Dinner for One: Mango Shrimp

Friday night, I was hungry and in need of food! I was G-chatting with Dori and discussing dinner options; she was ordering in some amazing-sounding healthy Mexican dish. I used that as my starting point, and then hit the kitchen.

For some reason, I was inspired to cook with fruit. I had the mango I got from my grocery delivery the day before, so it seemed like a reasonable idea. I’d never done it before, but I figured I’d give it a try. I had so many other veggies that came with the delivery too…a beautiful dinner for one was in the works!

You can easily make this recipe for more than one, but hey…this one’s for all my single ladies!

Ingredients

Three ounces frozen shrimp (peeled, tails removed), thawed in water for about 10 minutes

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

One cup of diced bell peppers

1/2 cup diced onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

One cup diced mango

1/2 cup spinach

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Dash of red pepper flakes

1/2 cup brown rice, prepared according to the package directions (using broth instead of water)

1/2 cup black beans

This Is How We Do It

Once the shrimp have thawed, season them with the lime juice, olive oil, one clove garlic, and salt and pepper.

Let them marinate while you dice up the rest of the veggies and the mango. I followed the instructions left by Suzanne in the comments other day about dicing a mango! It went beautifully. You slice the mango in thirds vertically, which removes the pit….

And then score it both ways and scoop out with a spoon!

Amazing. All fingers in tact.

Heat a pan and spray it with nonstick spray; add the peppers, onion, and garlic and cook for about five minutes. Then add the mango, cilantro, shrimp, spinach, and red pepper and saute until the shrimp are cooked through.

It takes about five minutes, so this is a good time to get the brown rice going. When the shrimp is cooked, serve it with the brown rice and beans.

I just love making healthy bowls like this; I ate them constantly during the summer, and oh, how I’d missed them!

I also threw some reduced-fat sour cream and homemade guac on there and had Food Should Taste Good chips and salsa on the side. As I was about to sit down to eat, my mom came home with pizza…and I was so not interested.

And, for the record, this colorful, healthy, super-filling meal took less time to make than it takes to get pizza.

Just sayin’.

And I must say, this is a fabulous way to eat fruit. There’s really only one way I’d rather have mango.

Tagged as: healthy recipes, mango, shrimp