Shrimp & Grits Egg Benedict with Mixed Green Salad

Since jjeng has gone on a diet, I wanted to try and make a healthy alternative to our favorite traditional egg benedict recipe. So here's to experimenting!


Cook grits with boiling salt water until thickened.

Add black pepper.

Add freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Wait for sauce to thicken.

Pour sauce out onto a pan and refrigerate for a few hours.

Next, time for the creamy shrimp sauce!

{So today at WholeFoods I was "wow"ed! I needed a shallot and when I couldn't find the individual ones next to the onions, a stock person showed me where they had peeled and packaged shallots instead. I told him that was a bummer since I would only use one, he then took the package to the back and came out with this. Apparently WholeFoods often "wow"s customers with produce, free of charge! }

So the one shallot is sliced.

Shrimps are peeled, deveined, degutted, and de-tailed. Tails are saved for flavoring.

Remaining shrimps are diced.

 

Chicken broth is boiled with shallot and shrimp tails.

 

Cook shrimp in butter and set aside for later.

Butter is heated in a saucepan.

Flour is added.

Chicken broth is drained and stirred into the butter and flour.

Whipping cream is added as a thickening agent.

The cooked shrimp is also added.

Along with a bit of sherry for flavoring. Sauce is left on the stove to stay warm.

Now time to bring out the grits.

After slicing it into square pieces, lightly dredge in flour.

Fry the square pieces in a pan until golden brown.

Clean asparagus and cut off tough ends. 

 

Boil asparagus. 

 

Add on top of the grits.

Time to poach the egg! (Tip: Add vinegar to the water to help condense the egg)

 

 

Finally, add the shrimp cream sauce on top.

And of course, more greens for jjeng.

Add cranberries and sliced almonds.

Mix with balsamic vinaigrette. (I saved some from the last recipe)

Plate everything and bon appetit!

Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette + Chicken & Vegetable Kabob

Per request, a lighter dinner of salad and grilled chicken. 

Chicken is cut kabob sized.

Chicken seasoning is made with a bit of olive oil..

..some salt and black pepper..

..rosemary herb and garlic seasoning..

..lemon juice..

..and lastly, a bit of dijon mustard.

Marinate the chicken and leave in the fridge for about an hour...or however long it takes to finish everything else.

Dice up some red bell pepper.

And some zucchini.

 

And of course, some red onion.

 

Kabob everything and grill at the end.

 

Now, for the salad!

Vinaigrette is made with balsamic vinegar, salt&pepper, sugar, and dijon mustard.

Add olive oil to the mix.

Freshly cleaned baby arugula.

Added some regular green lettuce since jjeng doesn't like the taste of plain arugula.

  

Mix the salad with the vinaigrette. 

 
Cleaned cherry tomatoes..yummy!

Add sliced tomatoes to the mix.

Some fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Meanwhile, (this was done beforehand) goat cheese should be rolled into balls and left in the fridge to harden.

After about an hour in the fridge, goat cheese is breaded.

Ta-da!

 

And of course, when everything is done with the salad, fry the goat cheese balls. 

 

Slice up some avocado to top the salad. 

 

Dice up bread to toast in the oven with some olive oil.

Voila! Dinner is served.