A 15 minute Meal

Okay, I'm going to give you a recipe today. This recipe serves one. I never make these recipes for Wayne because I don't think he would enjoy them and I don't want to hear about it. Let me tell you about some of the ingredients first:

Shrimp...I buy (previously frozen) raw shrimp at the grocery store and ask them to steam them for me. You can have them steamed plain or choose one or more of several seasonings, such as old bay, or cajun, etc. I usually buy whatever looks the best and/or is the cheapest. The past two weeks, I've paid $3.99/lb. for very nice-sized deveined, shell-on shrimp. Once peeled, it takes about 8 of them to make 2 ounces.

Rice...the diet I like best for me allows me to eat white things such as rice or potatoes and also other complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes...1/2 cup at each meal. I cook a batch of rice, no salt in the cooking water) and then store it in the fridge in 1/2 cup containers. I also bake several sweet potatoes at a time and those are wonderful reheated and then topped with Molly McButter.

Fat free half & half...how is that even possible? What do they milk to get it...ants? Whatever, there's only 40 calories and no fat in 1/4 cup.

Molly McButter...I'm not using it in this recipe, but I love it for adding plenty of butter flavor to rice, baked potato, sweet potato, broccoli...I could go on and on. There are only 5 calories in 1 tsp. and I don't come close to using a teaspon on any of those things. Another product called Butter Buds is basically the same thing.

I guess we're ready for the recipe now. It took me 15 minutes from start to finish to prepare this meal which includes everything one of my diet meals requires: 2 ounces of protein, 1/2 cup carbohydrates, 2 (or more) cups of something green. "Something green" isn't how it's described in the book, but I'm policing myself and as long as it's green and a veggie, (not a margarita or a grasshopper) I think I'm doing my part.

Shrimp with Spinach

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup diced onion
1 stalk diced celery
1 minced garlic clove
4 or 5 grape tomatoes (or any kind...or none, doesn't matter)
2 ounces steamed shrimp (or raw, doesn't matter except you need to allow more time to cook)
4 Kalamata olives (or not, or however many you want)
2 to 3 cups of fresh spinach
fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp soy sauce (you don't have to have this...doesn't make any difference)
1/4 cup fat-free half and half

Here's what you do:

Heat a skillet (on my stove, I use Medium, which provides a fairly lively heat...don't want it to be too hot, though) and then add 1 tsp. olive oil. While the oil is heating, finely chop about 1/4 to 1/3 cup onion, any kind. Throw that in the skillet and then chop 1 stalk celery...you know, just one piece, not the whole bunch. Throw that in the skillet and move the onions and celery around a bit. Mince the garlic and throw that on top. About now I measure out (love my digital scale) the 2 ounces of shrimp. Throw those in and stir a couple of times. Wash the grape tomatoes and cut them in half (or leave them whole) before you throw them in the skillet. Add the kalamata olives. (I love them, but I don't want them to be the only thing I taste.) I grind fresh pepper and add a good bit; I like it a little spicy. By now, the shrimp has probably warmed up, so shove everything to one side and add the spinach to the skillet. It looks like a lot of spinach, but it wilts down, you know. I try to keep everything else slightly off the burner while I turn the spinach and let it wilt down. When it's almost all wilted down, stir it all together. Now I turn up the heat to about medium high and add the half and half and let it heat up and bubble and cook down just a bit. Add the soy sauce here if you want it. Meanwhile, I've taken my half cup container of cooked rice and nuked it for 30 seconds. When the half and half has cooked down a bit, it's ready. You don't want the half and half to cook down to nothing...otherwise, what's the point of having it at all. Pour it over the rice and enjoy! I think it usually needs a little salt, but I don't add it until I've tasted. I use a sea salt grinder...doesn't take much...just a pinch or two. Lately, I've topped it with a bit of feta cheese. Yummy! Or as Rachel Ray says, "Yummo!" And it only took 15 minutes, for one serving. It will obviously take a few minutes longer to chop and stretch it into a couple of servings. According to my calculations there are 215 calories in the shrimp and spinach dish. Add 121 calories for 1/2 cup of white rice and you'll have only 336 calories total.

The olives, feta, and soy sauce are salty, so that's why you should taste before you add any salt.
This is also delicious over angel hair pasta.

Instead of spinach, I have also steamed broccoli and added that just before the half and half. To steam it painlessly, I wash and cut the broccoli, place it in a bowl, cover with waxed paper and nuke for a minute or so.

As a side dish, I sprinkle the broccoli with fresh ground pepper and Molly McButter.