Camarones A La Diabla
I am a shrimp fanatic and this is my favorite recipe on the blog to date! I always order camarones a la diabla at my favorite Mexican restaurant then instantly regret it after I’m filled with grease and sodium…I’d much rather get all of the taste combined with the ability to control what goes into my dish and therefore my body. I love the garlic, butter and spice combination in this dish but beware of the habanero and feel free to leave it out if you have a spice aversion!
Whether grass-fed butter is paleo or not is slightly controversial but the benefits of grass-fed butter far outweigh any perceived “rule breaking” in my book. Not only is grass-fed butter rich in nutrients like vitamins A, E and K2, it is also a source of butyric acid and conjugated linoleic acid which actually may prevent weight gain or even cause modest fat loss (not to mention it’s absolutely delicious)! Win, win win. Use as much or as little as you’d like with this recipe – the more you use, the richer!
Try these camarones with my paleo tortillas! Enjoy!
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 guajillo chiles
- 4 chiles de arbol
- 1 habanero pepper (with all or half of the seeds removed based on spice tolerance)
- 1 roma tomato
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp grass-fed butter
- Peel & devein shrimp then marinate with a small amount of minced garlic and a sprinkle of salt then set aside.
- Toast the guajillo and arbol chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant.
- Add water until chiles are submerged and simmer for a few minutes until softened.
- Remove stems and seeds from guajillo peppers.
- Place guajillo & arbol chilese in a processor with chopped tomato, habanero, garlic, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and pulse until smooth.
- Melt butter in a large skillet and add the sauce mixture then bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Add shrimp to the skillet and cook for 60 seconds. Turn and cook for an additional 60 seconds, simmering until shrimp reaches desired firmness.
Pesto Shrimp
Pesto, pesto, pesto…pesto everything! Nothing beats the taste of FRESH homemade pesto and I can’t believe how easy it is to make. It’s not a bad idea to make a big batch of it and keep it in the fridge or freezer to add a dollop of it to anything you’re cooking and instantly pesto-fy it! My absolute favorite – make your classic morning breakfast scramble then add a few teaspoons of fresh pesto and your boring breakfast is now a treat! This pesto shrimp dish is a surefire appetizer pleaser…non-paleo eaters can serve on crostinis (for paleo eaters a toothpick should suffice)!
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 3 tbp garlic, chopped (around 9 cloves)
- 5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cup olive oil
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan (or Jane’s Healthy Kitchen’s Vegan Parmesan Cheese)
- 2 pounds of jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Place the pine nuts and garlic in a food processor and process for 10-15 second.
- Add the basil leaves, salt and black pepper and pulse.
- Slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl and process until smooth.
- Add the parmesan cheese and process for an additional minute.
- Set aside pesto sauce in the fridge or freezer for later use.
- To make the shrimp, toss 6 tablespoon of pesto sauce to coat the shrimp (or enough to fully cover to your liking).
- Let the shrimp it at room temperature and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and sautee chopped garlic for 1 minute.
- Pour the shrimp in and cook, stirring frequently, until shrimp is bright pink and opaque (approximately 5 minutes).
- Mix in desired amount of pesto to coat shrimp to your liking and serve!
Dijon Almond Crusted Tilapia
I wanted to make a healthy and delicious recipe last night but fish can sometimes taste too light and unsatisfying! Not to fear, this recipe has the perfect blend of saltiness and sweetness…all topped with a golden almond crunch. My favorite thing about cooking fish is that you can throw it in a baking dish, pop it in the oven and it’s cooked by the time you finish cleaning your prep dishes. You can use this recipe with pretty much any fish, I just prefer the mildness of tilapia. Enjoy!
- 2 or 3 fillets of tilapia (approximately 1 pound)
- 1/3 cup raw almonds
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- Salt and black pepper
- Olive oil
- Chopped cilantro to garnish
- 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- ¼ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and slightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Place almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- Mix in paprika and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine Dijon mustard with honey and mix.
- Rinse and pat the tilapia fillets dry.
- Sprinkle each side with garlic powder, salt and black pepper.
- Coat the bottom side of each fillet with mustard mixture.
- Sprinkle almond mix on top of mustard and press into the fish with fingers.
- Place each fillet into the baking dish with the coated side down.
- Repeat mustard coating and almond topping on the remaining top side of the fillet.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
- Combine and mix the Dijon mustard, honey, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and dried thyme together in a small bowl to make the Dijon sauce and set aside.
- Top with Dijon sauce & fresh cilantro and serve
Hot Thai Kitchen – Garlic Pepper Chicken and Shrimp
My boyfriend found an awesome blog and youtube cooking channel while looking for a delicious Thai recipe to make this weekend…Hot Thai Kitchen! Pai has the best authentic Thai recipes with cooking videos to walk you through each step. He attempted, and very successfully so, the mouthwatering garlic pepper chicken (and shrimp) and it was absolutely amazing. He infused olive oil with garlic then sprinkled the leftover browned garlic on the chicken…you cannot even imagine the explosion of flavors! Click here for Pai’s Hot Thai Kitchen Garlic Pepper Chicken recipe. Here’s my paleo version of this awesome recipe!
Browned garlic and infused olive oil, yum!
The final masterpiece!
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into 1-cm cubes
- 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 10 oz. bag of spinach
- 1 tbsp Ty Ling oyster sauce (loosely paleo-friendly with some fermented soy and corn but wheat-free)
- 2 tbsp liquid aminos
- 1 tsp Red Boat fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 8 cilantro stems, chopped
- 8 garlic cloves, chopped
- Mix chicken with Ty Ling oyster sauce, liquid aminos, Red boat fish sauce, white pepper and black pepper.
- To make the garlic infused olive oil, place the garlic in a small pot or wok and add just enough olive oil to cover the garlic. Fry garlic over low heat until the garlic turns golden brown and the bubbling has mostly stopped, about 5 minutes. Drain garlic from oil, reserving the oil.
- In a wok, add 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil and heat over high heat. Pour a tablespoon of the remaining garlic oil into the marinated chicken and stir.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken and coconut palm sugar and stir until chicken is cooked.
- Add shrimp for the last 2 minutes of cooking and mix in half of the fried garlic and chopped cilantro stems and remove from heat.
- Sauté spinach with olive oil and garlic and serve with the chicken and shrimp (sprinkling the remaining fried garlic all over)!
Coconut Mahi Mahi
Whipping up some mahi in a pan is surprisingly as easy as it is delicious! Satisfy your craving for this delectable fish while also stocking up on your protein, B-vitamins and iron. A win-win for everyone. If crazy awesome flavor isn’t your thing, you can cook the mahi mahi fillets in fresh garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper as a tasty alternative!
- 4 mahi mahi fillets (approximately 6 oz. each)
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp Red Boat fish sauce
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced
- 1 tbsp green onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 1 serrano pepper, without seeds and minced
- ¾ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- white or black sesame seeds to garnish
- In a small saucepan, stir coconut milk, chicken stock, lime juice, red boat fish sauce, garlic, ginger, green onion, basil, and serrano pepper together and bring to a boil.
- Turn heat to low and simmer for an additional 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium heat.
- Brush each mahi mahi fillet with enough sauce to coat and cook in the skillet until it flakes easily with a fork (approximately 7 minutes per side).
- Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with cilantro and sesame seeds!
Panda’s Asian Glazed Mahi Mahi
This is a modified version of my mom’s famous Chinese glazed fish, one of my all-time childhood favorites! The secret to getting thick and flavorful sauce is to add the arrowroot powder/water mixture (cornstarch/water mixture traditionally) to the leftover marinade after the fillets have already been cooked. If you like it spicy, add a couple of dashes of crushed red pepper flakes to the marinade for an extra kick!
- 4 mahi mahi fillets
- 6 tbsp coconut aminos
- 6 tbsp honey
- 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp olive oil (plus additional for sautéing)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (plus additional for sautéing)
- 1 tsp scallions, chopped
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped cilantro, scallions and sesame seeds to garnish
- Mix together the coconut aminos, honey, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic cloves in a small bowl.
- Place mahi mahi fillets in a glass baking pan and season with garlic powder, salt and black pepper.
- Pour marinade on fillets, cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Sauté additional garlic and scallions in a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Pour fillets and marinade into skillet and sauté for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, until fish flakes easily with a fork.
- Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
- Mix 1 tsp of arrowroot powder with 3 tsp of water and drizzle into the leftover sauce in the skillet and simmer until thickened to a glazed consistency. Add additional arrowroot powder to thicken if necessary.
- Spoon glaze over fish and serve with chopped cilantro, scallions and sesame seeds on top!
Spiced Tilapia with Mango Avocado Chutney
The spices in this mouthwatering tilapia are perfectly balanced by the sweet, tangy and refreshing mango avocado chutney. The combination of sweltering yet cool will ensure that your fork is glued to your lips! As an alternative to pan-frying the tilapia fillets, you can also bake them uncovered in a greased baking dish for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees but I love the golden brown crisp that the pan gives the fillets!
- 4 tilapia fillets (4 oz. each)
- 3 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 avocado, pitted and diced
- 1 mango, diced
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 lime, juiced
- salt and pepper
- Mix the paprika, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, dried thyme and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl.
- Coat each side of the tilapia fillet with the spice mixture.
- Heat olive oil and garlic in a skillet on high heat.
- Cook tilapia fillets for approximately 3 minutes on each side until opaque and can be flaked with a fork.
- Mix the avocado, mango, red onion, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper to make the chutney and serve on top of the tilapia!
Avocado’d Shrimp
A delicious new twist on the traditional shrimp cocktail! A creamy avocado mash serves as the perfect bed for this zesty and tasty shrimp dish!
- 1 pound raw shrimp
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cajun or seafood seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 avocados
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 small red onion, minced
- 1/2 small jalapeño, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp sriracha hot sauce
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- Peel and devein raw shrimp.
- Heat coconut oil in a skillet and sauté minced garlic with shrimp on medium-low until the shrimp is slightly orange. Season with garlic powder, cajun or seafood seasoning and salt.
- In a separate bowl, mix together avocados, cilantro, red onion, jalapeño, garlic cloves, sriracha, lime juice, garlic powder, cumin and salt and pepper.
- Plate avocado spread, top with shrimp and serve!
About Me
Hi, I'm the paleo panda! Join me on my journey for better and greater in eating, traveling and living. This is a collection of my life’s “musts”.
