The Cure...

...for not wanting to cook? It appears to be admitting you have a problem. Hmmm....that sounds a little too 12 step-ish for me.

Anyway, I found myself trapped in the house today as the weeone is running a fever and not feeling well and it's raining outside. So here I've sat watching reruns of "House" and few episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey". I don't recommend messing with those NJ women. They scare me. And that one, Teresa? Definite stage mom. But I digress...

I had some shrimp in the refrigerator that had to be used in some way today or tossed. I initially started a pot of water to boil, adding in some Old Bay to season the little guys. Just as the water was coming to boil I remembered I had a recipe for Seared Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos. It looked quick and easy and I was hungry. So what the heck...I needed to break my non-cooking streak.

I started out by combining some cumin, onion and garlic powder, chipotle powder and chili powder plus salt. Next, the cleaned shrimp went for a swim in the dry spices. Once they were coated....

...into a hot pan they went. Three or four minutes on each side and the shrimp were seared and pretty and smelling like a great carribbean treat.

While the shrimp were sizzling, I combined some shredded lettuce with chopped fresh cilantro and lime juice. And here I deviated from the recipe a bit and added in a bit of mayonnaise. The original recipe allows for the addition of sour cream as a topper and since I'm dairy-free, I thought added a bit of mayo to the cilantro-lime salad topping would help to calm a bit of the heat I was expecting with these spiced up shrimp.


Next came the building of a taco! A couple of corn tortillas warmed up and dressed with the cilantro-lime salad, topped with some diced tomatoes, tomatillo salsa and the hot shrimp and voila! Dinner was ready. Yum. Really yum. And if you're afraid of some heat in your shrimp tacos, you might want to halve the amount of spices you use on this one.

Oh...and 1 more thing....this wasn't the only thing I made today. The other recipe is now in the freezer working its magic....ooooh I can't wait to taste it....it's a great blend of Southern traditions and hot summer treats...

Seared Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos
from Weight Watchers 20 Minute Recipes

2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 pounds peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 1/2 cups preshredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons lime juice
Cooking Spray
8 (5 inch) corn tortillas
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. In a separate bowl, toss together lettuce, cilantro, and lime juice; cover and chill.

2. Heat a cast-iron grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray; add shrimp to pan and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done.

3. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Divide shrimp evenly among tortillas. Top each tortilla with 1/4 lettuce mixture, 1 tablespoon diced tomato, 1 tablespoon tomatillo salsa, and 1 tablespoon sour cream; fold tortillas in half.

Yield: 4 servings of 2 tacos each

Nutritional Information: Cal 278; Fat 6.4g (sat 2.7g); Pro 33.7g; Carb 23.3g; Fib 3.3g; Chol 288mg; Iron 5.4mg; Sod 730mg; Calc 140mg