Love and Hearts revisited

It's been a very busy couple of weeks, but I wanted to share with you our Halliday Valentine's Day Love and Hearts Brunch and Dinner Extravaganza. While it's a few weeks late, I think you will still find the dishes inspiring, easy to make and healthy (ok maybe not the last one).

One of the best parts of this Valentine's Day Sunday was that all of us went to our respective gyms and worked out hard for a 1 hour class of sweating, cardio and heart-healthy strength and muscle building- what better love to give your real heart than the gift of exercise. I am so proud of my family- my husband recently joining a gym for the first time in his life and my teenage daughter for getting up at 7:30am on a Sunday morning to go to the gym and workout with me- this is truly the best love and hearts gift ever!

Here's the LOVE

.

Here's the HEARTS

For Valentine's Day Brunch I decided to make these delightful little heart-shaped French toast

All I did was use my heart-shaped cookie cutter on some Wonder White bread with Fibre and cut out the love shapes!  You ask, 'Chantal, what did you do with those crusts though, isn't that a waste?' Well, of course I wouldn't be so wasteful, I cut them up, seasoned them with spices and a bit of olive oil, baked them and made croutons with them!!!

Next, I thawed some frozen berries- those juicy and anti-oxidant filled plump jewels...

And then plated the heart-shaped French toast with some of those luscious berries on top. Gorgeous visually and good for you too!

So you might wonder what a woman who is on a healthy living journey might want for Valentine's day?  The finest of course-- Purdys!

As a commitment to my healthy living focus, I suggested to my dear husband that all I wanted was one piece of the best chocolate I have ever tasted. That is the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel that you see here. It was beautiful, dark, rich, chewy, sweet and salty and worth all of it's 53 calories (which by the way I already 'burned' of at the gym that morning)!

Now for our dinner I wanted to make one of my daughter's favourites - Thai Cold Rolls. A time consuming, but totally healthy and nutritious appetizer. (recipe posted before)

And for my husband, I decided to make one of his favourite- SHRIMP!

But this time, I tried a spicy Asian twist. This was my take on a spicy coconut shrimp curry.

I served it over rice and a side of bok choi. 

It was very flavourful and not too rich.... that would be saved for the 'over the top' decadent desert served later.

Coconut Curry Shrimp (adapted from jocooks.com)

INGREDIENTS

For Shrimp Marinade

• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/7 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 lb extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (5.5 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
• fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish
• cooked rice for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a small bowl toss the shrimp with the marinade ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. While the shrimp is marinating, heat the oil in a medium size pot. To it add the onion, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the ginger, garlic, pepper, salt, coriander, turmeric and curry powder.
3. Continue to cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes with juices and all, stir well and cook for about a minute after which add the coconut milk, stir and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Add shrimp with the accumulated juices from the marinade and cook for another 5 minutes or until the shrimp is pink and cooked through.
4. Serve over hot rice and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Ok, so here it is....

This is what I prepared as our 'over the top' Valentine's Dinner treat.  Individual Peanut Butter Molten Dark Chocolate cakes.  My husband's favourite is peanut butter, mine is dark chocolate- marriage made in heaven right?

Well, I can't even tell you how rich this was. Although it was a small ramekin portion, I couldn't finish it all because it was so rich (a testament to my healthy eating transformation). It was a treat, it was incredibly decadent, it was great fun to make... but that's all folks. No sharing recipes of this little piece of heaven (but if you really want to see it, check out my Pinterest board).

After all this sharing, cooking, baking, working out, I want you to remember one thing: Focus on health, have the occasional treat and 'Keep Calm and Hug On'.

Skinny Coconut Shrimp

This past weekend I wanted to celebrate getting back into cooking by making something decadent and delicious. So why not delve into the sea food aisle- Large Shrimp!  A bit pricy, but we are worth it!
Well, I just love Coconut Shrimp when we go to restaurants, but I know that they deep fry them and I didn't want to do that. So I found this great recipe from one of my favourite Healthy Recipe Blogs. Skinnytaste.com. 

They were delicious. Really crispy and meaty. The panko breadcrumbs made all the difference, it was my first time using them and let me tell you, it won't be my last. The sauce they describe was OK, but next time I would use a orange marmalade based concoction instead.

I served the Coconut Shrimp with rice and a nice Spring Mix Salad.

Big Red Salad Bowl with big red strawberry salad! It was enjoyed by all!

Skinny Coconut Shrimp (Skinnytaste.com)

Ingredients:

1 lb (24) large shrimp, peeled and deviened (weight after peeled)

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp shredded sweetened coconut

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp panko crumbs

2 tbsp all purpose flour (you will only use 1 tbsp)

1 large egg

pinch salt

non-stick spray

For the Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup apricot preserves (you can use sugar free if you wish)

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°.  Spray a non-stick baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine coconut flakes, panko crumbs and salt in a bowl. Place the flour on a small dish.  Whisk egg in another bowl.

Lightly season shrimp with salt. Dip the shrimp in the flour, shaking off excess, then into the egg, then in the coconut crumb mixture. Lay shrimp on the cookie sheet then spray the top of the shrimp with more cooking spray; bake in the middle rack for about 10 minutes.  Turn shrimp over then cook another 6-7 minutes or until cooked though.  Remove from oven and serve with dipping sauce.

For the sauce, combine all the ingredients and place in a small bowl.

Nutritional Information:

Servings: 8 , Serving Size: 3 shrimp, 1 tbsp sauce

Calories: 161.6

Fat: 3.4 g

Protein: 10.2 g

Carb: 22.2 g

Fiber: 1.8 g

Sugar: 15.7 g