Saturday, March 5, 2011

Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Green Beans


As much as I love cake batter and chocolate, I do try to live a somewhat balanced lifestyle. I believe in eating real food- real butter, real sugar, real fat. I try to limit my intake of chemicals and "fake" food, and I really try to make most of our food from scratch. But I also love cookies. And cake. And bacon. Oh- and cream. Yes... I do love me some good creamy bacon. Ew... perhaps not creamy bacon, but you get what I mean. So with this love of indulgence, I do try to round out our menus with some lighter meals. This dinner was perfect for one of those "I-ate-twenty-too many-cookies-last-night" days.

I found this recipe on a new-to-me blog and instantly fell in love. Not just with the recipe but also with the blog! I do encourage you to check out the blog linked below. It's awesome. The writer of the blog has a healthy love for food (my kinda woman!) but she also lost 135 pounds and is now super skinny and healthy, plus she loves decadence! Again, my kinda woman. I'm a fan. And best of all my first recipe off her blog was awesome! This dinner was great. It was the perfect combination of flavors. John and I were both swooning, and it takes a lot to make a man swoon over green beans. Serve it with some brown rice and you have a well balanced, healthy, delicious dinner!

Source: Adapted from  Can You Stay For Dinner

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp. oil (sesame preferred, vegetable/olive will work)
2 tsp. chili sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 4 tsp. cold water
3/4 pound shrimp
3-4 cups green beans, steamed
Sesame seeds

Directions:
1- Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl, whisk well to combine (soy sauce through chili sauce).
2- Add to a small sauce pan, bring to a boil. Let the sauce simmer for 2 minutes.
3- Stir in the dissolved cornstarch mix. Return to a simmer, cook until thickened (it should coat a spoon).
4- In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, add the shrimp. Cook until both sides are cooked through. Add the cooked green beans to the skillet, along with the sauce. Stir well to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with brown rice.

7 comments:

  1. I made this tonight and we really liked it! I think I might make it in the future with just the green beans - on nights we want to go meatless. The sauce is nice and light and goes perfectly with the beans!

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  2. We had this for dinner last night and really like it!

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  3. I just tried this recipe and it was so good. I'm trying to add to my vegetable side dishes - I know what I like and I eat it over and over. Glad I went out of my normal routine with this recipe. It went quickly in my house.

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  4. I made this tonight for dinner and it was so delicious! Just the flavors I love. I used a little less sugar and a little more spice just cause that's what I like. Also added some fresh chopped scallions at the end. Thank you and love your blog, I am a teacher too!

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  5. This was great! I loved the kick that it has. I modified it slightly to add fresh Thai Basil and probably added a little extra Chili sauce. Thanks for posting!

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  6. Fantastic recipe!

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  7. I made this for dinner and it was sooo damn delicious. Next time I'll use less sugar because it taste almost sweet. I got positive feedback.

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