Avo-Shrimp Salad- because it reminds me of summer!!

Delicious Shrimp Salad (AKA: I wish it was summer!!!)

I found this recipe on Facebook... and it looks super summery. And don't you know... in the dead of Winter (which, in Ohio, for me, occur in February)-- I need some summery thoughts. February is rough. It's cold. It's windy, snowy, slushy, and... just cold. Thankfully it's the shortest month and we're almost through it! Hurry summer!!


Shrimp and Avocado Salad:

Ingredients AND directions:

Combine in a bowl:
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 limes, juiced (or just use lime juice from a bottle)
pinch of salt/ pepper

Let that sit for 5 minutes... takes some of the bite out of the onion

Combine in a bigger bowl:

1# large or jumbo shrimp, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 avocado, cut into chunks
2 stem tomatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 cup green salsa

Combine contents of both bowls... and add salt and pepper to taste, if needed


I like to eat this on top of a giant bed of spinach for lunch. You don't even need to add dressing because the dressing on the shrimp is so awesome!

Easy Baby Back Ribs

I am not a pork chef. Pork, to me, is one of the most difficult meats to cook. It can dry out very easily (there's a reason people always serve applesauce with pork chops)-- and when it's dry it's incredibly tough. I think pork is harder to cook than steak, fish...all of it. It's just temperamental. For that reason, I've never made ribs before... they're usually super expensive, and pretty fatty. However, Earth Fare had them on sale this week ($5/ pound)... so I decided... why not? Try new things... anyway, they turned out great and they were super easy! Granted, they weren't falling off the bone and oozing with sauce... but I did a dry rub because I hate having saucy fingers... I'm saucy enough!!

I served with a salad because we weren't that hungry, but this would be delicious with some mashed sweet potatoes. 

Easy Baby Back Ribs

Dry rub:

• 1 TSP Paprika
• 2 TSP Coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon (or orange) peel, dried (could use fresh zest as well)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix it all together, rub it on your rack of ribs... then plastic wrap the ribs to sit in the fridge for 2-24 hours. When you're ready to cook- preheat the oven to 300F. Put your ribs on a rack and bake in the oven for 2 hours, or until the meat is at your preferred temperature.

Eat all by themselves, or dip in your fav paleo BBQ sauce (perhaps this?)

This evening I also made another batch of Pizza Spaghetti Pie, Zuppa Tuscano, and Deep Dish Breakfast Pizza... I think that should get us through Wednesday... not bad for 2 hours of work!

Post Workout Smoothie

I know it's pretty cold outside for a smoothie... but sometimes they're just delicious!

Here's a good post-workout one for ya:

In your blender:
1/2 frozen banana:
8-10oz unsweetenend cocoa almond milk
A scoop of ice cubes (~15 ice cubes)
1 TBSP almond butter
1/2-3/4 scoop choco protein powder (I use egg-based)

Directions: BLEND. Pour. Smile. Picture a sunny day with tulips and sunshine. Now go do something silly. :-)

Deep Dish Breakfast Pizza

The classy cave lady has been on a hiatus. Things are incredibly busy right now between work^2 (both jobs), school, researching, crossfit, training for the half marathon... oh- and cooking delicious foods!

Breakfast is tough. I hate taking time to make eggs (and then you have to clean the pans... and have all the meat/ veggies prepped... ugh!). So I tried the Deep Dish Breakfast Pizza from Crossfit.com.

Recipe

This is pretty easy- just have to have a large pan that can hold all this food. This is a paleo "zone" recipe- so that means the quantity is meant to be controlled (ie- if you cut into 8 slices, each slice is about 2 blocks of food).

If you've even been curious about Zone- here's a pretty good explanation: 

Here's the recipe:

ingredients (16 Zone blocks)

• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage (6 protein blocks)

• 1 large onion, diced (2 carbohydrate blocks)

• 3 poblano peppers, diced (2 carbohydrate blocks)

• 3 yams, roasted and roughly chopped (9 carbohydrate 

blocks)

• 3 c. mushrooms, sliced (1 carbohydrate block)

• 2 c. black olives, sliced (16 fat blocks)

• 3 large Roma tomatoes, diced (2 carbohydrate blocks)

• 10 whole eggs or 20 egg whites (10 protein blocks)

• Kosher salt, to taste

• Olive oil, as needed

directions

1. Heat a 14-in. cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add Italian sausage in small chunks and cook until done, then remove from pan. (Use a little olive oil if necessary, but rendered fat should be a sufficient cooking agent.)

3. Add onions, a touch of olive oil, the poblano peppers and some salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add yams and mushrooms and salt lightly again. Cover pan with a lid or a piece of aluminum foil and cook 5 minutes longer.

5. While veggies are cooking, crack eggs into a bowl and whisk until uniform.

6. Remove lid from pan, add sausage, olives and tomatoes. Stir well, add eggs and cover again.

7. Cook until eggs are set, then remove lid/foil and broil the top side in the oven in order to dry it out and brown it slightly.

8. When finished, place a piece of parchment paper over the top, place an inverted sheet pan on top of that, and invert the skillet and pan together. Place on a counter and remove the skillet from the top.

9. Slice and eat immediately, or allow to cool completely, then slice, portion, wrap and freeze/refrigerate.