Let's Taco 'Bout Shrimp & Salads

Good afternoon food lovers!
Did you enjoy my pun?

I hope you all have been enjoying your week, the weather in New England has been beautiful! I have mostly spent it at home, my allergies have gotten the best of me. The good news is that I have had a lot of extra time to prepare my blog for the remainder of August, and I'm excited for you to see what I have planned!

Now without further ado...

Shrimp Taco Salad

This recipe was quick, easy, and the flavors were unreal.

If you read my "About Olivia" tab, something I mentioned is that I strive everyday to redefine the term healthy. It's flavor, it's color, it's natural, delicious, it's BALANCE and most importantly, it's fabulous! 

This salad was all that and more! I think you will really enjoy this. 

Tips & Tricks!

- The homemade cilantro-lime dressing will also double as the marinade for your shrimp!

- The amount of food I used was to feed four people and we also had leftovers, (I made a huge salad and also had extra to make an additional small salad). The amount of shrimp & veggies you use can be completely based off of how many people will share this salad! The recipe for the dressing should not be modified. You can double or triple it if necessary, but don't minimize it!

- If shrimp is not your style, I think this would also taste great if you substitute for chicken! 

- I made my salad look pretty, but by all means feel free to mix your ingredients up and do whatever is easiest for you! Be messy, especially if you are the only one eating this salad and you don't have time to make it neat. Throw it together, bring it to work, eat it for dinner and lunch the next day, I am just happy that whoever is using this recipe is putting the time in to try something new!

- The original recipe called for chili powder but I used red cayenne pepper. Adjust this spice's measurement if you aren't a huge spicy fan. I always say, you can always taste and add more if you need to, so start small and work from there!

- The tortilla chips I used in this recipe are amazing! Regular Tostitos chips are 7, let me repeat, SEVEN chips per serving. 140 calories, 7g of fat, and 115mg of sodium in just SEVEN chips! If you are like me who can't stop after 7 chips and decides to eat most of the bag, this can be a nightmare. So let me introduce a better alternative...

These chips are delicious! Comes in blue & yellow in one bag. Each serving is 15 chips and you'll get 140 calories (the same as Tostitos), 6g of fat (compared to Tostitos at 7g of fat), and 50mg sodium!!! So for more than double the single serving size of Tostitos you'll get the same calories, less fat, and way less sodium! Plus these are gluten free for anyone who needs that!

This is a better alternative! Find this lovely gem at Market Basket :)

Let's Get Cookin'

Ingredients and EXACT measurements you will need for the cilantro-lime marinade and dressing! Put these in a food processor or blender, only if you don't have a food processor.

-  1/3 Cup packed cilantro leaves, somewhat chopped, (I bought a bunch of cilantro leaves in the produce section of Market Basket and used what I needed)!

- 1/4 Cup Lime juice (Use fresh limes, or lime juice that I used in picture below)

- 1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

- 1 Tablespoon of Honey

- 1/2 Teaspoon of chili powder or red cayenne pepper (adjust as needed for more/less spicy)

- Some salt & pepper

Other ingredients you will need for the salad:

- Frozen shrimp, use as much as you need! I used Large.

I used 1 pound and a half to serve 4 people and had leftovers.

- Romaine Lettuce

- 1 Bag of shredded cabbage (I used a plain bag of coleslaw veggies all shredded)

- Grape or Cherry tomatoes (I used cherry)

- Avocado (I used 2 small ones)

-Green onion

- 1 can of black beans

- Salt/pepper, I would use more pepper than salt for flavor and to keep sodium low

- Tortilla Chips (Optional)

Step 1

Take your shrimp out to thaw. Remove the skin, clean it up, and set aside!

Step 2

Time to make the marinade/dressing!!! 

Remember, the marinade doubles as the dressing later on.

Preparing to make dressing:
Lime Juice in green bottle can be found at Market Basket
Easier than cutting and squeezing limes
I would still buy a fresh lime or two for garnish at the end of cooking!

All finished
Here it is!!!! Quite beautiful.

 Step 3

Take a large plastic bag and place shrimp in it.

Add 3 Tablespoons of the cilantro-lime dressing into the bag for every 1/2 pound of shrimp.

I used 9 Tablespoons since I had 1 pound and a half.

Use your judgement here you can add more or less, but make sure you have enough to cover all the shrimp!

Place this bag in the fridge for at least 10-15 minutes.

Bag of shrimp and marinade ready for the fridge!

While I waited for my shrimp, I cleaned up my counters a little and started preparing some of my veggies. Also, I noticed that for my family I was going to need more dressing so I took this time to make more servings of that.

Once your dressing is done, put aside in your fridge to stay cold while you continue to cook!

15 minutes later...

Step 4

Okay shrimp is ready! Heat up your pan on the stove w/ some olive oil and then pour your bag into the pan!

 

Pan heating up oil
I would cook shrimp on medium/high heat

Shrimp all spread
Starting to cook!

It's important to keep an eye out and make sure your shrimp fully turn pink! Each and every single shrimp. Turn over after you notice some of them starting to turn pink on the outsides. 

All done!
Beautiful and ready to come off stove.
Set Shrimp aside once they come off stove.
I put mine on a plate.

Step 5

Grab your large bowl, time to start adding salad ingredients!

I started by putting some of my coleslaw shredded veggies in the bowl, and then added some of my cut-up romaine lettuce:

Step 6

Add on top of that your tomatoes, green onion, and a majority of your shrimp (not all of it).

For my cherry tomatoes I halved most of them, and also cut some of them into 4's. (Don't use all of your green onion or tomatoes yet)

Tomatoes & green onion on top
of lettuce and shredded veggies

My shrimp added w/ tomatoes and green onion

Step 7

Add more shredded veggies and romaine lettuce on top of what you have so far!

More lettuce and shredded veggies!

Step 8

Add some remainder shrimp, tomatoes, and green onion. I made my look fancy but again, it is not necessary! If you look at the finished picture, you'll see that the remainder green onion is in the center of my shrimp.

Next, I opened my can of black beans and drained the juice. I also put them in a strainer and rinsed them off with cold water to remove excess sodium and juice from the can!

This orange strainer is from my grandma!
It was a wedding present given to her from the 1950's

Step 9

Add black beans and avocado to your salad! 

 

This is what my salad looked like at this point!
The beans were spread along the outside
The avocado was sliced and placed along the outside as well.
 

Step 10 (Last one I promise)

Incorporate the chips! You can put them along the edge like I did, crumble them into the actual salad, or keep them on the side! This is optional, but I will say that did add a little something extra and worked great!

Okay now you're done!!!! 

Put your salad on the table, break the dressing out, cut up lime if you want to garnish, and that's it!

Each bite of shrimp with the marinade complimented the dressing.
So much flavor and texture in a salad!
No two bites were the same.

Enjoy my food lovers!!!!

One last thing I noticed is that my salad came out mostly green besides the red in tomatoes and black from the beans. If anyone thinks of ways to add some color to this recipe let me know! I was thinking corn? 

What do you think? Leave a comment or suggestion, I love trying out new things!

Enjoy your weekend, stay hydrated, and let me know if any of you decide to make this! :)

Thanks for stopping by! xo