Baked Stuffed Shrimp

Yummm, baked stuffed shrimp! One of my favorites! I hate when you go out to a restaurant and you pay about $20 for 5 pieces of shrimp, a little salad and rice! I made the same dinner for 6 people for about $30! This is one of my meals that I love to make at home because its cheaper, healthier and it tastes better! Now let's be honest, I do use real butter in this recipe so I'm not claiming it's healthy but definitely healthier than the amount of butter they use in restaurants! 

Ingredients:

-30 large shrimp cocktail already cooked

- 1 stick of butter

- 1/4 cup of white onion

- 2 sticks of celery

- 1 can of crab meat

- 2 sleeves of reduced fat ritz crackers (should equal about 64 crackers)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350. Chop up the onion and celery into little pieces and put in mixing bowl. Add butter to the bowl. Microwave until the butter is melted. While the butter is melting in the microwave, take a large baking sheet and spray with non-stick spray. Butterfly the shrimp and place on the pan. Once the butter in the mixing bowl is melted, stir well. Add the crab meat to the mixing bowl. In a large ziplock bag, add all of the ritz crackers and seal tightly. Mash the ritz crackers until they look like small breadcrumbs. Pour the Ritz into the mixing bowl and mix together all of the ingredients until it is a thick stuffing-like texture. 

Begin making 1 tablespoon sized balls and form with your hands. Place firmly on the piece of shrimp and continue until every shrimp has a stuffing ball on top. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the stuffing is crispy looking.

Serve with your favorite sides! I served mine with rice pilaf and Not Your Average Wedge Salad ... and of course a nice big glass of wine!

Nutrition Information for 1 Piece of Shrimp (This recipe should make 30 pieces of shrimp)

Calories - 70

Carbs - 5

Fat - 4

Protein - 3

Sodium - 126

Fiber - 0

Not Your Average Wedge Salad

I just love a nice wedge salad! It so refreshing and satisfying!

Ingredients:

1/4 of an iceberg lettuce
1/4 cup of diced tomatoes
1/8 cup of diced purple onion
1 slice of turkey bacon
2 tablespoons of fat free or light blue cheese dressing

Directions:

Cook the turkey bacon as directed on the package. Wash the ice berg lettuce and cut into quarters. Place 1 quarter on a plate. Chop up the tomato and onion. When the turkey bacon is finished cooking, crumble into pieces. Drizzle the blue cheese dressing on the ice berg wedge. Sprinkle and top with the bacon, tomato and onion. Serve with your choice of wine ;)

Nutrition Information - (This recipe makes 1 serving)

Calories - 127

Carbs - 12

Fat - 5

Protein - 10

Sodium - 143

Fiber - 1

Asian Chicken Wings

Who doesn't love chicken wings? Check out this twist on Chinese Chicken!

Ingredients:

-1 tablespoon of soy sauce (low sodium)
-1 tablespoon of brown sugar
-1/4 cup orange marmalade
-1/4 cup of Asian sesame salad dressing
-2 Lbs of chicken wings

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450. Mix together the soy sauce, brown sugar, orange marmalade and Asian sesame dressing. Once the oven is preheated, line a baking sheet with tin-foil. Place the chicken wings on the sheet so that they are not touching. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, flip over the chicken wings and brush with the mixture. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Serve with your favorite dressing or eat plain!


Nutrition Information (for 1 chicken wing - this recipe should make about 13 chicken wings total)

Calories - 122
Fat - 7
Carbs - 6
Protein - 9
Sodium - 100
Fiber - 0

Watermelon Breeze

Looking for an easy low calorie cocktail for sipping on the deck? Try out this watermelon breeze! Yum!

Ingredients:

-1oz watermelon vodka
-1 oz watermelon pucker
-Diet Raspberry Ginger Ale
- Ocean view (optional)

Directions:

In a medium sized glass, fill half way with ice. Pour the vodka and pucker over the ice. Fill the rest with the raspberry ginger ale. Mix and serve! Ocean view is optional but highly suggested!

Nutrition Information for 1 drink:

Calories - 135
Carbs - 13
Fat - 0
Protein -0
Sodium- 0
Fiber - 0

*Please ensure that you and whoever you are serving this to is 21 or older!

Greek Orzo Summer Salad! 259 Calories Per Serving!

I made this recipe for a family get together on the beach. It was so refreshing and delicious! Everyone went back for seconds and some even went back for thirds! You could eat this as with a meal or a side. This was so pleasing that I made it twice in one week!

Ingredients:

- 1 box of orzo pasta
- 1/2 container of red cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 container of yellow cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 purple onion
- fresh basil leafs
- 1 cup of pesto
- 1/2 cup of corn relish (sometimes this is hard to find - check near the regular relish. Stonewall kitchen has their own brand as well.)
- 1 cup of frozen peas (or pigeon peas)
- 6 oz of crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

Cook the orzo pasta as instructed on box. While the pasta is cooking, begin to chop up the tomatoes (yellow and red), onion and basil leafs. Once pasta is finished cooking, drain and place in a mixing bowl. Add the pesto and corn relish and mix well. Add the chopped up tomatoes, onion, basil leafs and frozen peas. Mix well. Let this sit in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Once you are ready to serve, mix up the mixture and garnish with the crumbled feta cheese. Yummmy!

Nutritional Information - (This recipe makes 10 servings. Nutrition information is for 1 cup)

Calories- 259

Carbs -  42

Fat - 5

Protein - 9 

Sodium - 201

Fiber - 4

***If you are making this recpie and adding it to your My Fitness Pal food diary, I have added it to the food database under "lowcalcook Greek Orzo Summer Salad" to make it easier to add!

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

The pictures honestly say it all...yum! I spent the weekend in Maine at the beach house with my boyfriends family and my family. We all made appetizers and ate them on the front porch overlooking the ocean with a few glasses of sangria in hand ;) . I wanted to be able to make a somewhat healthy dessert to compensate for all of the alcohol calories consumed so I did some research. I found a similar recipe on Stuck on Sweet's blog but wanted to add my own stamp on it so I modified the recipe a little bit. This recipe was honestly finger licking good! It didn't even make it to the table without a few "samples" taken. 

Ingredients:

- 1/2 box of pillsbury funfetti cake mix

- 1.5 cups of fat free vanilla yogurt

- 1 cup of fat free cool whip

- 1 package of Jello cheesecake sugar free mix

- 2 tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles for garnish

Directions:

Combine the cake mix, yogurt, cool whip and Jello mix in a mixing bowl. Mix well until all ingredients are well mixed and the dip becomes thick. Garnish with sprinkles. If you are making this ahead of time, be sure to wait to add the sprinkles until the very end as they may melt and dye the dip. Serve with your favorite fruit or cookie. I served with fresh strawberries and mini Nilla wafers. Yumm! This dip was so good and sweet that it could also be used as frosting :)

Nutritional Information - (For 1 serving = 1/20 of recipe - about 2-3 tablespoons)

Calories - 98

Carbs - 19

Fat - 2

Protien - 1

Sodium - 163

Fiber - 0

Summer Shrimp Salad - 286 Calories

This recipe is great for summer! It cool, refreshing and chilling! I love how easy it is to make, just chop and mix! It leaves more time for laying by the pool and getting together with old friends! This would be perfect for a backyard cook out, because let’s be honest, who wants to slave over an oven all day? Not me!

Ingredients:

-          Shrimp Cocktail (18 Medium Shrimp)

-         ¼ of a white Vidalia onion

-         ¼ cup of garbanzo beans rinsed

-        1.5 oz of light Italian salad dressing

-        ¼ of a medium avocado cubed

-        8 cherry tomatoes

-        Sprinkle of cracked pepper and sea salt

Directions:

Chop up the shrimp cocktail and onion. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Rinse the garbanzo beans. Mix together the cut up shrimp, onion, tomatoes, beans. Add in the salad dressing and sprinkle the cracked pepper and sea salt. Mix well and serve! So easy! Now go enjoy your Summer Shrimp Salad out by the pool!

Nutrition Information (This recipe only makes 1 serving. If you want to make more, just modify the recipe!)

Calories – 286

Carbs – 17

Fat – 4

Protein – 5

Sodium – 160

Fiber - 4