Shrimp with Mango and Basil

MANGOES!!! BASIL!! SHRIMP!! All good things right? HELL YES!  My thoughts exactly!! I figured I'd make a little dish out of these simple ingredients. Light! Easy! Super tasty! And that is exactly what materialized when I put this together!! Take my word, this is simple recipe and you will be thrilled when this comes together like a fancy meal on a random weeknight. Also, easy enough to entertain with!

Ingredients:
1 lb of shrimp
1 large ripe mango, chopped into little cubes
1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil
5-6 green scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp red chili powder
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp of olive oil

Directions:

Make sure to peel and devein the shrimp. Gather all of the shrimp into a bowl.

Toss this shrimp with the salt, cumin powder, red chili powder, and black pepper if you wish. Set aside to marinade while you prep everything else. 

While the shrimp marinates, chop up your beautiful mango!

Next, slice up those scallions.

Last but definitely not least, grab your basil and you can either chop it up or cut it into ribbons.

Once you've got everything prepped, heat up the olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Place the shrimp in a single layer and cook the undersides until they turn pink, about a minute or so. Flip them over and cook for one more minute. 

Now, stir in the mango, scallions, and the basil. Make sure to mix everything evenly and cook for about 2-3 more minutes until the shrimp is fully cooked through. 

Transfer to a dish and you're ready to enjoy this wonderful marriage of flavors!

You can eat this with brown rice or rice pilaf...but it's good just by itself as well!

Creamy Tomatillo Salsa

Find this amazing recipe at my new blog!

Raspberry Chipotle Pork Loin Salad

So, normally I put Raspberry Chipotle over cream cheese and eat it with crackers...AHHHH-mazing. But, then the other day I realized I needed to somehow cook with it. And presto! I had pork loin on hand and decided a light salad for dinner would be just perfect! This is simple and just the ticket for an effortless dinner!

Ingredients:
2/3 lb Pork loin cutlets
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tbsp of crushed red pepper (adjust to the amount of heat you can handle!)
Spring salad mix
1/3 of english Cucumber
1/2 cup Corn
1 firm roma tomato
1 Avocado
1/4 cup of sliced onion
2 tbsp. Raspberry Chipotle sauce (can be any brand)

Directions:


Marinate the pork loin cutlets with the olive oil, salt, black pepper, and the crushed red pepper. I just stuck it in the fridge while I cut all the veggies.

Next, slice up your cucumber.

Chop up your tomato.

Slice up that red onion! Don't cry..if you start to, chew some gum or run that chunk of onion under cold water before you start to slice.

Chop up a fresh avocado! MMMM!!! Look at beautiful avocado...

I then heated up some frozen corn in a bowl to add to my salad.

Now, that you've gotten all these ingredients together, pan fry the pork loin until they have been seared on the surface. Take it off the pan and slice it into pieces. 

Once you've sliced it, now pan fry it again to make sure it's all cooked. Make sure to watch it closely so you don't over cook it!

Once done, take it off and soak it in the raspberry chipotle sauce!! Now, like I said before, purchase whatever brand you're comfortable with! This is the one I use. 

Here is the cooked pork loin soaked in this lovely sauce!

Now let this hang out for a little while. Assemble the whole salad while you wait for this to get completely marinated in this sauce. Start with the spring salad mix in a bowl and then add all your veggies in. It's a deep bowl so don't be tricked into thinking there isn't that much...quite a few handfuls in this bowl. 

Voila! Salad is ready!!! You don't need to add anything extra! The raspberry chipotle sauce from the pork is enough dressing!

You will be surprised as to how tasteful and light this salad is!! Bon appetit!

Baked Buffalo Wings

My husband is absolutely in love with wings! I mean, like obsessed with wings!!! He bugs me almost every week to make them (I definitely don't!)! His favorite wings are the breaded ones I've been making for about 3 years now. Last week was his birthday, and I made sure he had his favorite foods all week and of course that meant one night was going to consist of these wings. They are pretty easy but they do take a little bit of time, but the taste and outcome is well worth the effort!

Ingredients:
20-25 wings (I purchase the wing portion only)
1 cup of flour
5 tablespoons of cayenne
1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 cup of melted better
1/2 cup of hot buffalo sauce (like Frank's RedHot)

Directions:

Clean all the chicken wing portions and put them in a large ziploc bag. 

Add in the flour, salt, cayenne, cumin powder, and garlic powder into the bag. Give it a good shake to make sure all the wings get coated. You're going to want to let this marinate for at least an hour. I marinate mine from anywhere to 4-8 hours. I've noticed I get the bet results if I marinate for 8 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. After they have been marinated, place the wings on a greased cookie sheet and set aside.

Now, mix together the butter and the buffalo sauce. 

Brush the sauce on the wings, and coat them relatively well. I ended up having to split the wings up on two different cookie sheets so that there was enough room around the wings, which is why you only see a few on this sheet now!

Pop them into the oven for about 45 minutes. Turn them once halfway through so they cook evenly! Serve it up with some ranch or bleu cheese dressing!

They come out beautiful!! =)

YUM!! I should've taken a picture of my hubby when I put these on the table...he was sooooo excited!! Haha!! I hope you all love this recipe as much as we do!  ENJOY!! 

Smoked Salmon in Cucumber Boats

Sometimes you need a little fancier of an appetizer than chips and salsa in my opinion! The other day I was craving a light appetizer that was just that, and knew that I definitely wanted to use smoked salmon. MMMM..am a huge fan of smoked salmon!!  Well in all fairness, I do believe I love all seafood but this is definitely on the top of my list. I also knew I didn't want to use crackers but something else, and as soon as I rummaged in my fridge for a few minutes, I knew it was going to be cucumber! Light and tasty!! Once I found what I needed it was a matter of minutes before this wonderful lil' appetizer materialized in front of me! My husband and I devoured all of it!! DELICIOUS!!

Ingredients:
* 2 english cucumbers
* 1/2 cup of chopped smoked salmon
* 1/8 cup chopped red onion
* 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt

Directions:

Trim ends of cucumbers. Split each cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out center (the seedy pulp) of the cucumbers leaving a 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick shell. Cut into 1 1/2 inch long pieces. 

Next, I had to chop up my smoked salmon and onion. Note: I chopped extra onion for something else so excuse the amount of chopped onion shown.

Now, combine the greek yogurt, salmon, and onion in a bowl until thoroughly mixed.

Once you've got the mixture ready, spoon about 2 tsps of it into each cucumber piece.

                           And that's all there is to it!! Fresh, light, and wonderfully tasteful!