Sweet Chili Shrimp

This meal looked super simple to make so I decided to take a stab at it. It would be nice meal for a family if you were in a hurry thats for sure.

Sweet Chili Shrimp (www.budgetbytes.com) $7.17

Ingredients

• 1 lb. raw shrimp
• 20 oz. can pineapple chunks
• ½ cup sweet chili sauce
• 2 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 cup white rice

 

Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with non-stick spray. Drain the pineapple chunks and spread them out on the cookie sheet. Place them on the top rack of your oven under the broiler. Keep an eye on them and remove from the oven when they have browned on the edges (about 10 minutes). This will caramelize some of the natural sugars and give the pineapple a great flavor. When they are finished broiling, set them aside.

 

 

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. When the skillet is very hot (but the oil is not smoking), add the shrimp and stir-fry (just stir it around as it cooks) until the flesh is white and they have a pink blush on the outside (this will only take a few minutes). Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the pineapple letting a little bit of their juices release from the pan’s radiant heat.

 

 

Stir in the sweet chili sauce and you’re done!

 

 

I served ours over white rice.

 

 

Dan rated this meal a 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. It was good, but nothing special.

Read More..

Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

Its been a busy week so there has been a lot of crockpot action going on in my kitchen.  Yesterday the fella threw this chili together for about the millionth time and I couldnt believe I hadnt written about it yet.  Its tasty and a great low fat/high protein meal. 

Aside from the basic seasoning and the inclusion of beans you could add whatever you have in the kitchen to this recipe to create whatever chili youre in the mood for that particular day.  Its a very forgiving recipe and beans hold up great in the crockpot so you really cant go wrong.  If you dont like spice you could skip the chipotles or go for a milder jalapeno.  Feel free to use whatever combination of beans you have around.  We used kidney and cannellini beans since we had a bunch left over from the pottage earlier in the week (Im terrible at estimating how many dry beans to cook in order to get the amount of beans I need for a recipe.)   But were also fond of a combination of black beans and chickpeas.

I like to top this with a little sour cream or yogurt and cilantro to add a little something extra to it while still sticking to the vaguely southwestern theme.  But if you wanted to be naughty some melted cheddar cheese on top would be amazing.  So go crazy and treat yourself to a meal  that cooks while youre at work.

Vegetarian Crockpot Chili

2 tablespoons oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon cumin 

2 tablespoon chili powder 

2 teaspoons oregano

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 28-ounce can tomatoes (or about 1 pound fresh tomatoes chopped) 

2 cups vegetable broth

1 6-ounce can tomato paste 

2 chipotles with some of their sauce, chopped

2 14-ounce cans black beans, drained

2 14-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained

salt and  pepper, to taste 

sour cream or yogurt, as topping

cilantro, as topping

Sautee the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes until the onion is soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook for two more minutes. 

Place the onions along with all the remaining ingredients, except sour cream and cilantro in the crock pot, stirring to combine.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Top with sour cream and cilantro just before serving.

Recipe made much more interesting from boring original over at  About.com

Read More..