Monthly Archives: June 2017

Sesame Cukes

A very big thank you goes out to Jessica Seinfeld and her new cook book “Food Swings”.  Thoroughly enjoying this book and trying to cook my way through it. The other night I made a delicious simple salmon and wanted a nice light “virtuous” accompaniment to go with it.

Well here it is for all you gluten-free, dairy free and light eaters . Nothing difficult here and you can do it in 10 minutes. Of course it tastes best after it sits for a while but you can prepare and let sit for an hour or so.

Thanks again to Jessica Seinfeld and Food Swings cookbook which is available wherever great books are sold.

Ingredients:

1 English Cucumber, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds – available in the spice department

1/2 to 1 Jalapeno Pepper-seeded and thinly sliced or diced–I always suggest wearing gloves to seed and cut up Jalapeno to avoid any problems with those jalapeno seeds.

2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 -1/2 Tsp. Kosher Salt-Taste after 1/4 , I added a little more

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill–I didn’t have in the house but next time I will add because I love dill and it will add a delicious fresh layer of flavor. If you don’t like dill you can omit.

Directions:

Put the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat. Cook , tossing for about 3 minutes, until toasted. Let cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the cukes, jalapeno, lemon juice, oil and kosher salt. Stir in the dill and sesame seeds.

*little note on the salt– I started with 1/4 tsp. and after all was said and done added another 1/4 tsp. This is completely up to the cook depending on how much you like salt .

 

 

Lime Shrimp with Corn and Avocado

IMG_8249 (2) IMG_8233 IMG_8228 (2)All I can say is Wow!!!!  I cooked about a lb.of beautiful shrimp and I wanted to use it in a delicious light salad incorporating some fresh corn and avocados. This salad has some of most favorite ingredients in it.  I used fresh corn, fresh tomatoes, jalapeno, red onion, and shrimp! Limes are the secret ingredient here because they add all the flavor to this super light dressing.  This has got to be one of the healthiest most delicious salads.  Totally not fattening but filling because of the shrimp , corn and avocados. If you’re into these ingredients this is a must go to for summer entertaining. Light and Fresh , low in calories and so so easy to make.

If you like cilantro I would chop some up and add it, but a lot of people hate it so much I chose to not add. I removed all the seeds from the jalapeno and probably used 3/4 of a large one. One small seeded jalapeno is perfect and not hot at all. Be careful handling the peppers and the seeds,  I’ve taken to wearing surgical gloves to cut up the peppers.

This is a perfect summer salad, just don’t add avocados till you’re ready to serve,  everything else can be assembled ahead of time. I put together in the morning of the day I was serving and then added my avocados right before I served. This is what I did.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. cooked shrimp (after cooking it should be 1 lb.) I then cut it up into smaller pieces. I probably cut each shrimp into 4 pieces. Remember I used under 10’s. So that’s 10 shrimp to a pound. You want the shrimp pieces to be bite size but not too small.

1/4 cup chopped red onion

3 cobs of fresh cooked corn ( just put cobs in boiling salted water, bring to a second boil and remove and plunge into an ice bath) let corn cool and remove kernels from cobs.

2 limes-juiced , I use my juicer to juice because it’s tough with limes and you need as much lime juice as possible from 2 limes. I squeezed a third lime over at the end, but it’s probably not necessary. The citrus helps keep avocado from turning brown as well.

1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

a few grinds on the pepper mill–to taste

I put in about 1/2 pint of small grape tomatoes, but you can eyeball if using larger tomatoes, I didn’t want tomatoes to over power the other outstanding flavors –if you prefer you can cut tomatoes in 1/2. I sometimes do this if I am not using the small grape tomatoes.

2 avocados–sliced and cut into cubes

1 small-medium jalapeno–seeded and minced

*a handful of chopped fresh cilantro if you love it

Directions:

  • We Cook shrimp- peel and de-vein or buy it cleaned and de-veined whichever works best for you. I like cooking my own shrimp but you can certainly use a “cooked shrimp” readily available in most markets. I cut shrimp up into bite size pieces but not too small.

Cook corn and allow to cool down. When corn is cooled completely down I cut kernels off.

In a separate small bowl, place chopped red onion, lime juice, olive oil and salt and a little black pepper. Whisk together .

I placed Shrimp, Corn, Jalapeno and Tomatoes into a large bowl. About an hour prior to serving I poured the lime juice combination over the bowl of Shrimp.

Mix well and allow to sit and marinade. You’ll want to mix a few times before adding avocados to circulate the marinade.

Taste for Salt and Pepper but it should be good.

I added the 2 Avocados right before serving and squeezed a little more lime over it, probably not necessary but I did. If you’re adding the cilantro go ahead and add it now.

That’s it–perfect summer salad.