Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Oh my this meal was so delish, I could literally eat this once a week. And totally guilt free! I bought these rice papers at my local market, the small sized once. And they last forever! If you can't find them at your grocery store, try Amazon! I have gotten them there too! This makes 2 servings of spring rolls, and you will probably have leftover peanut sauce, so double the spring roll recipe if you would like to!

16 small rice papers
16 shrimp (I bought the medium sized frozen, but already cooked, de-veined and shelled, tail off, so all I had to do was run them under warm water!)
Carrots: match stick cut
2 avocados sliced
Mint and or cilantro washed and chopped
Romaine lettuce
1 english cucumber: julienne cut

Follow the directions on the rice paper, but basically you get a bowl of water and dip the paper, pull it out and fill it up with ingredients! I put the romaine down as a little bed, then the shrimp, avocado, carrots and cucumber, then add the herbs. Then you roll it like a little burrito. Bottom, then the two sides, all rolled up. Voila! I stacked mine in a tupperware with saran wrap in between layers to keep them from sticking.

For dipping sauce, a sweet chili or Sriacha sauce would be good. But we chose a peanut dipping sauce and it did not disappoint!

1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
1/4 cup of water
1/4 rice vinegar
1/4 low sodium soy sauce
1/2 grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1-2 tsps of honey
Mix in food processor until smooth!

For those following the 21 day fix: 8 rolls are 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 red, 1 blue, 2 tsps. You can do less soy sauce, that isn't technically on the fix approved list. I tried to do more like 1/8 of a cup. SOO good y'all!!!

Mexican stuffed peppers!

I heart emoticon stuffed peppers! I love them philly cheesesteak stuffed, quinoa and ground turkey, and now, Mexican stuffed!

I simply prepared lean ground beef like I normally would for tacos! I seasoned with some chili powder, salt pepper, onion and garlic powder. I added in a chopped onion. After it was all cooked, I added 1/2 can of black beans. Make sure they are low sodium! Chopped tomatoes would be good too, but I didn't have any! Then I sliced up some red and yellow peppers into quarters, loaded them up with the meat mixture, and sprinkled with cheese and slicked black olives. I baked at 350 for 25 minutes. Then I topped with plain greek yogurt, avocado slices, and chopped cilantro!

4 peppers are 1 red, 1 green, 1 orange, 1/2 blue (make sure you measure this out, you may want a whole blue!) and 1/2 yellow! I could only eat 2 peppers worth, so I counted it as half of all of those containers!

Fresh Refrigerator Pickles! YUM!

If you are craving some pickles but don't want all that salt and sugar, and are steering clear of processed foods like I am, look no further! Here is a recipe I used and altered a bit!

12 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
1/2 cup ( I used only 1/4 cup) unrefined raw sugar
8 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt (pink Himalayan is best)
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
4 sprigs fresh dill weed

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

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I only refrigerated for one day before I ate some and it was awesome! You can reuse the brine and make another batch in it! It does have sugar but I'm sure it doesn't all get absorbed and it is much better for you than store bought!!!

Building Confidence

LONG post alert! But I like to wear my heart on my sleeve!

So most people don’t know this about me, and you would probably never guess, you know, since there are like pictures of me in a bathing suit all over my timeline! But I grew up with ZERO confidence. I remember in 7^th grade, neither one of my two friends had lunch during the same time as I did. So I walked through the cafeteria looking for a friendly familiar face on the first day of school, and I couldn’t find a place to sit, so I ate my lunch in the bathroom in a stall. And that is where I ate every day that year. Meeting new friends was a skill I had not grasped yet. I remember actually making up friends to tell my Mom about. Because at the very least I wanted my Mom to think I was cool. My life gradually got easier in that department because I really wanted to be social. So I often forced myself out of my comfort zone. I remember my senior year being in the Miss Mandarin Pageant, when I had zero talent, stage presence, or confidence, because I thought maybe that would make me braver! And guess what, it did! Once you dance on stage with your tap shoes to a show tune in front of your entire highschool… simple things like talking to a new person, doesn’t seem so darn scary anymore! Thank goodness for my sorority in college, because that gave me instant friends and a family away from my family.

When I became a Mom though, I found myself isolated again. Meeting new people became hard. I had to literally force myself out of my comfort zone on the daily to keep from turning into a hermit! I have been reading personal development books now for over a year and really working on me and my confidence, and let me tell you, it’s worked WONDERS! Also, being a part of a team again with my fellow coaches, was my sorority. My friends. My other family.  I am actually at the point now where I don’t compare myself, I don’t care if people think I am a nerd, I embrace it! And get this, I actually talked to two of my coaches yesterday about building their confidence. WHAT THE what? For me to give advice on this topic would have seemed absurd just a year or so ago. And no, although I would like to say it has something to do with losing weight and getting healthy, it really has more to do with work I am doing on the inside! Lacking confidence effects your entire life, not just being nervous to be in a swim suit. It affected me as a wife AND a Mom. If you suffer from this like I did, I really encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, and never stop learning and growing and READING and TRYING! It’s changed my life!