Coconut Shrimp

I must admit, shrimp and I have never really gotten along. Fish is pretty much the only seafood that I like to eat. However, I went out to eat a couple weeks ago at a restaurant and coconut shrimp was ordered as an appetizer. I tried a bit of it and I was surprised that I actually like it. Since I do tend to have limited taste interests and in the interest of expanding my culinary horizons, I decided to try to recreate the shrimp at home. Since I also had no clue what I was doing, I got this recipe from Skinnytaste.

While shrimp definitely is not my favorite food, I think I am learning to tolerate it a little more. Next on my "to try" list are scallops.

Quinoa Pilaf

I finally learned how to pronounce quinoa correctly so I figured I should now try to cook with it! I had been pronouncing it kee-no-wa for the longest time until someone looked at me funny and said "you mean kee-nwa?" Oops. I found this recipe on Family Circle and thought it would be the perfect way to introduce quinoa into my diet.

I'm not really one to make new year resolutions, but one of my goals this year is to incorporate more vegetables into my diet (along with drink more water). This recipe is packed with veggies and is perfect for vegetarians and vegans.

Stovetop Mac & Cheese

Look at all the cheesy goodness! I absolutely love macaroni and cheese, but unfortunately it is not very figure friendly. I recently picked up the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook and knew I had to try this recipe as soon as I saw it. I swapped out almost all the cheeses that the cookbook used and added ones that I like and I also decided to use whole wheat pasta instead of regular. Feel free to use whatever cheeses you want. I've been eating this for lunch for the past couple of days. It was so simple and easy to make and it definitely satisfied my craving for mac & cheese!

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Happy 2013! I'm really looking forward to sharing new recipes with you this year. For me, 2012 was a great year, despite the major surgery that kept me from blogging for several months. I am having part 2 of the surgery this spring, but hopefully I will be a little more prepared and have some recipes scheduled to post while I am away. Also, since I know what to expect, hopefully this surgery will go a lot smoother!

Also this year I got into and started nursing school! I absolutely love it, but it keeps me on the go all the time. The new semester starts in a couple weeks, but hopefully I won't completely disappear like I did last semester!

This recipe incorporates one of my favorite foods: buffalo chicken! I love it, but I don't eat it all that often. For the hot sauce in this recipe, I uses sriracha, because I love it. It is loaded with sodium, though. Feel free to use your favorite hot sauce in this recipe!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins

Told you I'd have a pumpkin recipe soon! I actually made these several days ago but I'm just now getting around to posting them because of some technical issues with my computer. I'm still not sure what is going on but I found a way around it which will do until I can figure out how to permanently fix the problem.

I hope everyone has a fantastic New Years Eve and a fabulous 2013! I plan on spending the night with friends and some kind of sparkling drink. Look for new recipes here in the new year!

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings

What screams comfort food more than chicken and dumplings? This recipe if perfect for a cold wintery night. Unfortunately we haven't had any of these days yet in MA. Now that I am on break until mid-January, I could go for a nice big snowstorm because I don't have anywhere to go! Knowing my luck, we will probably get one as soon as I go back to school and they won't cancel!

I got this recipe from Cooking Light and had some trouble with figuring out the points. On the Weight Watcher's site, they have chicken thighs as being way higher in Points+ than the nutritional information states. I know there is no way boneless skinless thighs have almost 19 grams of fat and decided to ignore the nutritional information in the tracker and use the information everywhere else. I normally figure out the nutritional information independent of the points and then enter it in the tracker to see if they match up. I skipped that part because clearly something is going on in the tracker!