avocado

Shrimp Taco Bowls

May 10, 2016

How addicted to Pinterest are you?

I’m hooked. I love it like a fat kid loves cake. (sup 50 Cent!)

Sure, I love it for checking out Whole30 recipes or pie ones or cocktail ones, but I am currently hooked on house stuff.

I have been looking at everything from lights to garage storage set up and pantry organization to lanai decor. A lot of our house will come complete but there are things that just make more sense for us to do since we can do it more affordably than doing it through the builder. Plus, they have limited options for things, like butt ugly chandeliers for lighting options for the dining room. No thanks!

So pardon my overzealous house related pins, but looking at all this stuff is just too much fun! And it makes me wish I won the lottery. Dang.

Anyway, it’s Taco Tuesday and it’s also National Shrimp Day so I merged the 2 together for this weeks Taco Tuesday recipe post.

Since I’m still doing Whole30, it’s a Whole30 complaint recipe but I swear you would never feel deprived. (I just clarify that for those who think Whole30 is depriving/lame/crazy/whatever!) We made out bowls with cauliflower rice, but if you prefer you can make yours with white rice, brown rice, quiona, or whatever!

It took me about 10 minutes of prep and another 20 minutes for all of it to come together. It’s the perfect week night meal when you are craving some with some fun flavors and is fast to prepare.

Get your eats on with this Taco Shrimp Bowl. You’re gonna love it!!!!

Shrimp Taco Bowls

Makes 4

Ingredients

1 pound shrimp, tails removed
2 Tablepsoon olive oil, divided
1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
1/4 Cup raw pumpkin seeds/pepitas
1 each of green, red, and orange peppers, sliced into 1/2″ wide strips
1-2 yellow onions, cut into 1/2 wide strips (yeild approx 2 Cups)
4 Cups mixed greens
2 Cups cooked rice (I used cauliflower rice)
2 avocados, pitted and thinly sliced
2 Cups sliced grape tomatoes
1/4 Cup chopped cilantro
1 fresh jalapeno, sliced very thinly
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
your favorite salsa (I used a salsa verde from TJ’s)

Process

Marinate the shrimp by coating with 1 Tablespoon oil and then mixing in the taco seasoning, set aside.
In a dry skillet, add the pepitas. Toast the seeds over medium heat, moving frequently, until golden brown. Set aside.
In the same skillet, heat the remaining oil over high heat. Add the peppers and onion strips. Let sit for 1 minute prior to mixing. Mix to allow all strips to cook evenly, but not too often as you want them to char a bit as well. When compeltely softened, remove and set aside.
Add the shrimp to the skillet. Let cook on 1 side for 2 minutes prior to flipping, again you are aiming for some char, but not over cooking the shrimp. Cook until just opaque/white, approximately another 2 minutes. Do not over cook!
While the shrimp is cooking, begin to assemble the bowls by layering in the cooked rice, greens, and cooked veggies.
Add the shrimp to the bowls when cooked through. Finish topping off the bowls with the 1/2 an avocado, some tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno slices, and 2 lime wedges per bowl. Enjoy with some of your favorite salsa as well.

Nacho Cheeseburger- Burger Month

July 19, 2014

It’s the weekend!!!

It’s time to rock it. It’s time to get shhh done. It’s time to actually cook.

We’re going to be busy this weekend as we’re on vacation next weekend. So we really need to focus and try to tackle this weekend’s to do list, as well as much as possible of next weekend’s to do list. Here’s just a few things… laundry, mop the first floor, get the kitchen rug back down, clean Bunny’s cage, get to the post office, make SRC recipe, work on refinishing dinning chairs. Plus, I have a fun brunch to go to on Sunday while Price is visiting his sister and dad in NH. Oh yeah, and I have 4 hrs of work to do as well to make up time from always leaving early to get miss Autumn from daycare.

At least Price and I are ah-maze at tackling the to do list. I’m just hoping we ca pull it off this weekend. #Fingerscrossed.

While we’re talking to-do lists, I’m giving you this burger to add to your to-do list.

Yep, I give the marching orders here!

These Nacho Burgers are the perfect mash up of a great dinner and a great appetizer. But if we’re truthful here, I’ll just admit that we eat nachos for dinner a lot. Anyway, these are so great because of all the yummy toppings. AND the tortillas chips. The tortilla chips add the best crunch to the burgers. Don’t skimp on them.

You know how they say not to mess with things when grilling, well don’t mess with these burgers while you are grilling them. They are a little delicate since they are filled with a mixture of beef, beans, and cheese. So just put the burgers down and let them be until they are ready to be flipped once. Grab a beer and just relax.

I’ve made these burgers two times in like 9 days since I wanted to tweak things and since I enjoyed them so much I had to have them again ASAP. I first had taco seasoning in the burger mix. While it was good we were remarking that it was more like a ‘Taco Burger’ than a ‘Nacho Burger’. I guess they are similar so no foul there but I decided I wanted to mellow that flavor out so I took it out. Feel free to add it in if you would like. As well, one we ate these burgers with jarred salsa and another with pico de gallo. Both ways are really good and I’d say just go with your personal preference.

You can’t go wrong here. I swear since I picked these black olives off of mine the moment I was done taking pictures (we just aren’t friends) and still enjoyed it so just do what you want, just make sure you have a lot of tortilla chips on there. You need that crunch!!!!!!

Nacho Cheeseburger

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

24 ounces of ground beef (80/20)
10 oz of canned blacked beans
12 oz of shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 burger buns (I suggest Kaiser rolls)
salsa, such as pico de gallo
tortilla chips
1 avocado, pit removed, thinly sliced/guacamole
aproximately 1/2 cup of sour cream
sliced black olives
pickled jalapenos slices

Process

Combine the ground beef, black beans, 1/2 of the cheese, and salt and pepper. Form 4 equally sized patties as round as your buns.
Prepare the grill by cleaning the grill grates and preheating to ‘medium’ heat. Just prior to putting the burgers on the grill, spray the grates with non-stick cooking spray.
Grill the burgers over medium heat until they are half way done prior to flipping. Once you flip them put the remaining shredded cheese on the burgers and put a lid on the grill.
While the burgers are cooking, grill the buns as well to toast them.
When the burgers are cooked through and the cheese has melted, remove from grill and place on the toasted buns.
Top the burgers with the salsa, tortilla chips, avocado, sour cream, olives, and jalapeno slices.

Be sure to enter the giveaway!!!

A huge thanks to all of the fun bloggers who were just as inspired by a month of burgers as I was and the awesome companies that have donated prizes to #burgermonth , El Diablo Hot & Spicy Mustard, FireWire Grilling Skewers, Hamilton Beach, KitchenIQ, The Spice House, and Wisconsin Cheese

Texas Queso Dip

April 12, 2013

When Price and I went to visit our friends Natalie and Jason in Austin last year we fell in love with all of the food we had there. Everything was incredible. I couldn’t get enough of the tacos, bbq, agua fresca, and, of course, queso. (Also couldn’t get enough time hanging with great friends, natch.)

Each and everything we ate was amazing for a different reason. The fantastic Mexican we had at Chuy’s, to the BBQ we got to go after a night of drinking, to the chicken on a biscuit from Whataburger immediately after some bar hoping.

But the one thing that was a constant was the queso we had. We had it every change we had and even while we lamented ‘no more queso’ we loved it. I think there really is a limit to the amount of queso/cheese a person can eat in a few days and I think we were fast approaching that limit. But really, worth indulge. Or at least that is what I kept telling myself after dipped another chip in.

Well since this weekend’s upcoming NASCAR race is at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, I figured that I had to share something for my Sprint Cup Snack that I loved so much about my visit to Texas. Now don’t give me any lip about how Austin and Fort Worth are not that close to each other- 3 hr drive or so- because I say what goes on this blog! ha!

Plus any excuse to eat queso is okay for me.

Natalie emailed me her recipe for queso at a moment’s notice. True friends understand the love of cheese (even if she has gone Paleo now). And let me tell you it was fantastic!!

The queso is incredibly easy to make and would be fantastic to whip up for watching any sporting event, a movie, or having friends over for a side splitting night of Cards Against Humanity. << come over, let’s hang and just be ridiculous.

If you can whip up some simple pico de gallo and can melt some cheese in milk, then you are all set. It’s basically that, plus making a simple rue to thicken it all up. So, so much better than the queso you get in the jar that you microwave. Was that even necessary to say?!?! duh!!

Obviously, queso is best piping hot so it’s super ooey gooey yummy. If you have a little crock pot dip warmer then I suggest you use that to keep it hot and everyone happy.

Dig in!!!!

Texas Queso Dip

Makes 8 snack servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature-ish
2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Pico De Gallo

3 plum tomatoes
1/2 of a red onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 a hass avocado
2 jalapenos, seeds removed
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper

Process

Remove the milk from the refrigerator, set aside.
To make the pico de gallo, dice the cored tomatoes, onion, and avocado. Mince the jalapenos and garlic. Combine together and add the cilantro, lime juice, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook to make a rue, whisking constantly until golden, about 2 minutes. Continue whisking and slowly add the milk. Bring the mixture to a steady simmer, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
Combine the cheese sauce and pico de gallo together and enjoy!

slightly adapted from my friend Natalie

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{Sprint Cup Snacks Track Facts}

Texas Motor Speedway seat a whopping 190,000+ people to watch a race. Repeat… 190k+. That was about 3 times the number of people in my whole town when I was growing up. Insane. But everything is bigger in Texas!

Besides being big, it’s also fast. It’s one of the fasted non-restrictor plate races in the series with qualifying speeds in excess of 192 mph and corner entry speeds over 200 mph. And in 2006 for the Dickies 500 qualifying, Brian Vickers shattered the qualifying record at Texas with a speed of 196.235 mph. Crazy.

Gotta enjoy this weekend’s race under the lights!

Track: 1.5 miles

Shape: Oval

Banking: 24 degrees in the turns

Surface: Asphalt

Capacity: 191,122… yep a lot of people!!!!

Race: 334-laps for 501 miles

2012 winner: Greg Briffle

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Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas

March 22, 2013

It’s officially spring but mother nature has not yet received that memo. She is being a pain in my butt with the cold and the SNOW that we have been having. I have a love/hate relationship with living in New England as I hate the long drawn out cold weather that mess with us long into March and April. And yet, I just love the spring and fall seasons. Can’t win them all I guess. But at this point I wouldn’t pass up at trip to California to escape this cold weather right now.

Plus, if I was in Cali I’d sure as hell be attending the Sprint Cup race this weekend in Fontana. A little of shopping in L.A. and a whole lotta fun watching the Auto Club 400 race in Fontana. Of course I would hope for another win for Kasey Kahne because I’m still loving his win from last weekend in Bristol. yay!! But since I can’t cheer him in person I’ll take a mental trip there by making these Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas for this week’s edition of Sprint Cup Snacks.

There is a restaurant near my office that had a summer special when they first opened that I just loved. They made a burger quesadilla that was sooo good! It was so flavorful like a taco but was a totally a burger in a tortilla. I guess it wasn’t a typical quesadilla as it was wrapped up but it just made it so easy to eat. It’s kinda like a quesadilla wrap or a flat burrito. Whatever, it is just good!

This is super easy to make which is always great when your whipping up a quick weeknight dinner or just distracted watching the race. ha! The burger is so flavorful with all the toppings on top. I picked toppings that reminded me of a California Club with the bacon, tomato, red onion, and avocado. And, of course, a quesadilla has loads of cheese!

Don’t wait another year for another Fontana Race to make this burger but your family. This is great anytime for lunch or dinner.

Cali Turkey Burger Quesadillas

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey
1 generous teaspoon adobo seasoning
4 burrito sized flour tortillas
12 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of cooked bacon
1/2 of an avocado, thinly sliced
tomato, thinly sliced
red onion, thinly sliced

Process

Combine the ground turkey and the adobo seasoning. Form 4 equally sized patties. Make the patties very, very thin and about 4″ across.
Grill the burgers until they are about 2 minutes from being cooked through.
While the burgers are cooking microwave the burrito tortillas for about 30 seconds to make them vary soft and playable.
Place some of cheese in the center of the tortilla. Then add the burger, bacon, tomato, onion, avocado, and cheese onto the burger. Fold opposite sides into center and then repeat with the remaining sides.
Place the burger with the fold sides down back on the grill with a weight on top of the burger to seal it closed. Flip over to other side to warm though to melt the cheese and add grill marks.
Cut in half prior to serving.

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{Sprint Cup Snacks Track Facts}

The Auto Club Speedway is a fairly new track in the Sprint Cup Series. Construction started in 1995 and the first Sprint Cup race was in 1997 with Jeff Gordon winning the inaugural race. Originally the race was 500 miles but since then has been shorted to 400 miles. It is the only Sprint Cup race in Southern California, which is just 50 miles from downtown LA.

Track: 2 miles

Shape: D-Shaped Oval

Banking: 11 degrees in the front-stretch, 3 degrees in the back-stretch, 14 degrees in turns

Surface: Asphalt

Capacity: 91200

Race: 200-lap for 400-miles

2012 winner: Tony Stewart

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Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos- SRC

September 24, 2012

For my Secret Recipe Club post this month I had Melissa’s blog. She shares great sounding and looking recipes on her blog called Fried Ice and Donut Holes. While her blog is not a vegetarian blog she does have a great number of veggie friendly posts that look mouth watering. I have several recipes bookmarked for some healthy comfort food eating this fall and winter.

When it came time to pick a make a recipe I had a very hard time because I had a whole list of great things like, Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Baked Pumpkin Donuts, and Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie. In the end I picked the Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos. I simply picked these tacos to make because I was having a crappy, super busy week. I had these bookmarked since I loved how they could be a great recipe to use when I didn’t feel like cooking. Well, that is exactly what happened. I had just about everything at home so I just ran out for an avocado and some wine (since I really needed that as well) and was quickly on my way to dinner once I got back home.

I made a few changes to the original recipe but I think you have to do what works best for you and you taste preferences/ingredients on hand/sanity. For example, I could not find coriander seeds at our grocery store so omitted them and decided to amp up the other flavors I did have. I switche using olive oil out for corn oil as corn has a more subtle flavor as a higher smoking point, which I figured would be best for the grilled avocados. I added some cilantro since I love it and always have it around (for us and the rabbits). I mashed my black beans as I like that texture and I figured that it would more easily stay in the taco to eat (while balancing a glass of wine on my lap and watching Parenthood). I really enjoyed these and since I typically have the ingredients around on hand I know I can always have a great dinner at the ready with some easy adaption.

Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos

makes 4 tacos

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can of black beans, preferably low sodium
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
1 avocado
1 teaspoon corn oil
juice and zest from 1 lime
2 teaspoons honey
salt and pepper
2 oz from a goat cheese log
fresh cilantro
4 Flour Tortillas or 8 Corn Tortillas

Process

Rinse the black beans, reserve 1/2 cup of the liquids.
In a small skillet, warm the corn oil over medium heat. Add the cumin and pepper flakes. Once the spices have ‘toasted’ and are fragrant, add the black beans and liquids. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium-low heat to reduce the liquids. Prior to preparing the tacos, mash up the black beans with a potato masher.
Cut the avocado in half, gently score to create slices, and brush with some oil. Put on a grill or grill pan on high heat just to char the outside of the avocado.
In a small bowl, combine the juice and zest of 1 lime, the honey, and salt and pepper.
To assemble the tacos, place 1/4 each of the beans, avocado, and goat cheese into 1 flour tortilla or 2 layered corn tortillas. To finish add fresh chopped cilantro and a drizzle the lime-honey mixture over the filling and serve

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Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts:

August: Birthday Cake Oreo Truffles

July: Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs

June: Cheesy Garlic Knots

May: Berry Brownie Torte

April: Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

March: Sauteed Green Beans with Lemon and Almonds

February: Fried Pickles

Jan: No SRC postings

December: Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

November: Vegetable Enchiladas

October: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette

January 24, 2012

I love salads so much. I really hate that we have the tendency to skip over salads in the winter or automatically go for ones that have cranberries in them or whatever to make them ‘wintery’. They are perfectly fine salads but I wanted to make one that was not something that you would expect to see in winter, but that is in season now.

Citrus is in season in the winter. As much as we enjoy our lemonades and margaritas in the summer the best season for domestic citrus is the winter. The citrus vinaigrette is light since it is mixed with a light vinegar and some water. I felt that the lime and vinegar combination could result with a tart dressing so I cut it will some water to dilute it. If you prefer a more intense vinegar then don’t add water, but you may like to add a pinch of sugar to balance it out.

According to Produce Pete Florida avocados are in season now. They are in season from late June to February. Why use a Florida avocado? The texture us much different from a Hass-variety so it can stand up well to being mixed into a salad. They are much firmer compared to Hass avocados, which are great for guacamole.

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit with Citrus Vinaigrette

*serves 2 as a main, serves 4 as a starter*

Spinach Salad with Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit

Ingredients

8 oz of baby spinach
1/2 a Florida avocado
1 large ruby red grapefruit
1/2 pound of shrimp, 36-40’s
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Process

Wash and pat dry the spinach, plate.
Halve the avocado. Remove the peel and then slice thin wedges from the avocado. Layer on the salad evenly.
Peel the grapefruit and then carefully peel the membranes away from the segments. Evenly distribute the segments on the salad.
Rinse and remove the tails from the shrimp. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the shrimp.
Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large skillet. Cook the shrimp, flipping after 2 minutes, cook until evenly pink.
Add the warm shrimp to the salad and then top with some of the citrus vinaigrette.

Citrus Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 limes
1 orange
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 oz rice vinegar
2 oz water
2 oz extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Process

Squeeze the limes and orange.
Add the garlic, vinegar, water, oil, and salt and pepper.
Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.

Vegetable Enchiladas with Easy Homemade Sauce

November 28, 2011

These Vegetable Enchiladas are packed of flavor from the colorful vegetable filling and an easy homemade enchilada sauce that will knock your socks off!

Original post from 11/28/11, pictures updated 1/16/19

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

I love making healthy comfort food. It makes enjoying a big filling meal, less guilt inducing. Cozy without the conflict, which is perfect for me.

Really, who doesn’t love hearty meals!?!? I want to enjoy them, but I don’t want it to impact my waist line. Sure, salads are crave-able, but really, let’s focus on what we really want: some yummy enchiladas!

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Buffalo Chicken Pita Pizzas

November 20, 2011

Last weekend was Price’s good friend’s 30th birthday. To celebrate, another friend stayed with us so we could all go out on Sturday night. As the guys were marathoning through video games and episodes of Ninja Warrior, I bugged them about what to have for a lunch/snack because I knew it would be hours until dinner. I started by suggestions snacks and things seemed settled on a dip, then they picked buffalo chicken dip with chips and veggies. As I started to plan and double check they changed their minds and decided on buffalo chicken pizza.

I planned on using a pre-made pizza crust to make the pizza quickly for the guys. Then I debated on making them using sandwich wraps, similar to my Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza with Ricotta, Mushrooms, and Red Onions, but then I decided to go with sandwich wraps. I figured that thicken pita bread would stand up better to the heavier buffalo chicken. All that thought for some simple buffalo chicken pizzas.

The pizza really delivers an intense buffalo chicken flavor. Most buffalo chicken pizzas I have had don’t pack the same punch since they use some sauce on the chicken and on the crust. Instead, I made a thicken sauce with the sour cream and buffalo wing sauce to coat the chicken completely and have a thicken sauce on the pizza. Typically, the heat from the buffalo sauce is counter balanced with the blue cheese dressing and celery. In this case, the sour cream cuts the heat. I didn’t want to add celery to the pizzas so I added avocado to represent the green you typically have on the plate.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

*Serves 3*

Ingredients

3 whole wheat pitas
2 10 oz cans of white meat chicken, rinsed or 2 large breasts of cooked chicken
1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce, I prefer Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce
4 oz of sour cream
12 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
1 half of red onion sliced
3 oz of blue cheese, crumbled
half an Hass avocado, diced
3 scallions

Process

Preheat oven to 425
Split the pitas. Lay them out on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake for 5-8 minutes. They should be slightly crisp.
While the pitas are baking, combine the chicken with sour cream, and buffalo wing sauce.
Put 3 tablespoons of ricotta on each pita, spread out evenly.
Divide the buffalo chicken evenly on the pitas.
Sprinkle slices of onion and pieces of blue cheese evenly on each pita pizza.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the onions have shriveled and the blue cheese has melted.
Let cool for 5 minutes, then add pieces of avocado to the pizzas and cut some scallion on each pizza. Then cut each pita into 4 pieces.

Gazpacho

August 29, 2011

We live during a time when everything is available 24/7/365. Just because I can get a tomato or corn during freezing January, doesn’t mean I should. Over the last few years I have become much more aware of when I purchase food seasonally. I have gotten extremely picky over tomatoes. I think tomatoes really should only be purchased when they are fresh to your region. I admit that I can’t stop myself from buying grape tomatoes all year (I just need them) but I can promise you that I will NOT purchase some watery large tomato just to slap it on top of a burger.

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