This is an amazing recipe that seems long and hard to make but it’s actually just a set of many simple steps that result in a delicious and simple recipe. It puts together the health benefits of onions, tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, squash, shrimps and the whole grains of black rice. Yes, black rice is a gluten free whole grain just like brown rice. So if you feel like making your plate more exotic and different, use black rice.
We don’t usually think about seafood as a source of antioxidants, but guess what? Shrimp features three special antioxidants in its nutrient composition: astaxanthin, and the minerals selenium and copper that give us many health benefits.
Astaxanthin supports our nervous and musculoskeletal system. It has also been linked to reduced risk of colon cancer.
If Shrimp are wild caught, they get the astaxanthin from what they eat in the wild. If they are farm raised, the astaxanthin they eat is synthetic, which is very controvertial. Just like I recommend that we, as humans, eat natural foods instead of synthetic fake food for our health, so should fish to be at it’s healthiest form to be consumed.
Shrimp is actually a great source of protein. It has 26 grams per 4-ounce serving and only 7 calories per shrimp. So, 20 shrimp provides us with 140 calories and 25 grams of protein, not bad! It’s also very cool to note that some amino acids in shrimp stimulate a hormone called cholecystokinin, which purpose is to regulate appetite and help us feel full. So, eat shrimp, and eat less later 🙂
Remember that this recipe contains rice. If you are trying to loose weight and want to make this recipe as dinner, I recommend that you choose arugula or spinach instead of rice.
- For the marinade:
- ½ lb of shrimp
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 tb of chopped cilantro
- 1 tb of minced jalapeño peppers
- 1 minced garlic clove
- ¼ tsp of paprika
- Juice of ½ juicy lime
- Himalayan or celtic sea salt & pepper to taste
- For the grilled squash:
- 6 thick sliced of zucchini squash
- 6 thick slices of yellow squash
- 1tb of olive oil
- Himalayan or celtic sea salt to taste
- For the shrimp:
- ½ cup of cherry tomatoes cut in half
- ½ red onion chopped in 4 quarters
- For the bowl:
- 2 cups of cooked black rice
- ½ avocado
- In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients. Add the shrimp and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- Coat the slices of zucchini and yellow squash with olive oil and a pinch of salt
- Place the zucchini and yellow squash in a very hot grilled pan for 3 minutes on each side.
- On another pan, sautée the cherry tomatoes, and the red onion for about 2 minutes. Then, add the marinated shrimp and let them cook for 3 minutes on each side.
- Fill 2 bowls with 1 cup of cooked black rice. Top with the zucchini, yellow squash, the sautéed cherry tomatoes, red onions, and shrimp and avocado.
- Enjoy!
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