Shrimp, Broccoli and Fiddlehead Stirfry

I bought some fiddlehead ferns (cuz they look so cool!) but then waited too long to use them—so I needed a quick way to incorporate them into a meal and figured stir fry was a pretty safe bet. Luckily, it turned out halfway decent!

You'll need:
1 clove of garlic
Lemongrass
1 tsp. ginger (fresh or candied)
1 bunch of broccoli
1c fiddlehead ferns
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
14 shrimp
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Mirin
Red chili pepper flakes

Thoroughly clean the fiddleheads, chop the broccoli and onion, mince the garlic, and prep your shrimp. In a wok, heat up a small amount of oil and add in the garlic, stirring for 30 seconds. Toss in the onion, lemongrass and ginger and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. (Once stuff begins to stick, you can add a splash of the sauces or water, so as not to go overboard with oil.) Then, add in your fiddleheads—you need to make sure these cook all the way through, so give them a few minutes, covered if needed, to get them cooked most of the way before adding in your broccoli. Once the fiddleheads are almost fork tender, add in the broccoli and red bell pepper and cook just until they get that bright color, but still have a bit of crunch. Add in the shrimp, the sauces if you haven't added them yet, and a couple shakes of red chili pepper flakes for kick. Cook until the shrimp is done (4 minutes tops) and enjoy! Makes two 27g servings.

Spicy Garlic Eggplant with Shrimp

Spicy food is great for a healthy diet—it forces you to take your time eating, and even kicks your metabolism up a notch. Try this one for sure!

3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 eggplant
1 red bell pepper
1 tray mixed gourmet mushrooms
22 medium shrimp
2 T lite soy sauce
1 T garlic chili sauce
1 T tamarind paste
2/3c water

Spray a wok with non-stick spray and heat on high. Toss in the chopped garlic (do not mince—without oil, finely minced garlic can stick quickly) and stir constantly for about 30 seconds. Add in the eggplant, water, chili sauce, tamarind paste and soy sauce and stir well until eggplant is completely coated. Cover and cook for a couple minutes, stirring occasionally until the eggplant begins to soften.

Add in the red bell pepper, mushrooms and shrimp; stir, cover and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally until the shrimp is done all the way through. The peppers should still be bright red and have a little snap.

And that's it! I added 1 whole hot red chili pepper while I cooked mine for a little extra kick. This super filling dinner serves 2 people, 27g each.

Asian-Inspired Shrimp and Mushroom Soup

Though I hate to eat alone, it's always a good opportunity to try something new and adventurous without worrying I'm going to ruin anyone's dinner but my own. So I went for it with this Asian-inspired Shrimp and Mushroom Soup.  And if you don't eat shrimp, you could replace that with just about anything and it would still be just as delicious (chicken, scallops, tofu). It may seem like a more complicated recipe than most of the ideas posted here, but don't be fooled—I'm not that great a planner. I just looked at what I had on hand, and these seemed to go!

Ingredients:

18 uncooked shrimp (or other protein)

1 package tofu shirataki noodles

2c vegetable broth

1c water

1 package gourmet blend mushrooms (oyster, shiitake and baby bella)

2 T. ginger, thinly sliced and chopped

1 large clove fresh garlic, minced

1 scallion, finely chopped

fish sauce

1 t. red curry paste

1 T. lime juice

1 T. light soy sauce

Prepare tofu noodles according to package directions. 

Over medium-high heat, stir together 3/4c. of broth with a splash of fish sauce and the red curry paste, mushrooms, ginger and garlic. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms and ginger begin to soften. 

Add the remaining broth and noodles; simmer for about 8 more minutes. Add in the shrimp, scallions, lime juice and soy sauce and cook for another 3 minutes or so—just long enough to cook the shrimp all the way through, but keep the scallions nice and bright green. Serve it up and enjoy!

Makes 2 big ol' servings (at about 27g of protein each), or 4 decent sized servings. 

Note: Because of the high sodium content in broth, I try not to make soups too common in my diet. I'd recommend eating something like this on a day when you haven't overloaded on sodium from other sources (don't eat a jar of pickles for breakfast, a 2-liter of diet pop at lunch, and then this for dinner. Well, partly cuz that's disgusting. And partly because of the sodium.)