called Delight. I cannot TELL you how many fabulous looking items were in that magazine, but so far, this is the only one I’ve gotten around to making. It’s Roasted Corn, Pineapple & Black Bean Salsa (though the consistency is more like pico than salsa) and is made with corn, pineapple, black beans, red onion, red pepper, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro. The picture showed avocado and tomato but the recipe didn’t call for them, so I diced and added about half a tomato and half an avocado to mine. It was delicious! It appeared from the instructions that you are supposed to serve it immediately, which we did, meaning that it was a tiny bit warm (from sauteing the corn), but it was equally good the next day cold. Email me if you want the full recipe.

My one foray into new-and-different veggies came from our neighborhood’s new weekly farmers market, where I got some pattypan squash. As a side dish to grilled fish, I sauteed that up with a little zucchini, some good seasonings, and a diced onion. Honestly, I can say the pattypan was mostly the same as the zucchini in flavor, but the dish was tasty enough.

So that about sums up my veggie adventure so far. For me, this is HUGE b/c normally, I eat no veggies with breakfast, none with lunch, and 1-2 with dinner each day (and one of those 2 would be a starchy veggie like potatoes, if that even counts as a veggie). So for me to be incorporating them into my diet multiple times a day, much less mixing them together, is a very big step! Yea for expanded horizons!

Next up: Grilled Shrimp Ceviche! Mmmm!