June 18, 2008

Good Eats and Cool Treats

During the hot summer months here in the deep South I'm always looking for something we can eat in the evening that is good, healthy and doesn't require an oven! We discovered a wonderful little restaurant in Gulfport, MS a few years ago that served the best shrimp salad. It had lots of chopped onions (David loves onions) and a little "bite" to it so I decided I would try my hand at my version of the New Orleans Bistro shrimp salad.


Shrimp Salad

1 lb. cooked shrimp
2 tsps. lemon juice
1 c. mayo (I used lite mayo and you can use fat free)
1 small onion, minced
salt and pepper to taste
ground red pepper (use sparingly)
1 stalk celery, finely sliced (optional)

Combine all ingredients together, mixing well. Refrigerate at least one hour. The longer this stuff "cooks" in the refrigerator, the better it gets!

That's it! How easy is that?
I serve it with crackers and fresh fruit......YUMMY!


A few years ago when I was in Weight Watchers, one of my good friends gave me this receipe. I call it "Guiltless Chocolate Pie". You only need a box of chocolate fat free, sugar free jello pudding and pie mix, fat free milk and "free" Cool Whip.

Here's all you need (plus a pie crust of course)
Follow the directions for making the chocolate pie on the jello box

Fold in 1/2 of the Cool Whip, reserving the other 1/2 for the top of your pie when it's ready

Whisk the jello, Cool Whip and milk together until it has a smooth consistency


Here it is in the pie shell (cook the shell according to the directions - a graham cracker crust is good too) . Put it in the refrigerator until it is firm

I always have a little extra left over so I poured the remaining mixture in my "faux" margarita glasses, plopped a big ol' spoonful of Cool Whip on top and added a strawberry! Am I Paula Deen or what?

Janie over at Southern Lagniappe has a wonderful chicken salad receipe on her blog. I asked her if she minded if I told ya'll about it and she was sweet enough to let me include it.

Best Ever Chicken Salad
Receipe courtesy Fairfield Grocery
Shreveport, Louisiana

3 lbs. skinned and boned chicken breasts
1 (49 1/2 oz) can chicken broth
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped water chestnuts, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
3 cups mayo (I found this to be a little too much mayo so you might want to decrease this amount)
1 tsp. ground red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper

Place chicken breasts in a large skillet, add chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, 30 min. or until chicken is done.

Remove chicken from skillet and let stand 15 minutes or until cool to touch. Shred chicken.

Combine shredded chicken, celery, water chestnuts and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir together mayo, red pepper, salt and white pepper until well blended. Spoon over shredded chicken mixture, stirring to coat. Cover and chilll at least 4 hours.

Yield: Makes about 8 (1-cup) servings

I do not follow this receipe exactly. I don't include the red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, or water chestnuts. Also, I just boil the chicken in water (not using the broth) until done and then "shred" it in my blender. After that I combine the shredded chicken with the onion, mayo, salt and pepper and add a little red pepper, mixing well. It still turned out very good!


These salads are always good, it doesn't take long to make either one, and they don't have a lot of ingredients. I'll bet if you try them, you'll like them too!


I went to one of my favorite interior decorating stores this past weekend and I have lots of pictures to show ya'll.


Tomorrow (Thursday) my sweet little Taylor is having her tonsils out so please keep her in your prayers.....
UPDATE: Taylor came through her surgery just fine.....thank you all for saying a little prayer for Ta-Ta.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

The shrimp salad looks great! I'm going to try that. Great recipes!

Mama said...

Thank you for these great recipes! I will be making the chocolate pie this weekend -- can't have sugar anymore, so I'm in the market for good recipes like this one.

Nonnas News said...

Saying a special prayer for little Taylor this morning. Hope all goes well.

The salads look and sound delish! I'm not much on shrimp, but I love chicken salad, so I will have to give that one a try for sure! Thank you for sharing with us. I have a recipe blog. It is listed on my blogroll if you ever want to check it out!

Southern Lady said...

Hi, Judy ...

I hope this finds your day going well and sweet little Taylor recuperating nicely.

I tagged you for a post on your "Five Favorite Things." Hope you don't mind. It can be anything -- movies, books, people, house things ... just whatever you'd like to share.

Thanks ... You take care now.

Janie

Vee said...

Ohhhh, I know someone who loves shrimp...I'll snag this one for the next hot day when we need a light supper. Thanks!

Deserae said...

Great summertime recipes! I will say a little prayer for little Taylor too!
~Des

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Hey, girlfriend, that looks like some good eatin'! Love that plate too. I'm always looking for non-cooked things for summer too. It's just too hot sometimes to get that oven turned on.
Hope ya'll have a good weekend.

xoxo,
Rhoda

Anonymous said...

Hi Judy! First I hope everything went well for your little Taylor!!! I just hate to hear when little ones need medical attention. Now, I just finished a PB&J (because it was quick) and I came upon your recipes and pictures. Let me tell you my tastebuds are now unsatisfied!!!! I need to try these recipes this weekend. I did copy Janie's chicken salad last week so I'll try both. Paula Deen better watch out! I hope by the time you read this you are serving Taylor ice-cream! Best Wishes - Jeannette

Justabeachkat said...

Yum...ALL of the recipes sound pretty darn yummy! We have a deli here that has the very best shrimp salad I've ever ever had, so I take the easy route and just buy it. LOL I love to make my own chicken salad though. Mine includes boiled chicken that has been shredded by hand, mayo, celery, craisins and some oven roasted pecans. Yummy!

I'm so glad Taylor did good with her surgery. Praise God.

Hugs!
Kat

Snappy Casual Snippets said...

I'll have to try the chocolate pie. Sounds good and easy.

The Charm House said...

Thanks so much for visiting my Garden Tour! I love your blog and cannot wait to try your shrimp salad! I love your blog, sat here just going through the pictures! I visited Rhoda's blog yesterday and enjoyed it. It was nice to see a familiar name and remember how much I enjoyed hers!
Thanks,
I am adding your blog to my favorite links!
Yvette

Southern Lady said...

Judy, I'm so glad to hear that Taylor is doing well. It's so hard when little ones have to have something like that done.

Your Shrimp Salad sounds wonderful and I'm going to try it soon. I appreciate your including my chicken salad recipe. I think I'm going to post it as a regular post instead of featuring it at the bottom of my posts where no one probably sees it.

Enjoy pampering Taylor during her recovery.

Sincerely,
Janie

Vickie said...

Oh my gosh thank you for the shrimp salad recipe. :)

Natasha said...

I love summer time eating,I tend to eat less in the hotter months but still want to eat delicious food.
I am moving to South Carolina in 25 days and I will have my first taste of southern heat ;) My crock pot and the grill will be my best friends.
Take Care
Natasha

PAT said...

Hi Judy

I'm catching up with you, this morning. We enjoyed our visit with our sweet Gabi, since last Thursday. Her mommy was missing her, so she returned home, yesterday.

These recipes sound delicious. The photos are great, too!

Pat

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