Who doesn’t like a little Kung Pao? It’s one of my favs for sure and this version is even healthy!
Whew! I just finished watching my four time a year obsession… Grand Slam tennis.. This one the French Open men’s finals. Wow! What a match and I’m so happy for Dejokovic! The first man to have won a career grand slam in forty years! What an accomplishment for such a classy athlete! My TV has been set to the Tennis Channel for two weeks now. So now a little tennis withdrawal until Wimbledon! Onto other things.
I can not even begin to tell you how incredible the weather has been here in Colorado for the past week! High seventy degree days, a cloud not to be seen and hot sunshine, make me super happy! The flowers and gardens are going insane with blossoms and I can honestly say that my gardens have never been prettier. All I want to do is play outside and get my tan on! LOL! I can’t wait to get up to Vail later in the week to play in a fun tennis tourney with the gals! Vail is one of my favorite towns in our state and I’ll be lucky enough to soak in some mountain sunshine and mountain air. It’s good for the soul for sure!
Since the weather has been perfect for grilling and I still have my cravings, I decided on making Kung Pao something. Cooking on the stove in the house is not an option now so I decided on figuring out a Kung Pao marinade for shrimp (or delicious on any meat of your choice). I am so excited that I did. Kung Pao Grilled Shrimp ended up being one of my favorite new recipes and it’s healthy to boot! Tons of grilled veges to go with the semi spicy grilled shrimp! Originally I made a delicious rice bowl and the leftovers, well I made them into lettuce wraps. I kinda committed a cardinal sin (in my book) and brought the leftovers to a party! Check out the pictures below. The lettuce wraps are so pretty that you kinda don’t want to eat them! Just make the same way as described in the recipe but fill red leaf lettuce with cooked rice noodles, veges, shrimp, sauce, green onions and chopped peanuts! Damn that was good! I love making super versatile foods and this one fits that bill for sure. This is one of those “thinking outside of the box” recipes and definitely worth trying!
Enjoy!
- 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, 21-22 per pound, shells removed and cleaned
- 1/2 cup peanut oil
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbs peanut putter
- 1 tbs garlic, minced
- 1 tbs fresh ginger, minced
- 3 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs Sweet chili sauce
- 2 tbs hoisin sauce
- 2-3 Serrano chilies, sliced thin with seeds
- 1 medium sized zucchini
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 1 red pepper
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced thin
- 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the peanut oil, vinegar, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, chili sauce, hoisin and Serrano chilies. Transfer marinade to a large zip lock bag and add the shrimp (or whatever protein that you are using) and let marinate for one hour. (Overnight if using chicken or beef). RESERVE 1/2 CUP OF THE MARINADE for the sauce later!!
- Slice the zucchini, yellow squash and the red peppers in half. Drizzle olive oil over the veges and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat up your grill to a high heat. Place veges on grill and cook until tender. About 10 minutes. Remove from grill and dice veges into bite size pieces. Set aside.
- Remove the shrimp from the bag and place on the hot grill. Cook for 3 minutes and flip the shrimp and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Serve over cooked rice, add some cooked veges and top with reserved sauce. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and peanuts.
Lettuce wraps anyone? I say yes! Super healthy and so good!
Party food… 101! Even the leftovers are tasty!
Check out how big my tomato babies are getting! I started them from seed in March and they have flower buds all over them! So cool!