Friday, January 27, 2012

Spontaneous dinnertime!!

As a military spouse, you gotta love it when the hubby comes home unexpectedly during an exercise!!  So, though I had nothing prepared or thawing for dinner, I turned to my brand new cookbook:  Well Fed (see picture or click on the link)
for instant inspiration for the shrimp I had in the freezer... AND found some GREAT recipes!!

So, page 75 she had Ginger-Lime Grilled Shrimp.  Oops... hubby hasn't hooked the grill back up so they became broiled shrimp!!  I truly don't feel right posting her original recipe as its in an actual cookbook I purchased, but I did find the exact recipe on her blog site.  So was the accompanying dish, the Coconut-Almond Green beans (page 125).  So, click here for her blog page and you can see her pretty pictures and the recipes!

So... as I typically do, I changed a few things to put the BabyPT spin on it!!  As I've never cooked with coconut milk before, I have to admit that I opened the can with a pierce-style opener (you know, the one where you make two holes in the top of the can) and then shoved a chopstick down through the cream to release the milk.  This probably cut down on the fat, and thus the thickening of the juices.  So, I'd recommend not doing that!  However, it was great!  I've lived my life NOT liking coconut at all, so this is quite the change for me.  I must say, it really didn't 'taste' like coconut to me... so I'm not sure if mixing up the cream and milk would have changed the flavor.

Ginger-Lime Shrimp and Coconut-Almond Green Beans with Avocado

 Since I was on the low side for my fat intake for the day, I opted to put a half avocado on the side for that!  Since I met my hubby, he's loved having just a 1/2 avocado with red wine vinegar and cracked black pepper on it.  For YEARS I would eat only 1/2 of the 1/2 he gave me (yeah, I know, that's 1/4... smarty pants!!) thinking I didn't need all those fat calories, cause... gee, they were bad for you... NO MORE!!!  I enjoyed every last freakin' piece of avocado flesh that was in my half!!  And this one was PERFECT.

                                                           Avocado...





As you can see by the nutritional label I posted here, most of the fat that is in an avocado is the MUFA kind (monounsaturated fatty acid).  It's also the bulk (70%) of from where the calories come.  That's fine by me... but what else can I get from eating my 1/2 avocado besides 125 calories with 88 of them from MUFAs?
Well, I'll keep doing the math for us:

Fat:  Total Fat 11.25 grams, 1.25 grams Sat Fat and PUFAs, and 7.5 grams MUFAs
Potassium:  375mg
Carbs:  7.5g
Fiber:  5 g

No sugar, no protein...

Vitamins:
E and C
THEN, there's a whole compliment of your "B" Vitamins!!
     B6
     Riboflavin (B2)
     Pantothenic Acid (B5)
     Niacin (B3)
     Thiamin (B1)
     Folate (B9)



Minerals:
Magnesium
Copper
Iron
Phosphorus
Zinc
Manganese 

And lastly... remember that Inflammation Factor I blogged about months ago??  Yes, smarty pants, I realized that I got used to "knowing" off hand the IF of almost all the foods I regularly ate, so stopped blogging my numbers... sorry, ADD kicked in!!  However, I'm still checking "unknown" foods or foods I don't regularly consume, for their inflammation factor... so, I checked the avocado...
Inflammation Factor:  60    (YAY!!)

So, Needless to say, if you like avocado... consider adding it to your meals.  Perhaps as a part of the meal, a dip, or just a few chunks with lunch.  They also make oil from avocados, so all of you who can get it from your local store (lucky ducks!!)... get it.  Makes great mayo (as I've seen on other blogs like Paleo on Main) and wonderful salad dressings as it has a light, though distinctive flavor. 

So, what are you waiting for??  Get out there and get yourself some avocados!!! 

1 comment:

  1. Grats on stepping into coconut land. Brave comes in all sorts of flavors. And if you can't find an avacado at the commissary give me a call, I usually have them all. :-)

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