Buffalo Shrimp

It's football season!  Here's a fun twist on traditional "Buffalo" flavored fare:

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp each salt and ground cayenne pepper
1 1/2 lb large shrimp, shelled, deveined, and tails intact
1 Tbsp each, olive oil and unsalted butter
2 tsp regular hot red pepper sauce or garlic flavor

1 cup cornflakes, crushed

1 egg
Chopped fresh parsley or chives
Carrot and celery sticks

DIRECTIONS

In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt and cayenne pepper.  In another bowl, break an egg and lightly beat it (you may want to add a bit of water as well).  In a third bowl, add the cornflakes and crush. 

Add shrimp first to the flour bowl, then in the egg, then into the corn flakes.

In a large skillet, heat oil, butter, and hot pepper sauce. Add shrimp and cook, stirring constantly until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes.
 

Serve with blue cheese dressing, carrots & celery.

NUTRITION

Makes 4 servings.
Each serving: 444 cal, 22 g fat, 37 g protein, 23 g carb.

VERDICT

I don't know what the idea is behind leaving the tails on, but they were a pain to peel off (and even find sometimes) when they were all coated.  If we do this again I'll completely peel the shrimp, tail & all.

Otherwise, these were really fun!  

 

Mummy pizzs

 

These quick and easy Halloween treats were a hit at the kid's party!

INGREDIENTS

English muffins, cut in half

Sliced olives

Pizza Sauce

Mozarella sticks, pulled into strips 

DIRECTIONS

Slice the English muffins, add a few TBS of pizza sauce, top with strips of cheese and add olives for eyes.  

 

VERDICT 

Quick, easy, and sppoooookkkyyyy ;)

 

Zucchini Fries

 

As I mentioned in the previous post with the Zucchini Cheddar Hush Puppies, I had two zucchinis grow in my garden this year.  With one left, I decided to make up a batch of zucchini fries.  No real recipe needed, just an egg mixture to coat them and some breading to make them crunchy.  What really made these was the spicy siracha dip.

Best of all... the entire tray of fries was about 200 calories.  And no one eats and entire cookie tray.  Well, probably not.

INGREDIENTS

1 large zucchini, cut into 3-inch sticks

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut up the zucchini and let them rest in a colander for 5-10 minutes.  Give them a rinse and then add them in small batches to the egg-milk mixture to coat.  Carefully (without dripping globs of egg) transfer to the breadcrumb bowl and toss gently to coat.

 

I hate when the crumbs stop sticking halfway through.  I'll have half of the zucchini still to go and the crumbs just don't stick!  This is because I've gotten the crumbs too wet with the first half and ruined it for the rest.  Because I'm so sloppy I usually make the bread crumbs half a batch at a time, adding fresh bread crumbs halfway through the process so that all the zucchini is coated properly.

Layer the zucchini onto a cookie sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes, carefully flipping once when they start to brown on the bottom.  

VERDICT

 

Pretty quick and easy, and they are delicious with the dip.  But make sure you cook them enough to get crunchy.  Soggy zucchini is not the goal here!

For the dip:  Greek plain yogurt mixed with siracha sauce.   Spicy AND low-calorie!

Zucchini Jalapeno Cheddar Hush Puppies

 Unlike most gardeners, I can't grow zucchini to save my life.  The vegetable weed that takes over most other gardens by mid-August never even polinates in mine.  Until this year.  I got two.  Two little zucchinis.  I've never been prouder.  I also had to get creative on how to use them up.

This recipe has been in my stack for a while now.  And since I have some delicious hot red peppers to use too, I threw them into the mix.  Like garlic, peppers make everything tastier!

  

INGREDIENTS

·         1 qt. vegetable oil, for frying

·         1 egg

·         1 cup milk

·         2 cups of white cornmeal mix

·         3 T self rising flour

·         ¼ c. finely minced onion

·         1 medium zucchini or summer squash, diced

·         ½ c. shredded cheddar cheese

- jalapeno pepper, red pepper, or red pepper flakes- optional

DIRECTIONS

 In a deep fryer or heavy skillet heat 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees over medium heat. 

Meanwhile in a large bowl beat together the egg and milk, set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the cornmeal mix, flour, zucchini, cheese, and onion. Add the flour mix to the egg mixture and stir until well combined. Let it sit for a few minutes before frying.

 Using a melon baller or a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil a few at a time. Make sure not to crowd the pan. Fry for 3-5 minutes, turning halfway through, until dark golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Continue with the remaining batter.

VERDICT

These suckers were greasy.  And not round at all, but kind of flat.  I may have not used the proper flour (ok, I used regular flour, but what the heck is self-rising flour anyway?) which may have made the difference.

But aside from the greasiness... these were really tasty!