Tag: Registered Dietitian

Recipes, Uncategorized

Shrimp Alfredo with Asparagus

whatsupwingo
Shrimp Alfredo with Asparagus

Shrimp Alfredo with Asparagus for Foodie Friday

Welcome to the second edition of Foodie Friday Shrimp Alfredo with Asparagus. I am always on a mission to find the best alternatives to pasta. My favorites provide additional nutrients and are lower in carbs. I have recently discovered the use of asparagus instead of pasta and I love it! While I am a fan of zucchini noodles, and they definitely have their place, they can be a pain to spiralize. Because they put off so much moisture, they tend to make the sauce watery. If you are an asparagus and Alfredo fan you definitely should give this recipe a try! Not only is this a healthy alternative to pasta it is extremely tasty and I am willing to bet you might not even miss the pasta.

Asparagus

Asparagus is super tasty and an extremely healthy vegetable. It happens to be choked full of folate and vitamin C. In addition to this it is a low carbohydrate, non starchy vegetable with very few calories and a good amount of fiber. Folate is a very important nutrient during child bearing years and has been shown to help decrease the incidence of neural tube defects. Vitamin C is also considered an antioxidant and is an essential nutrient meaning that we cannot make it within the body.

How to Choose and Store Asparagus

According to realsimple.com the size of the Asparagus does not determine its quality and taste. Instead look at the color and firmness of the spears. You want a more purple tent to the tips and firm in texture not limp.

According to real simple you should trim your spears and soak in a wet paper towel or cup dipped in water in the refrigerator to extend the shelf life. Check out the linked article for all the info.

Ingredients Needed for Shrimp Alfredo with Asparagus

8 oz mushrooms sliced

1 bunch asparagus chopped to about an inch long

3 garlic cloves minced

1 and 1/2 tbsp butter divided

1 tsp olive oil

one pound shrimp raw, peeled, and de-veined.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 oz cream cheese

1/3rd cup Parmesan cheese

Salt , pepper, and dried parsley to taste.

Be sure to check our my very first Foodie Friday where I made a Cobb salad with a twist.

Cobb Salad with a twist

Lets get Cooking

Recipe serves: 4

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 10 to 15 minutes

Total time: 15 to 20 minutes

Start by de-thawing your shrimp if you have not already done so. Salt and pepper liberally.

Place 1/2 tbsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil in your pan to heat up for a minute over medium to medium high. Cook the shrimp until they are pink and cooked all the way through then set aside in a dish.

Add remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan. Place sliced mushrooms in the pan to cook until they are browned.

After your mushrooms are browned add in garlic, and asparagus and cook until asparagus reaches your desired texture. We like to leave ours a little crunchier.

Next add 1 oz cream cheese and mix well allowing it to melt. Once it has melted add 1 cup of heavy whipping cream being sure to stir constantly. When the sauce begins to bubble and thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon add Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

Asparagus with mushrooms cream cheese and heavy whipping cream

Add shrimp back into the dish to warm. Garnish with parsley and additional Parmesan if you desire.

Remove from heat and serve.

Shrimp Alfredo with asparagus in white bowl with fork

I like to serve mine with a salad. Today we chose Cesar salad made with organic baby romaine, Cesar dressing and Parmesan cheese. Simple and tasty.

Cesar salad and Shrimp Alfredo with asparagus on wooden tray

Whats up with you?

I hope you all have a great weekend. Keep the conversation going and let me know what you all are cooking up this weekend.

Foodie Friday: Cobb Salad With a Twist
Recipes

Foodie Friday: Cobb Salad With a Twist

whatsupwingo

Cobb Salad for Foodie Friday

Cobb Salad will be the first featured recipe on my new segment on the blog called “Foodie Friday”. Each week I will share a recipe with you all. I hope you find inspiration with these recipes and I look forward to hearing what you all think. Now on the the Cobb Salad.

Cobb Salad With a Twist

This week on my first Foodie Friday I will be featuring a super simple recipe that is a twist on the traditional Cobb Salad. Salads are amazing but can also get so boring. They are an easy way to add in some greens and extra vegetables into your day. However when you go on a salad/health kick they get old fast. This recipe is anything but boring and I hope you enjoy it as much and me and my family does.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

This glorious Cobb Salad features a different source of protein and includes one of my favorite fatty fishes salmon. Omega 3s are essential nutrients that many of us are lacking. The key word here is essential as they can only be obtained through diet and not made within the body. I am a big fan of obtaining our nutrients within our food whenever possible. This is mainly due to the synergistic effect that occurs when vitamins and minerals are combined and not isolated. In other words vitamins and minerals often need each other in order to be digested and used more easily.

Getting In More Fish Is a Struggle

Getting in enough fish can be boring. This salad helps with that and provides a new and interesting way to add in your omega 3s. It may even help you overcome that salad rut you might be in.

On to the Recipe: Cobb Salad With a Twist

This recipe is super simple and can be tailored very easy to meet your individual needs. Please be sure to add or take away any ingredients as you see fit, but most of all enjoy!

Serves 4:

  1. One to two bunches of chopped romaine. (I use organic whenever possible)
  2. Two hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced or chopped.
  3. One pound Baked Salmon. You can even bake from frozen and add seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic powder, or spice it up with some lemon pepper seasoning. (whatever you choose)
  4. One sliced avocado.
  5. Bacon bits, a few tablespoons.
  6. One cup of shredded cheese of your choice. ( We chose Monterrey and cheddar)
  7. Dressing of choice to taste. ( We chose ranch)

Enjoy Your Cobb Salad

I hope you enjoy this recipe and my new series. Please be sure to leave any comments and your thoughts if you try it! That’s what I am up to on this Friday what are you up to?

Check out some of my previous recipes.

Steaks on a Grill
https://whatsupwingo.com/2019/06/02/sous-vide-steak-our-first-attempt/
https://whatsupwingo.com/2019/04/24/the-very-best-tzatziki-sauce/
Steaks on a Grill
Recipes, Uncategorized

Sous Vide Steak: Our First Attempt

whatsupwingo

Sunday Funday: Sous Vide Steak Experiment

I hope you all are having a great weekend and enjoying the steamy weather. In the Wingo household we use Sundays to catch up on cleaning and getting ready for the week which generally includes some meal prep and a trip to the grocery store. As a family we have been trying to spend more time outside as Amelia gets bigger and we decided it would be the perfect day to grill out while relaxing by the kiddie pool. We recently got an Anova Precision Cooker which is used to Sous Vide food. We decided to give it a go and cook up some delicious steaks in a Sous Vide steak experiment. Sous Vide is a type of cooking that is done inside a water bath. This bath is at a consistent temperature to provide perfectly even cooking. It seems pretty complicated but once you get it set up its honesty super simple. This thing basically does the work for you while you sit back, relax and catch up on any shows on Netflix you might be behind on.

Getting Started

I am going to take you step by step in how we completed this Sous Vide steak experiment. I will be sure to include links to all the equipment and tools so if you are feeling adventurous you can achieve this restaurant quality meal in the comfort an ease of you own home.

Here is a list of the things you are going to need before getting started. You can use a pot or a container that is heat safe that is deep enough to hold the water and food that you are cooking. We purchased this container from amazon and it works perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R8JOUC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000R8JOUC&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=b3699dd11a239f8aa4c067ce8d6277fa

The next item you need is a food saver or some kind of vacuum sealer. This is a must have for everyone! It is great for keeping meat extra fresh if you plan to buy in bulk and deep freeze. I can’t seem to find the exact food saver series as I am using, but I am linking the basic starter kit which should work perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044XDA3S/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0044XDA3S&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=2a9a51837fc70aa2d3ec6eb09039ad57

We picked up some New York strips for grilling, but choose whichever steak you like. Make sure to google the cut of meat and and desired doness for your correct time and temperature. We set our temperature to 130 degrees for 2 hours.

You first start by setting up your water bath. On the Anova Precision Cooker there is a minimum and maximum line for water so make sure your water is within the required levels. We ending up using 9 liters and it was plenty of room for our 4 steaks. This is the link to the cooker that we have. So far we are pleased with its performance.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UKPBXM4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00UKPBXM4&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=fda7c7e758f35c67b1b6c12695408997

This particular model has some pretty neat features including an adjustable clamp and is blue tooth capable in order for you to use your app. Pretty neat little gadget that I hope to use more frequently.

Lets Get Cooking our Sous Vide Steak

Once you have chosen your steaks pat them dry and add your seasonings of choice. Today we went with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. We seasoned both sides of the meat and then placed into a double sealed food saver bag. We learned this trick to double seal the bag from Brad Leone of Bon Appetit . P.S. he makes some great recipes on his YouTube series “it’s alive”. I love that he gives different spins on fermented and probiotic rich foods. Super cool watch, so be sure to check him out.

After placing meat in the bag, seal again and this will make an air tight bag perfect for Sous Vide. Once your water is up to the proper temperature, its time to start cooking. Place the sealed bag into your warm water bath set yourself a timer and go watch some Netflix. We added a clothes pin on the side of the container to keep the steaks from moving around too much.

Hurry up and wait

While we were waiting for the steaks to warm up, we headed outside for some fun in the sun. The weather has been scorching so we definitely needed to sip on some bubly and apply sunscreen. We were back and forth between inside and outside due to the heat, but still managed to enjoy our time.

Why do little ones try and eat lotion and sunscreen? LOL! The look on her face was priceless. So as time passed we decided to get the grill up and going to cook up some veggies and for searing the steak after cooking in the Sous Vide.

Time to Grill

When you take the steaks out of the Sous Vide bath, they are going to look a little funky. Don’t worry though, the searing of the steak is a very important step and makes all the difference in look and flavor.

Steaks on a Grill

Be sure to turn your steak to get those gorgeous grill marks and serve it up with some parsley or an extra dash of seasoning. We added a cherry smoked sea salt to the top

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CWHX88K/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00CWHX88K&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=2b32b1992e2e179146a30aea6e8d4dc5

Time to Chow Down

After you grill your steak be sure to let the meat rest before cutting so you get the maximum flavor distribution. Overall here are my final thoughts on this Sous Vide Steak. The meat was tasty and the cooking was definitely much more even. The negatives is the time it takes to cook. You have to set aside a decent amount of time but the benefit is it is mostly inactive cooking. I definitely recommend this to those cooks who have a hard time getting an even cook every time. We had a blast playing with this gadget and look forward to making more recipes Sous Vide style in the future.

Since it is hot and you need to cool down you need to check out my recipe for Tzatziki sauce. This stuff is so tasty and is made with Greek yogurt. It would be a fabulous complement to this steak or use it on a salad if you just can’t bring yourself to get out in the heat to grill.

The Very Best Tzatziki Sauce

Whats up with you?

I hope you all had a great weekend spent with your family and friends. Let’s keep the conversation going and let me know what you have been up to.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualify purchases. Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, I may earn a commission if you complete a purchase after following the link .

Uncategorized

Magnesium and How To Get More of it Without Having to Take a Pill

whatsupwingo

Magnesium is such an important mineral it is unfortunate that it is often overlooked. Many of us are lacking in magnesium and don’t even know it! Increasing our Magnesium intake can help with sleep and relaxation, anxiety, constipation, energy metabolism, and the list goes on and on. Besides the role that we know magnesium plays in the body, it is very likely that their are other functions that we are not even aware of yet!

Here is a list of magnesium and the RDA for both males and females of varied ages to help you better understand exactly how much you should be getting on a daily basis.

The RDA for magnesium is as follows (1):

Age Range: Males : Females:

Birth to 6 months (AI)30 mg 30 mg
7–12 months (AI)75 mg75 mg
1–3 years (RDA)80 mg80 mg
4–8 years (RDA)130 mg130 mg
9–13 years (RDA)240 mg240 mg
14–18 years (RDA)410 mg360 mg
19–30 years (RDA)400 mg310 mg
31–50 years (RDA)420 mg320 mg
51+ years (RDA)420 mg320 mg

As the western diet increases in processed foods and we rely less on whole foods a decrease in magnesium through the diet is noted. If you think you may be low in magnesium I have some solutions to help boost your intake.

Food First: Magnesium

It is always the best idea to start by making sure we are getting our necessary vitamins and minerals through our diet. Food first is always the best policy as vitamins and minerals tend to work synergistically. I have complied a short list that according to the NIH contain good sources of magnesium (2):

Almonds that are dry roasted without oil: one ounce includes 80 mg per serving

Spinach that is cooked by boiling: 1/2 cup contains 78 mg per serving

Cashews that are dry roasted without oil: one ounce contains 74 mg per serving

And of course we can’t forget CHOCOLATE!!

Dark chocolate which happens to be around 70-85% cacao provides around 36 mg of magnesium per 100 calorie serving (3).

It can be hard to make sure that you are getting the adequate amount of magnesium daily so on those days that you find you are not able to get enough I have you covered! Here are my top three ways to increase magnesium without having to take a pill.

1. Natural Calm:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=whatsupwingo-20&keywords=B000OQ2DJQ&index=aps&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&linkId=22a2819212bcbd8e69e7142bfc32e944

Natural calm is a delicious way of getting in some magnesium. You can drink it hot or cold and it comes in lemon, cherry, unflavored, and raspberry lemon which is my favorite. It is vegan, gluten free, non GMO, and sweetened with stevia so it is a good alternative to those who are watching their sugar intakes. This is a great night cap. It is the perfect solution to help you wind down and get relaxed before bedtime. It is however fine to take anytime of the day. This is a must have in my pantry especially during times where I am extra stressed, and need a flavor filled boost.

2. Pink Stork Magnesium Spray

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S3ROEFE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00S3ROEFE&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=80bd0edf1a5f3e0684b930cf6368d6f1

My second option is pink stork mist. This mist is marketed toward prenatal care however it can be used by men and women alike. I love this stuff as it is simply a spray and you are DONE! As the packaging states is helps with morning sickness, aches and pains, poor sleep and more. This stuff SAVED me during my pregnancy. Not to brag but I had ZERO morning sickness and I used this religiously. Six sprays equal 200 mg of magnesium. Magnesium that is absorbed is much more gentle on the gut and is great for those who want to treat a spot ache or pain as you can spray this directly on the targeted area.

3. Epsom Salts

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GINGOY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004GINGOY&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=1b53593e9d6b5d20106f71d851ed370b

The third option is Epsom salts. These are wonderful! They can be used to soak just your feet or as a full bath. They are relaxing and as this package claims aide with eczema, acne, and softens skin in addition to increasing magnesium levels in the body. If you desire a scent there are many different choices of salts with lavender and other essential oils added depending on your needs. This is an excellent solution for aches and pains as well as a nice way to relax at the end of the day.

Finally because I know chocolate might be your favorite way to increase magnesium I thought I might link my favorite chocolate bars

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ZJ08C2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009ZJ08C2&linkCode=as2&tag=whatsupwingo-20&linkId=c6d7274ebce8aa43ee27f23540dae06a

Alter eco makes several really good dark chocolate bars. They are organic and have some of the best tasting chocolate considering the low sugar content.

I hope this was helpful to learn several different ways to increase your magnesium intakes without having to resort to a pill form of supplement. Let me know if you try any of these options and please be sure to share with your friends and family!

Please be sure to comment below and let me know whats up with you and what your favorite ways are to increase magnesium.

MD knows best disclaimer:

As always I am not a doctor and I recommend you consult your doctor before making changes to your diet or adding in additional magnesium or any supplement as diet Changes or supplementation can be harmful to some individuals.

Sources:

(1) Institute of Medicine (IOM). Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D and Fluoride . Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

(2) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 25. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page, 2012.

(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/#B1

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualify purchases. Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, I may earn a commission if you complete a purchase after following the link .