Citrus Shrimp ‘n Pico Salad

Yummy Citrus Salad

I had several leftovers that inspired my lunch meal.  Every once in a while I get a wild hair and just need a new flavor.  Mike had brought home some Royal Red Shrimp — they are a local gulf shrimp treat.  Royal Reds taste like a combo of shrimp and lobster–I think they are AMAZING!  Most folks who try them love them.  They are scrumptious dipped in garlic butta.   You just barely cook them and they are DONE!  It made for a super yummy meal the night before.  Since we didn’t eat them all … I just had to come up with something NEW.  😀

The previous nights meal– Royal Reds and sautéed veggies.

In the past I have mixed leftover Reds with some of Mikey’s yummy pico de gallo, but I wanted something a bit more different.  I was a tad bit hungry so I needed a bit more food.  What better way to satisfy that need than with some yummy greens?!  I’m going to take you through my favorite way to build a salad.  😀  I shoot for big taste in each bite.  Try it out if you don’t already make a salad this way–let me know what you think.

1) Start with the greens

Chopped Greens

I love chopped salad greens.  I hate biting into a huge glob of greens.  Then, if you are me, you end up with gunk all over your face if you are lucky, and all over your shirt if you are not.  To avoid this I just chop mine before I put them on the plate.  This is about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of mixed greens.

Makes a plate full

See how big and full you plate looks when you spread it all out??  Sorry the pic is a bit blurry or you would see the holes in the salad.  Don’t worry about spreading it out and the holes … the rest of the food will fill it all UP!  Besides this is one of my personal tricks to make myself feel spoiled.  You eat with your eyes first.  If you see a big ole plate full of food you don’t feel deprived or like you are on a diet.  Even though this whole salad is 200 to 250 in calories TOTAL!

1.5)  Chop your herbs next  (When you chop salad greens and herbs at this point you don’t have wet junk and you can keep using the same board.)

Love my Fresh Herbs!!

The reason you don’t worry about the holes are these yummy additions right here. I always add my herbs at this point in a salad build so that I can make sure that they get spread evenly through out the salad.  I chop them because I prefer to get a bit of herb with every bite.

Yesterday,  I was in a wild mood.  I clipped basil and mint.  My citrus idea was brewing in my head and MINT tastes ever so yummy mixed with citrus.  I am thinking of the lovely mojito’s my daughter made for my birthday party.  OH … YUM!  Today is a yum-yummy kinda post.  Hope you will indulge me. This salad was amazing. I felt so spoiled.  Just writing out what I did to make this salad is bringing back some super yummy memories.

 

2) Chop up your wet veggies  and fruits

Quartered Cukes!

Mikey had chopped up too many cukes for our meal the night before so … Yea me … I got an add on without any extra work.  You got a full flash shoot of me putting them on my salad.  I just had to share five of these photos just cuz … cuz I can!! hahaha

Organic Oranges … yes … I keep the peel on!

I diced up the orange with the peel on, because I like the bitters, and it has way more Vita-C in the peel than the fleshy sweet part.  Also, the peel has good stuff for your heart.  I get the organic oranges so I can feel reasonably good about eating the whole thing.  😀  If you have never eaten the peel–TRY IT–then let me know how you loved or hated it.  Take a pic and share with me.  😀

So dice up half that orange and put it on the salad.

 

3)  Peel and chop your shrimp (or meat of your choice)

 

Leftover Royal Red Shrimp

You can use any shrimp for this.  If you are shooting for low calories, then you will want to use grilled or boiled.  I can give you a quick and easy boiling recipe if ya don’t already have one–let me know if ya want it.   I had the Royal Reds that we had boiled the night before–I didn’t want them to go to waste.  I ended up only using 5 of these large shrimp, so if you have the smaller ones you will need about 3 oz (between 7 to 12 pieces) of shrimp/fish to make a good protein based salad.  Something I have to have a good amount of, or I just have no energy at all.

Once you have the amount you want … toss it on the salad.

YUM!

This is what that would look like … up close and personal.  Just in case I wasn’t clear–As I chop I build the layers of my salad.  Each chop makes the next layer.  This helps you to know if you have made enough and it works no matter how many you are building.  It also clears the board for the next layer.

 

4) Add toppings of your choice

Left over pico! YEA!  Sorry the pics no good, but it was too yummy.

I love Mikey’s Pico.  I can get you a recipe for this, but I have even used picante sauce for this layer, not as good as Mike’s pico, but still super tasty.  Use one you KNOW you love.  I used the Pico, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper as my dressing.  If you aren’t trying to drop pounds add olive oil to taste even more delish.

Take the other half of the orange if you wish, cut into rings that are then cut in half for use to decorate the plate, and as a sweet treat once your done!  Low cal desert.  😀  All that was only 200 calories.

The basic calorie count … worst case is 250

Voila … this is what it looks like … but not for long.  😀  Tell me this wouldn’t fill you up??  Wouldn’t you feel spoiled?

Citrus Shrimp n Pico Salad