Eating, recipes

On the Beach

If it seems like a long time since I’ve put up a recipe, it’s because it has been. I started the South Beach Diet about a month ago, and while the recipes aren’t bad, they haven’t had me dancing in the streets. Tonight’s dinner, though, was good enough to share. For lunch, we had Red Leaf, Avocado and Apple Salad. For dinner, we topped the leftover salad with Shrimp Scampi. I had my doubts about the mustard-garlic-apple combination, but it turned out just fine. I think the shrimp will be even better in a few weeks when we can have it with whole-wheat pasta.

Both recipes are from the South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook, and they’re both Phase I. For those of you on Weight Watchers, it’s 5 Points for the shrimp and 4 Points for the salad.

Red Leaf, Avocado and Apple Salad
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse-grain Dijon mustard
1 (1-pound) head red leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine oil, lemon juice and mustard in a jar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, close tightly and shake vigorously to combine.
Toss dressing with lettuce; add salt and pepper to taste. Distribute salad among plates, top with avocado and apple slices, and serve.
Makes 4 servings.

Shrimp Scampi
1 1/2 pounds fresh or thawed frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tablespoons trans-fat-free margarine
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rinse shrimp under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat margarine and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until melted and bubbling, 1 to 2 minutes. Add shrimp and stir to coat.
Add lemon juice, parsley and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink, about 2 minutes. Do not overcook or the shrimp will be tough. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper, and serve hot.
Makes 4 servings.

Family matters

When We Were Wee

12 Comments

I wish I’d appreciated how good I had it when I was a kid. No work, no bills, summer vacation. It’s true: Youth is wasted on the young. I spent most of my long, uneventful summer days wishing I had something to “do.” I can’t remember much of what I did to pass the time then, but
here are a few things I do recall:

  • Days spent reading next to the pool or curled up in the recliner.
  • Watching far too many episodes of “Saved By the Bell.”
  • Riding bikes down to Frost’s store after we got our allowances and stocking up on candy. Mine was always gone by the end of the day.
  • Riding bikes up and down and up and down and up and down the road, making sure to pedal as fast as we could past the “ninja house.” (Yeah, I don’t know.)
  • Motorcycle rides with Dad.
  • Blue raspberry freezes at The Freezer (and the accompanying post-freeze blue-tongue syndrome).
  • Mongolian beef, sizzling rice soup and “red pop” at Forbidden City.
  • Playing in the pool — floating around, diving for golf balls, Marco Polo …
  • Cookouts with the fam.

    It’s been a long time since I had a summer like that. But “strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” We’re moving at the end of June, and we’ll sort of be hobos until August. I know it won’t be quite the same, but I’m so looking forward to it. There will be, I hope, reading by the pool (and floating and diving and maybe even Marco Polo) and bike rides and motorcycle rides. I might have a blue raspberry freeze, I will certainly have sizzling rice soup and mongolian beef. And this time around, I plan to enjoy every minute of it.