Lemon - Thyme Shrimp

I wanted something a bit different for dinner last night, so I  wandered around in my daughter's Pinterest accounts.  I found a recipe in Carianne's that I liked but knew I had to fix to fit Clyde's and my tastes.  Here is what I came up with.  It is really good.
Lemon-Thyme Shrimp
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon zested, then halved
3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
Pasta, couscous or rice
2 Tablespoons butter
1 pound medium uncooked shrimp, deveined with the tails off


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In an 8x8 glass baking dish, combine the olive oil, lemon zest and thyme sprigs.  (The olive oil should generously cover the bottom of the dish).  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, checking every few minutes.  If it looks like it is getting too brown, remove from the oven and proceed to the next step.  Meanwhile cook the rice, pasta or couscous.


The next step after you remove the pan of oil from the oven is to add the 2 Tablespoons of butter to the oil.  Mix it in well.  Add the shrimp and bake it for 6-8 minutes or until the shrimp turns pink and begins to curl.  Don't overcook.  


To serve, remove the shrimp from the oil and drizzle with the juice of 1/2 lemon. Serve with the starch of choice.  Clyde love it with couscous. 
So good!


Note:  I didn't add the extra butter to mine and didn't miss it.  I just gave this recipe to a friend and she used the leftover olive oil as a dipping sauce for French bread that she served with her meal.  Sounds heavenly.  What I eliminated from the original recipe Carianne had found was 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced in the oil. Clyde and I do not do well with garlic or onion so it just seemed prudent to eliminate that.  My friend added it to her oil and it burned - so she started over and eliminated it too.  I think if you were doing this that whole cloves of garlic would be the way to go. It also said to strip the stems of thyme of all of the leaves.  I didn't.

Mandarin Orange Salad

This is light and really tasty.


Mandarin Orange Salad
1/2 cup slice almonds
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 bunch leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 small head radicchio, torn into bite-size pieces
1 small red onion, minced (optional)
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
1 whole cooked chicken breast, cubed


Dressing:
1/4 cup canola oil
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
Dash hot pepper sauce
1. In a small skillet, heat the almonds with the sugar over low heat.  Cook and stir almonds until the almonds are glazed.  Set aside to cool.
2.  Mix the dressing ingredients together; set aside.
3. Just before serving, toss together the lettuce, radicchio, onion, oranges and chicken.  Toss the dressing gently over all until lightly dressed.  Garnish with the almonds.  Enjoy!
Note:  For a lighter meal or a side salad, omit the chicken.

Peach Oven Pancake

First time posting a recipe. Get the jokes out of your system. Believe me, I understand the irony of contributing to a recipe blog when I pretty much don't cook. But I have actually made this and it's good.

Peach Oven Pancake
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup low-fat milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
3 medium fresh peaches, peeled and sliced, or 2 cups frozen sliced peaches, thawed and drained
Optional: 2 tablespoons high-fiber cereal, crushed, if desired

Heat oven to 400. Spray round nonstick baking pan, 8x1 1/2 inches or 9x1 1/3 inches, with cooking spray. Heat pan in oven.
Beat flour, sugar, salt, milk and eggs with hand beater until smooth. Pour into hot pan.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until puffed and browned on edges. Immediately spoon yogurt and peaches into sunken pancake center, sprinkle with cereal. Serve warm.

Almond Chicken and Rice

Almond Chicken and Rice

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup Italian Dressing and marinade (divided)

1 1/4 cup fat free reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups broccoli florets

1/4 cup almonds

3 cups of cooked rice

Cook chicken in 2 tablespoons of dressing in large skillet over medium heat 4 minutes or until evenly brown on each side. Stir in broth, garlic powder and remaining dressing; bring to a boil. Cover; simmer 5 minutes. Remove chicken. Add broccoli to skillet and cook uncovered for 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and almonds. Serve chicken over rice.

You can definitely use instant rice, but since I don't I tweaked the recipe a bit. You do the exact same thing for instant but have to let it stand for 7 minutes before serving so the liquid can be absorbed into the rice. It was well received (except my picky daughter) and pretty low in fat. (original recipe from kraftfoods.com)