Lazy Ceviche

I was looking for something super easy to throw together without turning on the oven or stove on a hot summer night. This is my lazy version of ceviche, using store bought pico de gallo. Sometimes I just like to let the HyVee chefs do the chopping for me! I know that ceviche technically cooks the shrimp without heat anyway, due to the acid of the citrus juice, but I already had frozen cooked shrimp in the freezer, so I just used that.

 

 

Lazy Ceviche

 

1 pound bag of small cooked shrimp, thawed

1 pint of store bought Pico de Gallo

1 cup of chopped cilantro

3 small diced avocados

1 cup of tomato juice

1 tsp of salt

1 Tblsp of hot sauce

2 Tblsp lime juice

2 tsp of minced garlic

 

Thaw frozen shrimp and drain well. Put them in a large mixing bowl, add pico, cilantro,  and avocados. In a cup, stir together the tomato juice, salt, hot sauce, lime juice and garlic. Pour this mixture over everything else and mix well . Serve with Beanito chips or homemade low carb tortilla chips.

 

 



Seafood Chowder

This is not the most low carb recipe I've ever invented, but we are kind of poor after Christmas and tried to tailor our grocery list to work around what we have in the pantry and freezer. And what I had in the pantry was canned potatoes, canned corn, and a tin of smoked mussels, an onion, minced garlic as well as a small tub of leftover mashed potatoes in the freezer. It sounded like a good start to a seafood chowder to me. It has a pretty high fat content though, so it should balance out. I'm really proud of myself that we saved those mashed potatoes and then actually used them again a couple of months later, rather than the usual scenario- pushed to the back of the freezer, then finally thrown away two years later.

The ingredients, 9 out of 13 things that we already had on hand.

The seasonings, all of which we already had.

Creamy, seafood-y goodness.

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 T minced garlic
6 T butter, divided
2 - 14.5 oz cans of diced potatoes
1 - 11 oz can of corn
1- 8 oz bottle of clam juice
4 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
1 lb of frozen peeled raw shrimp (small)
8 oz imitation lobster meat
small tin of smoked mussels
1/4 pint of heavy whipping cream
2 T konjac flour
Old Bay seasoning
Johnny's seasoning salt
cracked black pepper
salt

In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Peel and finely chop entire onion,  add to butter. Sautee until softened and translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook one more minute. Add drained potatoes and corn. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning, 1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine. Remove from heat.

In a stock pot, combine mashed potatoes, clam juice, milk, and 1 tablespoon of Johnny's seasoning salt. Bring to a simmer. Remove 1 cup of this mixture into a bowl, and quickly stir in 2 tablespoons of konjac flour. Stir rapidly to remove lumps. Add mixture back into stock pot. Add vegetable mixture from skillet to stock pot of liquids.

In the skillet, spray with oil, then add frozen shrimp. The shrimp will quickly release a lot of water and juice. Scoop that liquid off, and add to the stock pot. Sprinkle shrimp with 2 teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning, and cook until pink. Add lobster meat and stir to combine. Add seafood mixture to stock pot, along with 1 teaspoon each of salt, Johnny's, and Old Bay. Stir in mussels, the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, and heavy cream.

Serve topped with freshly ground pepper. Makes 6 large portions that are very filling, thanks to the magic of konjac flour.

Copycat Recipe: Applebee's Shrimp and Parmesan Sirloin

Can we match, or even, I dare say, improve upon our restaurant favorites as home? Let's find out, shall we? This week's copycat recipe...

I really love the shrimp and parmesan topped sirloin from Applebee's. But I knew we could do it better! So we made it ourselves at home, using ribeye steak- our preferred fattier, therefore, more flavorfully keto steak, over leaner sirloin. It was also my chance to see how it tasted paired with my favorite way to cook broccoli, which I dreamed up while wishing the side of veggies I was eating at Applebee's at the moment was more exciting.

Our inspiration.

Expectations: exceeded.

Grilled Ribeye with Shrimp and Cheese

2 ribeye steaks
16 shell on, raw large shrimp
Johnny's all purpose seasoning
1 bag of Kraft Touch of Philly 5 Cheese Italian Blend shredded cheese

Peel and thread shrimp onto skewers. Season with Johnny's on both sides. Tenderize both steaks, and season with Johnny's on both sides. Cook steaks on charcoal grill until medium rare. Cook shrimp skewers on grill as well, turning once, until opaque. Top steaks with shrimp and a handful of cheese. Put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or until cheese melts and starts to brown. Season with cracked black pepper. Serves 2 (large portions)

Choppin' brocoli, choppin' broco-li-hee!

Steamed Seasoned Broccoli

1 large head of broccoli
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tblsp. minced garlic in a jar (including juice)
the juice of one lemon

Cut broccoli into small florets. Put into a large microwavable steamer bag. Add the red pepper flakes, garlic, and lemon juice. Steam according to directions on the bag (typically 3 minutes). When done, shake in bag to combine all ingredients and serve. (Be careful of steam when you open the bag!)

Overall rating: A+ We totally exceeded our expectations, but we should have known- with these ingredients, how could we go wrong? Next time we may add some Cavendar's Greek seasoning to the shrimp skewers. Or try to make our cheese into more of a sauce. I realized later that the Applebee's version mentions white wine in the cheese sauce. But overall, it was totally delicious, and we were once again remarking about how decadent this diet is as we savored it's umami. Winner!