Nativities and Creamy Pasta Bliss

I had fun taking down my Christmas decorations today. 

 

 I love this little nativity. Grandma Forga had one just like it when I was growing up, and I believe she had it when my mom was growing up as well. I was excited to find one for 25¢ at a thrift shop down the road.

 

Grandma Forga did this Christmas painting for me. Grandma has been quite a prolific painter since her move to the assisted living; but I am proud to have her one and only sparkly painting. Mom brought me the colorful tin nativity from her last trip to Santa Fe. 

It came with a pretty tin box.

Then I made one of my favorite recipes: creamy tomato-basil pasta with shrimp.

 

{ Those are stuffed mushrooms. }

This was the richest meal ever!!! It didn't hit me that this meal was going to be totally inappropriately rich until it was like almost done and there was no time to fool with making a salad to go with it. I told Josh to just pretend like he was a medieval king. 

Here's the recipe for the pasta (it is killer):

Creamy Tomato-Basil Pasta with Shrimp

adapted from kraftrecipes.com

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

10 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup Kraft sun dried tomato vinaigrette

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons garlic salt

4 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces farfalle (bow-tie) pasta, dry

1 cup (100 grams) freshly grated parmesan

cracked pepper to taste

8 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

Additional basil leaves for garnish, if desired

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and sautee until browned, 5 to 10 mintues. Add red onions; cook and stir for about a minute. Add shrimp; cook and stir until done, about 4 minutes. Remove vegetables and shrimp from skillet. 
• Add vinaigrette, broth, and garlic salt to skillet; cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Add cream cheese; cook and stir 2 or 3 min or until melted. Add cooked pasta to skillet along with shrimp & vegetables, parmesan, and cracked pepper. 
• Turn heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce has reached desired thickness, 10 minutes or less. Remove from heat and stir in basil strips. Garnish with additional basil if desired.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Calorie content: 1 cup (165 grams) = 300 calories

Note: On the page I've linked to for the original recipe, there's a great explanation of how to slice basil into lovely chiffonade strips. 

Inspired by the Candy Tree

To make a candy tree-inspired treat, you will need 1 leftover "ornament" and a kitchen hammer thing.

Smash up your candy cane.

 

And sprinkle it atop 1 serving (1/2 cup, 70 grams) of vanilla ice cream, for a very good 155-calorie treat.



This beats the 650-calorie peppermint milkshake from Chik-fil-A.

Salad Season

Tis the season to lose all that F-in' weight. To that end I'm eating salad. Eating salad doesn't have to be lame, it can be fun! Here is a combination I've been perfecting for the last few days. It's a hybrid of a magazine recipe and my memory of a salad that used to be on the menu at Outback. It's 290 calories, and really yummy. So yummy that I only require 3 Ritz crackers to get it down, not my usual 5.

Here's the formula:

• a pretty big but not huge bed of romaine or red-leaf or whatever you like
• 1 whole green onion, thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 ounces turkey (I like mesquite smoked from the deli counter sliced thick)
• 5 artichoke hearts, chopped
• 10 grams of feta, crumbled (bleu cheese would be great too)
• 6 candied almonds, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons (32 grams) Kraft raspberry vinaigrette with poppyseeds

The raspberry vinaigrette makes it really special. (Thanks Lucy for putting that on my brain.) Candied pecans would be better, but I recently inherited a vast quantity of candied almonds.