Cajun Grilled Shrimp

This dish can be a little on the spicy side depending on your sensitivity, but don't let that scare you!
This recipe was adapted by a similar one found in Good Housekeeping's grilling cookbook

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of shrimp (I use frozen, but you can use fresh too)
1 tbsp of Cajun seasoning (I use Tony Cacherere's)
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp fresh lime zest
1 tsp of either fresh lemon or lime juice

Directions

-Preheat your grill to about 350 degrees
-Combine the seasonings, oil, zests, and juice in a bowl.
-Add shrimp to the bowl and toss until the shrimp is covered
-Lay out a piece of aluminum foil onto your grill; fold up the ends to create a small tray
-Pour the seasoned shrimp onto the foil
-Cook for 2-3 minutes, and then flip the shrimp over
-Cook for another 2-3 minutes
-Enjoy!

This goes really well with the lime cilantro rice! I can imagine it would be tasty in a salad too.

Nutritional Information
This recipe makes four servings. Each serving is about 199 calories, 5.4 g fat, .07 g fiber, and 35.6 g protein.

Stuffed Peppers in the Slow Cooker

This recipe is a favorite in our house! It takes a little bit of prep time, but it is worth it!

Ingredients

12 oz ground turkey burger (browned/cooked)
4 large green bell peppers
10 oz frozen niblet corn
8 oz can of tomato sauce
3 (or more) cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped onion (I prefer sweet)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp (or more) ketchup

Directions

-Chop off the tops of the peppers and clean them out of seeds
-Combine all ingredients in a large bowl except for the peppers and the ketchup. If you like bell peppers, feel free to chop the tops and add them to the bowl.
-Stuff the peppers with the mixture until they are VERY full
-Pour 2-3 tbsp of water into the stone wear of the slow cooker (depending on its size)
-Drizzle ketchup over the tops of the peppers
-Cook on low 7-9 hours or high 3-5 hours

Nutritional Information
I like serving my pepper with a half of a cup of rice. The rice is not included in the calculations. Each pepper has about 254 calories, 8 g fat, 8.9 g fiber, and 19.7 g protein.

Sarah Chicken

This recipe has a fun story behind it. I'm not exactly sure where the inspiration for it came from; my guess is I found something on WeightWatchers.com and made some changes. Nonetheless, this past August, a good friend of ours (Sarah) stayed with us for about three weeks. During that time, I tried this recipe for the first time. Sarah liked it so much that we started referring to the dish as "Sarah Chicken." It's both sweet and savory, easy, and delicious. I like to serve 3-4 ounces of it with about a cup of egg noodles seasoned with a little salt, butter, and garlic power.

Ingredients

1 lb to 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breast
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar (I prefer apple cider)
1/4 cup diet lemon-lime soda (Diet 7up for example)
3 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp black pepper
sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

Directions

- Spray or line your slower cooker (I'm a fan of the Crock Pot Liners)
- Place chicken in the slow cooker
- In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients (but the chicken)
- Our mixture over the chicken in the slow cooker
- Cook on low 6-8 hours

Nutritional Information
About 4 oz of the chicken has 305 calories, 2 g fat, .6 g fiber, and 40.7 g protein.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe was adapted from SARAAK's recipe found on WeightWatchers.com

If you are craving a comfort food, this is a good fix! It's also an instant-warm up on those chilly, rainy spring days.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cans of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup (in a bind, you can substitute one of the two cans
for some other "cream of..." soup you have on hand)
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced green bell peppers
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green beans
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
2 soup cans of water
1- 7.5 oz container of Pillsbury reduced-fat buttermilk biscuits (or half of a regular container)

Directions

-Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and brown the chicken breasts. Feel free to salt and pepper them to taste if you wish. Spray or line the slow cooker at the same time.
-Place the browned chicken in the slow cooker.
-Add the carrots, green beans, and green peppers to the same pan and saute until almost done.
-Add the sauteed veggies as well as the frozen corn to the slow cooker.
-Put the two cans of soup in the slow cooker as well as two full cans of water.
-Cook on high 4-5 hours or until the chicken shred easily and the sauce is combined and creamy.
-About 30 minutes before serving, cut up the 4 biscuits into quarters and add them to the slow cooker; allow them to cook for 30 minutes (no stirring needed).

Nutritional Information
The recipe makes 4 servings, and each serving will contain about 1 1/2 cups and 4 dumplings. Each serving has about 308 calories, 11 g fat, 3.3 g fiber, and 48 g protein.