Low Cal Southern Shrimp Salad Sandwich and Corn, Roasted Chili & Bacon Chowder

Low Calorie Southern Shrimp Salad Sandwich and Corn, Roasted Chili, & Bacon Chowder

Being from Coastal Georgia, shrimp salad sandwiches are a staple.  This issue is, like in so many other southern dishes, that its usually a high calorie and fat laden dish.  With a few easy substitutions I have made this low calorie version without compromising the flavor.   To go along side this wonderful sandwich I took advantage of my garden being in full swing and made a Corn, Roasted Chilies, and Bacon Chowder that may have just stolen the spot light in the dinner.  Both are very simple to make and just take minutes to prepare.

Boiled Shrimp are naturally low calorie and people who are watching calories know that you can nearly eat your weight in them without making a significant dent in your caloric intake.  Another ingredient that is an absolute in Southern Shrimp Salad is celery, and lots of it.  Once again a very low calorie ingredient so no worries there.  So whats the culprits in making this southern staple high calorie: mayonnaise and buttered toast.  

Even if you don't know much about the South East I'm sure you've learned from our local celebrity Chef Paula Dean that we love our mayo and real butter.  When we say mayo we are not talking that sweet sandwich spread or some knock off, we are talking real mayonnaise and the biggest debate in South when it comes to this condiment is whether you are a Blue Plate or Dukes person. Personally I think you can't go wrong with either but both are extremely high in calories and don't help keep anything low cal.  Lucky for me, Dukes makes a low calorie version of their mayo that still taste pretty close to the real thing and is only 50 calories per 2 tablespoons and is exactly what we are looking for our dish.

The other culprit is the buttery toast that this dish is usually served on.  This was a simple fix for me because I happen to have some Great Harvest Honey Wheat buns on hand that were only 130 calories per bun in which I toasted up on the griddle with a little cooking spray.  Obviously you don't have to use these buns and can substitute your bread of choice.  I have found a Sarah Lee whole grain wheat bread that is only 45 calories a slice that would be a great substitute as well.   

As for the side dish that stole the show, the Corn Chowder, I kicked it up with a little bit of roasted chili's and some bacon and was very easy and turned out amazing.  The great part about my chowder is that with exception of the corn and onions, nearly every other ingredient came out of my garden.  If you're not so lucky to have a garden there is still plenty of options to get fresh local produce to use in this dish.  Of course you can choose to go get the large chain grocery store produce, and I'm sure it will turn out very good, but when you use local produce I find it is usually more fresh and a better quality.  Besides that, you are supporting someone else in your community and making it stronger.  

While I've had corn chowder before I have never made it.  I knew upfront however I wanted to give mine a little kick with some of my chili's out the garden.  I used mild jalapenos, cayenne, hot banana, and green and purple bell peppers as well as a can of green chilies out the store.  The bacon was added to help cook the vegetables as well as add a smokey flavor.  The star of the dish was the Silver Queen sweet corn that I used.  If you don't have Silver Queen available I suggest that you use another sweet variety.  After cutting the corn off the cobs make sure to scrape the cob with the back of your knife to get all the corn milk you can.  While it may not sound like much it makes a huge difference.      

Whether you use this recipe to the "T", or you let it guide you to your own wonderful creation I hope your version turns out as good as mine.  If you do use this dish or this recipe inspires you to make your own please come back and leave me a comment letting me know how it turned out.  If you have any questions you can leave those in the comment area as well and I will be happy to answer.  

Southern Shrimp Salad Sandwich

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb. Shrimp (shell on)

3 stalks celery; chopped

1/2 C. low fat mayo

1 tbs. plus 1/2 tbs. Old Bay Seasoning

4 Great Harvest Honey Wheat Buns

Bring about a gallon of water to boil with 1 tablespoon of old bay seasoning.  Once the water comes to a boil add shrimp and remove pot from burner.  Let stand for 5 minuets in hot water then add 4-6 cups of ice to stop cooking.  Let shrimp sit in water and soak up the seasoning for another 5 minuets to soak up seasoning.  While shrimp are cooling in water chop celery into chop course.  Combine celery, mayo, and Old Bay and set aside.  After 5 minuets remove shrimp from water and peel.  Once peeled chop shrimp into fairly large chunks then add to mayo and celery mixture then refrigerate until ready to assemble sandwiches.  To make sandwich toast inside of bun on griddle with a small amount of cooking spray.  Once golden and crispy lay down lettuce on bottom then add salad to the top of that and topping with tomato.  Layering this way will help the bun from getting soggy.  

Corn, Roasted Chilies, and Bacon Chowder  

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr

Servings: 8

Ingredients 

6 ears Silver Queen or other sweet corn; cut off cob and cob scrapped of milk

1 lg. Onion chopped

1 med. green bell pepper; roasted then chopped

1 med. purple bell pepper; roasted then chopped

2 jalapenos; roasted then chopped

2 cayenne peppers; roasted then chopped   

1 lg can of green chilies

1 hot banana pepper; roasted then chopped

2 stalks celery; chopped

10 baby red potatoes; quartered

2 cloves garlic; chopped

4 slices bacon; chopped

4 tortillas; cut into strips then baked.

1 C. fat free milk

4 C. vegetable stock

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  While preheating place all peppers and chilies on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.  Once preheated roast peppers in over for 10 minuets turning half way through until brown and skin begins to bubble.  Remove from oven and place in a zip lock and let cool.  Cut tortillas into strips and place on cookie sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray.  Place in over for 5 minuets or until slightly browned and crispy then remove and let cool.  While chilies are cooling chop bacon and place in a heavy dutch oven and begin to brown.  While bacon is cooking chop all vegetable and set aside.  Once bacon is done but not crispy drain pot of all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease then add onions and celery and cook until translucent.  while these are cooking remove skins and seeds from chilies and chop.  Once onions and celery are translucent add corn, potatoes, and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minuets.  After the 5 minuets add chilies and peppers as well as can of green chilies and cook for 2 more minuets.  Once 2 minuets have elapsed add stock and milk and cover and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done, about 30-40 minuets.  After potatoes are done chowder is ready to eat but if you have time to turn it on low and let it simmer for about an hour it will make it even better.  Top with tortilla strips when serving.  

   

Low Calorie Chicken & Waffles

Oven Fried Spicy Chicken with Savory Organic Whole Wheat, Rosemary, and Cracked Black Pepper Waffles

Sometimes you make a meal and you even impress yourself and this is one of those times.  Chicken and Waffles is one of those dishes that you either you love or you hate and is not usually on a healthy lifestyle menu unless its one of your indulgence meals.  I'm not sure really what even inspired the idea it just kind of popped in my head and then the mission began to make a low calorie version of this sweet and savory meal.  I think I can say I succeeded because this entire plate of food comes in at only 455 calories!  

I knew I wanted my version to be sweet, savory, and spicy so to the waffles I added rosemary and cracked black pepper then marinated the chicken in a spicy egg batter to go with the syrup to achieve what I was going for.  To add a little more kick to my plate I topped with some Sriracha and all its spicy garlicky goodness.  

The waffles where not the part that worried me when it came to calories it was making a crunch chicken to mimic the fried chicken feel.  I did a little research and then put my spin on it to come up with these chicken tenders that turned out delicious.  I did a three station dredge system with first coating the chicken with organic whole wheat flour then dipping it in a spicy egg wash then rolling it in a combination of Panko breadcrumbs and crushed FiberOne 80 Calorie Honey Squares.  If you don't have this particular cereal use something similar such as corn flakes.   

After baking in the oven for 20 minutes then crisping up with a little nonstick spray and crisping up a little under the broiler the tenders turned our exactly how I was hoping for.  

For the waffles I used a few of the same tricks I use for making pancakes and breads such as substituting oil with apple sauce and using sour cream and fat free milk to give it the butter milk consistency.  I chose to use some organic whole wheat flour as the base for the waffles and I was not disappointed with that choice at all.  after whisking up the dry and wet ingredients the waffles cooked up exactly how I had hoped.  

   

So if you are like me and are one of the fans of the sweet savory goodness of Chicken and Waffles feel free to give this recipe a shot.  Put your own spin on it and make it yours.

Oven Fried Spicy Chicken with Savory Organic Whole Wheat, Rosemary, & Cracked Black Pepper Waffles.  

Prep time: 20 mins.

Cook time: 30 mins

Recipe makes 8 servings

For Chicken:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast; butterflied open then cut into fingers (I got about 11 fingers)

***Can substitute 1 lb. chicken tenders

• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 2 tbl. hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 C. organic whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C. Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 C. FiberOne 80 calorie Honey Squares
• 1 tbl. pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbl. chili powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  While oven is preheating butterfly chicken breast in half and cut fingers out of chicken or use chicken tenders. Season with a pinch of the salt and pepper and set aside.  Whisk together egg, egg white, and hot sauce.  Crush cereal (I used blender) and then mix with panko breadcrumbs, chili powder, garlic powder, and meaning salt and pepper.  When oven is preheated spray baking sheet with cooking spray.  First coat each chicken strip with flour shaking off any excess and then dipping in egg bath and rolling in crumbs and placing on a baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minuets then remove from oven.  Turn oven on broil and when ready spray chicken lightly with cooking spray and put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until chicken is brown and crispy.  

For Waffles:

• 1 3/4 C. organic whole wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 1 C. fat free milk
• 2 tbl. low fat sour cream
• 2 tbl. apple sauce
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbl cracked black pepper
• 2 tbl chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/4 C. Sugar Free Syrup (per serving)

Preheat you waffle iron.  Mix dry ingredients and rosemary and set aside.  Combine all wet ingredients making sure that there are no large lumps of sour cream visible (I used a blender).  Combine wet and dry ingredients and combine just enough to mix leaving the batter slightly lumpy.  Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and ladle in 1/4 cup of batter per waffle.  Should make about 8 waffles.  

To serve place waffles on plate and top with chicken.  I used two pieces per serving.  Between chicken and waffle I placed one piece of crispy bacon to add a little more crunch and smokey flavor.  Top with sugar free syrup and Sriracha if you so desire.  

Oven Fried Spicy Chicken and Savory Organic Whole Wheat, Rosemary, & Cracked Black Pepper Waffles.

You have to start somewhere.

Well after months of many of my friends and family telling me that I should start a blog to share my cooking and my new healthy living lifestyle, a friend of mine said the heck with it and took it upon herself to make this site for me. For all her hard work I want to thank her for making this a possibility.

So for my inaugural post I'm going to start by sharing a few of the things that have made my journey successful.  I can attribute much of my success in watching my caloric intake and losing weight to three major things: Myfitnesspal.com, not depriving myself of carvings, and eating out much less.

As for the first thing I have used other "calorie counting" site in the past but for my purposes I find that Myfitnesspal.com gives me the best tools to accomplish my needs.  Like most other sites Myfitnesspal.com has a large library of foods that you can look up and choose which selection best fits your meal as well as a bar code scanner on the mobile version to pull up the nutritional information.

The unfortunate part is just like all the other sites like it, often times there are multiple choices that may fit what you are eating but have varying nutritional information.  It important in choosing which option you're going to use to remember two things: pick the best option that actually describes your food or ingredient and do not cheat yourself by choosing the lowest option.  Usually if there are multiple options that describe my food or ingredients that have discrepancies in calorie information I choose the option that either has several in the same general area or the middle of the road option.  

The feature that Myfitnesspal.com provides that I feel sets them apart for my needs is the recipe builder option.  In this option I can go in and build my own recipe by putting in the ingredients that go into my dish and the number of servings that it will make and it will give you the nutritional information per serving. For those of you that have done this by hand you know how much of a pain that can be and this site takes all the work out of it.

Whether you use Myfitnesspal.com or another similar site to your liking its important that you have a way to have an accurate way to track caloric intake.  By using a site like this, it forces you to have accountability for the food your consuming.

The next thing that has attributed to my success is not depriving myself of my cravings.  I am a huge fan of food in general but two of my major weakness are hot wings, sushi, and beer.  The sushi craving is one that I can work around somewhat without busting my calories but wings and beer on the other hand is a whole different story.  I know there are thousands of recipes on "The Google" for healthy alternatives for crunching that wing craving but there is something about that crispy deep fried wing covered in hot sauce and dipped in bleu cheese that just can not be replicated and beer is well....beer and there is no alternative to replacing it.

My way of dealing with my wing craving is that every Tuesday, minutes after my weakly weigh in, I travel to Buffalo Wild Wings and tackle my love for wings head on!  I order the 8 piece lunch option and dig in and enjoy one of my joys in life.  Most people would tell you to not do exactly what I do in giving into such a high calorie and high fat craving for many reasons, I obviously feel much different.  Now this doesn't mean I just go and blow the whole day from there.  I allow myself the wings because I build them into my caloric intake for the day.  I allow myself up to 1800 calories a day and I know that the 8 wings with a side salad and lite balsamic vinaigrette dressing is right at 1000 calories per the Buffalo Wild Wing website.  So on Tuesdays I eat a lighter that usual breakfast and know that whatever I prepare for that nights dinner has to be lower in calories to fit into my 1800 for the day.  Same thing goes for when I'm craving a great IPA or Stout.  This is the same concept that Weight Watchers once used (maybe still does) in that you are allowed to eat whatever you want as long as you stay within your points or in my case calories.  So whatever your craving is that you just can't shake I say have it, enjoy it, relish in it, but just don't go nuts and stay within your calories.

Now that I have told you about my weekly trip to BW's let me tell you about the third contribution that has made me successful thus far: not eating out as often.  Can you say contradiction!  In all fairness Tuesday is USUALLY my only day of eating out for lunch during the week. I choose to usually bring my lunch due to the fact that one: its cost effective to bring my lunch, and two: I can control what I'm eating a little better.  Personally I find it harder for me to make good choices when I go to a restaurant because there is so much other stuff that is available that is not healthy.  So in general I choose to not go nearly as often as I use to.  Now in saying this that's not to say that you can't go out to eat, just be smart about it.

There are some restaurants that are famous for aiding in the healthy living lifestyle such as Subway but believe me if you limit yourself solely to one or two options that will get old really fast. The trick is to educate yourself on where your going.  Myfitnesspal.com  has a great variety of restaurant options built into their library but not all of them.  For this reason I usually rely on the company website for nutritional information.  If you do this you will find that you can have a lot more than you thought you could as well as some of the options you thought were healthy maybe aren't so much.  The unfortunate part is that usually the only restaurants that have nutritional information on their websites are the chain restaurants and for those who know me know that I usually loath chains!  I am a support local kind of guy whenever possible but unfortunately to eat at the local sports proves to be such a challenge that often times I have to avoid.   When I do however say the heck with it and go to one of my go to spots I try to talk to the staff about what all is in the dish and enter the information into Myfitnesspal.com as accurately as possible while usually airing on the side of caution and building in a few extra calories.

So there you have it!  Some of the major contributing factors in my success on this lifestyle change.  I hope that this can help someone else in their journey and if you have any questions please leave a comment.  I promise that future post will not be this long.

Thank you for reading and welcome to my journey.