Buffalo Shrimp Salad with low fat Blue Cheese Dressing

I truly believe that we should eat “everything in moderation”. Even when I was still working on losing weight, I made sure I satiated my desire for certain things like the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches I would eat. Now that I’m really trying to reduce the amount of dairy in my diet, I keep it to a minimum. But last night I had a craving, for buffalo shrimp that I just couldn’t get rid of. Perhaps it is all this talk of football or maybe it is because at girl’s night in they were eating buffalo wings(the last chicken I ever ate 20 years ago) but I had the hankering for buffalo shrimp.


So, I gave in. In addition to dairy the sauce is full of fat from the butter (which is probably what makes it taste so good). I decided to use Earth’s Best buttery substitute instead of butter but I think it is just as as fatty as regular butter but I did try!  

And of course, the shrimp are fried! But, I used a high heat safflower oil and DID NOT fry them in 2 inches of oil(as the recipe calls for). 

I used about 3 tablespoons of oil and just turned them until they were done. 

I also used a recipe for low-fat blue cheese. Here is where I added some dairy to my diet but I find that greek yogurt doesn’t bother my system and I eat blue cheese so infrequently, I don’t think it bothers me either. 

The biggest surprise was the fact that I actually enjoyed the blue cheese dressing. It might sound weird but I’ve never been a fan of commercial blue cheese dressings but I thought with the heat of the shrimp I needed something. Plus, who wants to eat a dry salad? For the salad I used a bag of young spring mix and added avocado and tomato. 

The results? Outstanding! I love the blue cheese dressing - the greek yogurt, lemon juice and blue cheese really complemented each other. And the good thing is I have enough for several salads! Well, without further ado, here are the recipes.....

Buffalo Shrimp

reprinted from Terri's Table

20 large shrimp, shells removed and cleaned and deveined
Buffalo Seasoning Mix
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons hot sauce (I used Franks Hot Sauce and ended up using more like 6 teaspons)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour ( I used Jules Gluten Free Flour)
1 bag of mixed greens
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 avocado, cut into chunks

Place the greens, iceberg lettuce, tomato and avocado in a large salad bowl. Keep cool.

To Make the Buffalo Shrimp:

Put the shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with 1-1/2 tablespoons of the seasoning mix and the flour. Mix until evenly covered. Set aside while you get the sauce ready. (I added two more tablespoons of flour)

In a small frying pan, melt the butter with the hot sauce. Add the remaining seasoning mix and cook one minute. Keep warm. (I added additional spices to the sauce, I cook to taste)

In another pan, pour in enough oil so that the oil is about 2 inches deep. Heat the oil on medium high until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the shrimp a few at a time (do not overcrowd) and fry for about 1 minute until just done and golden brown. Remove from oil and put in frying pan with sauce to keep warm. Continue this process until all of your shrimp have been cooked.  When all of the shrimp have been added to the sauce, dumped the shrimp and sauce into a bowl and mix well.

To serve, toss greens and lettuce well and pile on a plate. Top with shrimp. Pour Blue Cheese Dressing over all.

Buffalo Seasoning Mix

2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Use a fork or very small whisk to thoroughly mix the seasonings together and set aside.

Guiltless Blue Cheese Dressing

Reprinted from Honest Fare

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup blue cheese finely chopped or in crumbles
• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• Cracked black pepper to taste 1/6 teaspoon cinnamon
• Sprinkle garlic powder
• Sprinkle onion powder
• Drizzle of honey or agave

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely chop and then break apart blue cheese into small crumbles. Combine blue cheese, Greek yogurt, lemon juice and vinegar in a bowl or jar and mix well. Add all seasonings and a drizzle of agave or honey and stir well with fork until cheese is no longer clumping up.
2. If the cheese keeps getting stuck and/or clumping to the fork during stirring, just remove it and break it up and continue stirring. You need to totally mash up all the larger clumps and totally combine it so nobody picks up on the yogurt hiding in there! Just keep mixing until you cant taste the yogurt.
3. The thickness of the dressing will vary depending on the brand of Greek yogurt you use. Some are really think so If necessary, add water (one tablespoon at a time) and stir until dressing reaches desired consistency.

I hope that you enjoy these recipes as much as I did! Sometimes a girl just needs her buffalo shrimp fix!