Shrimp Salad Roll with Tarragon and Chives

This is such an easy and fast recipe that's perfect for the summer. A good seafood roll is hard to come by here in Sacramento. Opting to make it at home, you can add more veggies, control the salt, and use lower calorie ingredients too! Alternatively, the shrimp salad can be enjoyed on a bed of lettuce!

When I went on the hunt for lobster roll and shrimp roll recipes they were typically served on a delicious looking roll. Come to find it was a New England Style Hot Dog Bun. that are hard to find in California. Lucky for me, my cousin-in-law Truc got me a pack of NE Style Buns from her east coast visit! The New England Style Hot Dog Bun is slightly sweet and more pliable than a regular hot dog bun. The way they're baked and cut make them ideal for buttering and toasting! I'm truly thankful for getting to try these buns before attempting to make my own! :P

This recipe can be made ahead and can keep for up to 2-days in the refrigerator. If making the same day, it's ideal to make it a few hours ahead of time to let the shrimp salad chill and let the herbs' flavors develop. The recipe below is approximately half the FineCooking.com's recipe, I also substituted the fresh herbs with dried herbs to make the recipe a little more pantry ingredients friendly.

Shrimp Salad Roll with Tarragon and Chives
Adapted from FineCooking.com
Makes 6 servings
Nutritional Value per serving- Calories: 244 Fat: 10g Protein: 12g Sodium: 509mg Sugar: 3g Carbs: 22g
Nutritional Value per serving (Shrimp Salad Only)- Calories: 69 Fat: 2g Protein: 6g Sodium: 349mg Sugar: 0g Carbs: 2g

Ingredients:
1 lb large shrimp (31 to 40 per lb.)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery with leaves
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used Kraft Olive Oil Mayo)
2 Tbsp. dried chives
2 Tsp. dried tarragon
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice; more to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
6 hot dog rolls, preferably New England-style split top rolls
3-4 Tbsp Ghee or melted butter (optional)

Directions:
In a large pot, bring well-salted water to boil over high heat. Add the shrimp and let cook until pink, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (the water does not need to return to a boil). Drain in a colander and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Peel the shrimp, de-vein (if necessary), and cut into small pieces.

In a large bowl, combine celery, mayonnaise, chives, tarragon, and lemon juice. Stir ingredients until well mixed and add shrimp. Add salt, pepper and more lemon juice to taste.

Heat a pan or skillet on medium heat. Lightly brush each side of hot dog buns with ghee or melted butter. Once the pan is hot, place the bun with one of the buttered sides down on the pan. Grill until lightly-browned and flip over and grill the other side is lightly browned. Spoon the shrimp salad into the rolls and serve. Enjoy!

Variations: Substitute the cooked shrimp with cooked lobster to make a lobster roll!

Baked Apples with Oat Crumbles

I love me some apple cobbler, but cobblers generally have a ton of sugar and with each recipe I make more cobbler than I can resist! When I saw this recipe on skinnytaste.com I was so excited! I followed the recipe to a "t" the first time and it was good, the only downfall was that any crumbles that didn't stay on the apple ended up being a burnt mess on my baking sheet (the wasted crumbles was just such a tragedy!) ! -_-. By slicing the apples and placing them in a ramekin I was able to maximize the crumbles and cut the baking time by a little. This is budget friendly and can be easily scaled up for larger families. And also because this dessert is so small and isn't extremely temperature sensitive, you can bake them in your toaster oven! HUZZAH! 

In the future, I'm going to make the crumble mixture sans butter in bulk and store in an airtight container and add just mix 1 Tbsp of butter per 4 Tbsp of crumble mixture. I've also substituted the butter with coconut oil the second time around and it was just as delicious!

Baked Apples with Oat Crumbles
Adapted from Skinnytaste
Makes 2 servings
Nutritional Value per serving - Calories:152 Fiber:3g Protein: 1g Sodium: 0mg Sugar: 13g Carbs: 20g

1 large apple

1 Tbsp butter, melted 

1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp quick oats
pinch of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, slice apples (I used an apple slicer and then sliced those slices in halves). Arrange apple slices into a ramekin.

In a small bowl combine butter, brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon. Spoon on top of the sliced apples and bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until apples are tender.

Here's a picture of the Apple Slicer, the price is a little steep but it's super convenient to slice apples for baking or even just to slice apples in seconds for a healthy snack!

OXO Grips Apple Slicer/Corer (photo courtesy of Amazon.com)

Turkey Meatballs

This is a re-post from my Reni-women blog because my blog is looking pretty bare. My first post! *Squeals*

The Grocery Outlet typically sells Jennie-O ground turkey meat for a steal so I bought it without really knowing what to make. Then I had the bright idea of making meatballs with them! I like making them in big batches and freezing some so that my family can have a quick, delicious, and healthy meal option on weeknights. I love using these turkey meatball for spaghetti or meatball subs. While club stores sells frozen chicken meatballs which are a decent option for meals too, isn't it nice to know what exactly is in the food you're serving? :)

Turkey Meatballs
Makes about 50 meatballs.
Nutritional Value per meatball - Calories: 39 Fiber:0g Protein: 1g Sodium: 100mg Sugar: 0g

1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (alternate: Panko breadcrumbs and Italian Seasoning)

1/4 cup whole milk (I tried unsweetened almond milk and the meatballs still turned out well!)

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

2.5 pounds ground turkey meat

Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Using hands, mix all the ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoons, form the meat mixture into balls (makes approximately 50 meatballs). Grease or use a non-stick cooking spray on a heavy baking sheet or casserole dish. Place the meatballs on the baking sheet or casserole dish about 1" apart. Drizzle with olive oil and bake until cooked through, 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Freezing leftovers: Let meatballs cool to room temperature. Store in airtight container and freeze. To reheat, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, bake for 15-20 minutes.

My favorite "low cal" way to eat the meatballs is with "squash pasta". I use a mandolin or veggie spiral slicer to julienne Italian Squash, sauté in olive oil, salt and pepper. Enjoy!