Under the Sea

“Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it’s better
Down where it’s wetter
Take it from me”

I looked to the sea for my lunch this afternoon.

Well hello there, shrimpies!

Cold Shrimp

After enjoying salmon burgers for dinner last night, I was really feelin’ the sea food vibe and decided to make myself a healthified shrimp salad for lunch.

To begin, I boiled several large, frozen shrimp until they were pink and ready for peeling. (I definitely just wrote “peeing.” Good catch.)

"Great! All peeled! Now gimme one."

After peeling the shrimp, I put them in the fridge to chill for a bit.

(Side note: I cannot say “chill for a bit” without thinking of “Shoop” by Salt N Peppa! Anyone else remember Ellen’s rendition of the song? Hilarious. Love her.)

Once the shrimp were sufficiently cold, I chopped them up and transformed them into a delicious shrimp salad which I prepared by combining the following:

• 3 ounces peeled, chopped shrimp
• 1 tbsp. light Miracle Whip (mayonnaise will also work)
• 1 stalk of celery, chopped
• Old Bay seasoning, to taste

Pre-Stirred Shrimp Salad

I topped a whole wheat tortilla with baby greens and the shrimp salad and served the wrap along with a sliced orange bell pepper.

Shrimp Salad

Get in Close for the Good Stuff

Orange Bell Pepper

Tasty!

Tuesday Lunch

Enough with the Shrimp Salad Pics. Wrap it Up Already! 😉

Of Possible Interest

• Three Moves that Target the Heck Out of Your Abs (FitBottomedGirls.com)
• Banish That Belly in Three Easy Steps (FitSugar.com)
• 7 Easy Ways to Lighten Up Your Snacks (Health.com)

Question of the Afternoon

• What is your all-time favorite Disney movie?

Without a doubt, mine is The Little Mermaid. When I was growing up I used to pretend to be Ariel in our pool. A green bucket served as my “Flounder.” 😉

The Little Mermaid

All morning I’ve been listening to songs from the movie through Grooveshark (hence the “Under the Sea” reference at the beginning of this post) and am making a serious effort to keep my singing inside my head rather than belting it out for my coworkers to hear.

“I wanna be where the people are, I wanna see, wanna see ’em dancin’…”

Feeling Crabby

I associate certain foods with special occasions.

• Crab (hard shell or soft shell)
• Corned beef
• Grandma’s sugar cookies
• Marble cake
• Clams, oysters, mussels
• Pumpkin pie

I think I associate the above foods with special occasions because they are typically served at holidays or as the main course at birthday dinners at my house.

What food do you associate with a special occasion?

Every year the person whose birthday it is in our house gets to pick out their favorite meal as their big birthday dinner. Soft shell crabs or clams are always popular. I usually pick some kind of seafood or corned beef and cabbage. (It’s so delicious and should be enjoyed on days other than St. Patrick’s Day!)

Since my lunch today featured crab meat (real crab meat, not imitation for once), I feel like today is a special day!

Crab Salad

I made crab salad with light Miracle Whip, mustard, Old Bay and relish and served it on a toasted Alternative sweet wheat bagel with sliced tomato.

Crab Salad Bagelwich

Monday's Lunch

Tasty!

I was excited to enjoy a lunch made with real crab rather than the imitation crab, but to be quite honest, I actually prefer the imitation crab meat in crab salad.

I’m the same way with sushi… gimme the fake crab in my California roll any day!

However, I must say nothing beats the real stuff when it comes to hot crab legs or crab cakes.

From Dinner to Lunch

Leftovers from last night’s chicken tacos translated perfectly into a lunchtime taco salad.

Taco Salad

I used spinach and shredded iceberg lettuce as the base and topped it with ground chicken, black beans, salsa and a crunched up hard shell taco.

Yummy Lunch

Hooray for Old Bay!

Today I was contacted by Dan from Old Bay who learned through the ol’ blog how much I LOVE Old Bay. It’s a delicious seasoning that I personally adore on any shrimp or seafood dish. Dan informed me of a neat contest where Facebook Fans of Old Bay could win some pretty neat prizes.

From Old Bay:

This year, OLD BAY wants to zest up your holidays and is offering all fans on their Facebook page an opportunity to win the ultimate Holi-Bay gift basket ($140 value) packed with tons of products, a $25 gift card and OLD BAY t-shirts, cups, tattoos and samples for you to share with your family and friends.

Celebrate the Holi-Bays Contest:

• November 19^th through December 25^th, OLD BAY wants to hear from its Facebook fans* on how they use their favorite spice blend during the holidays – it could be whipping up an OLD BAY recipe, sprinkling it on a holiday favorite, using it as a holiday decoration or giving it as a gift.
• To enter the contest, post a photo showing how you zest up your holidays using OLD BAY – (Entries are limited to one photo posting per week).
• Each post will be voted on by the amount of “likes” it receives from fellow Facebook fan members.
• The photo post with the most “likes” will receive an  “Ultimate Holi-Bay Gift Basket” ($140 value) that includes:

o   A $25 gift card, a steamer pot and fryer, tons of OLD BAY products, 5 sample packs of OLD BAY for you to share with friends and family, as well as some items for the ultimate OLD BAY fan – branded t-shirts, cups, temporary tattoos, and an inner tube for sledding (or relaxing in the water for those who live in warm weather all year round)! Please see image below.

• One winner will be announced each week, starting the week of November 30^th.
• We will mail out all gift baskets upon receiving each winner’s address information.

*You must be a Facebook member and fan of OLD BAY’s Facebook page to enter contest

I absolutely love how they’re referring to the holidays as the Holi-Bays. I always appreciate a little creativity from the marketing department!

Using Old Bay the Right Way

…and that would be with seafood (shrimp in particular). 🙂

Old Bay All the Way!

I used this tasty seasoning to enhance my lunchtime shrimp salad.

I began preparing this lunch last night and boiled approximately three ounces of lil’ shrimpies until they were nice and orange. I let them chill in the fridge overnight.

Shrimp

To make the shrimp salad, I combined chopped shrimp, light mayo, celery, President feta cheese (the best!) and lots and lots (and lots!) of Old Bay.

President Feta Cheese

Shrimp Salad

I stuffed the shrimp salad into a whole wheat Joseph’s pita, along with lots of fresh, leafy spinach.

Nice and Cozy in a Pita Pocket

Mmm, mmm good! I am a full and happy camper. 🙂

After one meal, no matter how stuffed I am, I always start to think about what I’ll be eating next. What to do for dinner??? Pasta, chicken, zucchini fries, acorn squash… decisions, decisions.

Question: What are you having for dinner?