Buffalo Shrimp Wrap

This post is a little late but I wanted to share anyways.  Friday we made buffalo shrimp wraps and let me just say they are one of my favorite.  In Wilmington there's a restaurant called Carolina Ale House that made this delicious Shrimp Zinger Wrap which is essentially shrimp tossed in buffalo sauce and rolled up with onion, lettuce, and tomato in a wrap.  When I first ordered it I was a little skeptical because I wasn't sure about shrimp in buffalo sauce, but after one bite I was hooked and new I had to recreate it at home.

The weekend is usually a time where we go a little crazy with junk, go out to eat or pick up something quick so I wanted something "takeout-ish" in order to not feel deprived but still be somewhat healthy, so this was the perfect thing.

And, a while back I found these really cute red baskets and checkered paper in a bbq set at Walmart for only $5 and I am so glad I got it!  Now I can always pretend I am at a diner and make dinner more fun!  A little cheesy I know, but I like thats how I like it.

Buffalo Shrimp Wrap
makes 2 servings

12 medium sized shrimp thawed (I prefer the raw kind I cook myself)
1-2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp of your favorite buffalo wing sauce
2 large 10 inch tortilla wraps
chopped lettuce
sliced tomato
diced red onion
sprinkle of shredded cheese
a little blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping

Cook shrimp in oil until they are fully pink and opaque.  Toss cooked shrimp in buffalo sauce.  Top a tortilla with lettuce, tomato, onion, shrimp and cheese.  Roll it up, and serve with some fries.  EAT!

Wrap Stats:
Calories: 300; Carbs: 39g; Fat: 7g; Protein: 22g; Sugar: 1g; Fiber: 5g
(not including dressing for dipping)

This recipe is a part of my 30 Days of Dinner Challenge.  If you have missed the other days and would like to catch up on what's cookin in my kitchen, check it out!

30 Days of Dinner: Day 1

Lately I have been a little lazy, and laziness usually means we go out to eat or end picking up some takeout. It is now at the point where we can't decide where to go eat because nothing sounds good anymore and I think this may be nature's way of our bodies shouting "give me nourishment!" Well message received because I decided to start a little challenge for myself and it's called 30 Days of Dinner!

In my Thirty Days of Dinner challenge I (or Trisden) am going cook dinner every night for the next thirty days!  The good thing is, the meals we cook are usually somewhat healthy it's just that we don't do it  often enough so I am excited to try this out and see how we feel at the end of the thirty days.  I think our cooking skills can only get better, its budget friendly, plus it's a lot healthier than going out, or at least can be anyways.  I probably won't post a recipe each and every single day, but I will be recording my progress so feel free to join me or just follow along throughout the month.  I could use the support!

Tonight I made sausage and brown rice stuffed peppers.  They are super easy to make and are extremely filling.  I usually eat two peppers which is right around 300 calories and they are pretty lowfat.  I like to cook the sausage in water and drain out all the liquid because that helps cook out a lot of the excess grease and keep the fat count down.  Recipe adapted from laurenconrad.com.

Day 1 of Thirty Days of Dinner:

Sausage and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

Here's what you'll need:

1 cup instant brown rice

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup water

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 red onion, chopped

2 links chicken sausage, casings removed and cut into bite size chunks

1 can italian stewed tomatoes, drain a little of the excess liquid and breakdown tomatoes (don't be afraid to use your hands!)

3 or 4 bell peppers, cleaned and halved

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook brown rice to package instructions using chicken broth rather than plain plain water (if you wish), it does add a lot more flavor.  In a large pan, add the sausage chunks and cover with 1/4 cup of water.  

Put on medium heat until water is hot and is almost to a boil (you can add more water if you need to) then cover and reduce heat to med/low.  Cook covered for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally and breaking sausage down into smaller bits with spoon.  

When sausage is cooked through drain the liquid and set sausage aside.  Add olive oil to the pan and saute onion and garlic until onions are translucent.  Stir in stewed tomatoes and cooked rice.  Spoon mixture evenly into each pepper.  Bake for 30 minutes.  EAT!

Stats for 1 large stuffed pepper:

Calories: 155; Carbs: 22; Fat 5; Protein: 7; Sugar: 6; Fiber:4 

I linked up here:

Corn and Black Bean Salsa

The other day I was in the mood for chips and salsa, but the jar of Chi Chi's brand salsa in the fridge wasn't really doing the trick for me so I decided to make this yummy corn and black bean salsa. I love this stuff because it's super cheap and easy to make, not to mention it also makes a ton.  

I like to make a batch of it at the beginning of the week and use it for different meals or snacks each day.  It's so versatile, you can eat it alone, with tortilla chips, on tacos, as a salad topping or even in place of salad dressing.  I'm pretty sure I have had this stuff all those ways I just listed and it's only Wednesday!  I think it's safe to say I am addicted.  Try it!

Corn and Black Bean Salsa Recipe

Here's what you'll need:

1 can yellow corn, drained and rinsed

1 can white corn, drained and rinsed

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced italian style tomatoes, partially drained

1/4 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped (you may want more or less depending on taste)

Juice from 1 lime

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.  Tastes great served chilled or at room temperature, you decide.  Enjoy!

This recipe makes about 12 one half cup servings.

Nutrition: Calories: 110; Carbs: 19g; Fat: 1g; Protien: 6g; Sugar: 5g; Fiber: 6g

Super Bowl Cookies

As you know the Super Bowl was yesterday and in light of the festivities I decided to make some fun cut out cookies to accompany the game and commercial watching.

I got the idea for these cute cookies from Lizy B Bakes; check them out here!  She makes lots and lots of beautiful treats, and her cookies are practically mini works of art!  I used her recipes for the sugar cookies and royal icing.  The cookies make about two dozen good sized cookies, and the frosting recipe would probably be enough to ice two batches.  

I was a little nervous to decorate the cookies, as this was my first time ever using royal icing, but it wasn't so bad.  They turned out pretty well for a first-timer!  It's all in getting the proper icing consistency.  I found in this royal icing recipe that I needed to add more powered sugar to get it thick enough for piping, and it needed some water to be thin enough to spread for flooding.

What really helped with the decorating was a great tutorial at With Sprinkles on Top, which is another awesome baking site with tons of inspiring ideas!  Here they show step by step how they decorated their own version of these exact cookies.  Awesome!

Dinner for 2 Twenty-Somethings on a Budget!

Brittany's Chicken and Biscuits

Here's what you'll need:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed

Bisquick baking mix

1 -1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

4 tbsp flour

4 tbsp butter

2 chicken bullion cubes (low sodium preferred)

2 cups of water

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning

Bay leaf

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Season chicken breasts well with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper seasoning and bake for 20 minutes, or until done.  After chicken is done, be sure to keep the oven on and set it to the temperature as directed on the Bisquick box for the biscuits.

As the chicken bakes, prepare biscuits according to package instructions and make sure they are on the cookie sheet and ready to bake.  

After preparing the biscuits, dissolve bullion cubes into the water to make a broth.  In a deep frying pan melt butter on medium heat.  Once butter is melted add the flour and mix until it forms a pasty substance called a roux.  Once roux is formed add the two cups of chicken broth, the vegetables, salt, pepper, bay leaf and lemon pepper.  

Stir frequently as the mixture should be thickening forming a gravy.  Heat this to a low boil, and then simmer on low.  Once chicken is done, shred and add to the gravy.  After adding the chicken, put biscuits into bake.

Once biscuits have cooled a bit, supper's ready!  Halve a biscuit and top it with the chicken gravy and dinner is served!  Enjoy!  This recipe makes 4-6servings.  

Nutrition: ( 2 biscuits, and 1/2 cup of chicken gravy) 

Calories: 497, Carbs: 48 g, Sugar: 11 g, Fiber: 2 g, Fat: 22 g, Protein: 26 g, 

Note:  

At the time this was made I was very limited with my spice stock so feel free to experiment.  One seasoning the recipe is missing is rosemary.  I highly recommend adding it if you have it!

Also, depending on the bullion you use, you may not want to add any salt at all as the bullion probably has enough.  Remember you can always add salt but you can't take it out.  Anyways, happy cooking!

A Walk to Remember in Southport, NC

So, due to Halloween last weekend the days surrounding were not the best for eating or working out.  I went a little crazy with candy, Chinese food, fast food, and pop.  Fortunately I jumbed back onto the healthy band wagon by Wednesday.  Better late than never right?

I like to allow myself to have one cheat day a week but it seems my cheat days spill from Friday night to Saturday to Sunday and even onto Monday!  If I am going to have one cheat day it needs to just be ONE cheat day!  I will work on that this coming weekend.

Tuesday I went to a cute little lunch place called Jester's Cafe.  My fiance's aunt ordered the White Chicken Chili and it looked absolutely delicious!  After seeing it I wanted to replicate it and decided to make it last night!  It was super easy and cheap too.  I found a recipe at Food.com and made some minor changes to it.


White Chicken Chili

Here's what you'll need:

A Crock Pot

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, raw
1 can yellow corn, drained and rinsed
2 cans northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
1 can of diced tomatoes and green chiles
2 cups of water
2 chicken bullion cubes (low sodium)
1 packet Taco Bell taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup of sour cream + a spoonful for serving
Shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese (just a little bit to sprinkle on top when serving)
1/4 cup chopped onion, raw

Directions:
Halve raw chicken breasts and place pieces in the bottom of the crock pot.  Pour corn and beans over the chicken.

Dissolve 2 bullion cubes into two cups of boiling water to make broth.  In a medium bowl mix broth, cream of chicken soup, can of diced tomato and green chiles, and taco seasoning packet until blended.  Pour mixture over the beans, and corn.  Set crock pot to low and cook for about 8 hours.

After cooking 8 hours (or until chicken is done) shred chicken, stir in 1/2 cup sour cream and your done!

Top your bowl with a dollop of  sour cream, a few sprinkles of shredded cheese and a tsp chopped onion.  Serve with a yummy salad.  Delicious!

This recipe makes 8 servings.  Here are the nutrition facts per serving:
Calories:  291, Fat: 8 g, Carbs: 27 g, Sugar: 5 g, Fiber: 7 g, Protein: 24 g

Now I am shifting from last nights dinner to last weekend's happenings.  This past Saturday we took a little drive to the beautiful Southport, NC.  We walked around the shore for a little while before I remembered one of my favorite movies A Walk to Remember shot a lot of scenes here.  I didn't see any specific places that the movie was actually filmed at but I know we were in the general area.

Trisden and I had fun exploring the pier and taking pictures.  The day was a perfect October afternoon, sunny and chilly out.  It reminded me of home!

The wedding chapel where Jamie and Landon were married was filmed at Orton Plantation in Southport. We took a ride over to the plantation which is appearantly no longer open to the public!  I was so disappointed.  I had actually been there about 8 years ago and have seen the chapel but didn't realize it was from this movie.  I am guessing I have an old photo of this place stashed somewhere.

Once we got back to Wilmington, I Googled Mandy Moore's house in A Walk to Remember and we found it and were able to drive by!  I was so excited but it was too dark to take a picture.  This is a photo of the house.  What a beautiful home. I recently watched the movie commentary and they discussed how they shot scenes inside the home as well.  So interesting!

Are you an A Walk to Remember Fan?  Right now I am loving any movie that was done around The Year 2000 what about you?