Saturday, April 23, 2011

Coconut Shrimp & Roasted Green/Yellow Beans; A Healthy Lowfat Meal!!

I've had so many requests for healthy meal ideas with weight loss in mind,  so today I am sharing a great recipe with you!!  :)  A lot of you are not used to eating low glycemic carbs, and have been wondering how to incorporate them into your diet, without having to sacrifice taste.  It's not as difficult as it may seem.  The following recipe serves 2, and makes a complete meal, with the perfect balance of protein, healthy fat and low glycemic carbs.

Coconut Shrimp (or Mahi Mahi boneless Fish fillets) w/ a side of roasted Green & Yellow beans. Serves 2.  (Green Bean preparation should be first, as the Shrimp or Mahi Mahi takes only a few minutes to make.)

Roasted Green & Yellow beans;
About 20 oz. fresh cut & cleaned green & yellow beans (which is enough to generously cover a large cookie sheet)
Fresh chopped garlic, (or garlic powder)
salt & pepper
Olive Oil
Pam Olive Oil Spray
Preheat oven to 450
Spray a cookie sheet with Pam Olive Oil spray OR line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Arrange the Green/Yellow beans on the cookie sheet and season generously with garlic, salt and pepper.  Drizzle Olive oil over the top and bake for about 25 minutes, depending on how well you like them cooked.  While the green beans are baking, start your fish preparation.

Coconut Jumbo Shrimp (or Mahi Mahi fish)
12 jumbo peeled & cleaned Shrimp, or 2- 4 oz. pieces of Mahi Mahi boneless fish fillets.  If you're using Mahi Mahi fish, I prefer to buy it from Trader Joe's; the portion size is perfect and they're not too thick, which is important when we're using so little oil to fry the fish.
1/4 cup coconut flour OR gluten free bread crumbs
3/4 cup egg beaters or egg substitute
Garlic powder and Lemon pepper.
4 teaspoons of Coconut Oil
Saturate each piece of shrimp or fish in the egg beaters, then lightly roll them in the coconut flour or gluten free bread crumbs.  Season with garlic powder & Lemon pepper.
Turn stove on medium high heat and spray a medium sized skillet w/ Pam Olive Oil spray.  Add 2 teaspoons of Coconut Oil.  Once the oil has melted, place fish in skillet and fry on one side for about 3 minutes.  When you turn them, you will need to add the other 2 teaspoons of Coconut Oil.  Cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Each plate should contain 6 shrimp or 4 ounces of Mahi Mahi, and about 10 ounces of the roasted green beans.

This meal is well balanced and geared towards weight loss, with the perfect combination of protein to fat to healthy carbs.  The fish is your protein, the Coconut Oil and Olive Oil are your healthy fats, and a 10 oz. serving of the green beans is the perfect serving size of low glycemic carbs.  This is also a prime example of using complex carbs to accent your meal; as I did with the Coconut flour, to batter the fish.

Enjoy this extra yummy meal while losing weight, & getting lean & healthy!
Until next time,
Be well :)