Shrimp Lettuce Boats

Balancing working full time (with my school practical rotations), working out, hanging out with friends and completing assignments can be really difficult, especially when you enjoy eating healthy and preparing most of your meals from scratch. This is one recipe I like to make when I'm in a rush, and it gives me a good balance of vegetables, protein and a high-fibre carbohydrate.

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil
~12 prawns
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 of an avocado, cut into cubes
1 medium tomato, diced
3-4 large romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa (I used red but it doesn't really matter what type you use)

Steps:
1. Mix the olive oil and spices in a small bowl and set aside
2. Fry the prawns with a bit of cooking oil until they turn pink
3. Add the frozen corn and once it has almost completely cooked add the tomato, avocado, and top with the olive oil and spices.
4. On a plate lay out the washed romaine lettuce and fill evenly with the cooked quinoa. Top with the shrimp mixture.

Enjoy!
-A

"Pad Thai"

This is my version of pad thai, hence the quotations. It is more of a combo of a stir-fry and pad thai. This is an extremely quick recipe, that can be whipped up in under 30 minutes, especially if you have leftover meat. In this recipe, I used shrimp, but in the past I have substituted left-over chicken breast (even with jerk sauce on it) and left-over ground turkey. 

Ingredients:

Sauce:
1½ tbsp Thai Sweet Chili sauce
1/3 cup of Thai Fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp red pepper flakes
~2 tbsp ketchup

~20 prawns
3 cloves of garlic
3 eggs, lightly beaten
5 medium carrots, sliced in the food processor  
3 tbsp natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1/2 package of 454g rice noodles, cooked
2 limes to garnish

Method:
1. Whisk together all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside for later
2. In a wok or large skillet, heat cooking oil and fry the garlic and shrimp, until the shrimp has turned pink. Remove from the pan and set aside. 
3.  Add more oil to pan if needed and scramble the eggs. 
4. Once the eggs are almost completely scrambled, add the peanut butter and let it fry in the pan for a few minutes, then add the carrots and the sauce (I like to use peanut butter instead of adding chopped peanuts at the end because I find that if you have leftovers, peanuts do not taste as good the next day if mixed into the entire mixture)
5. Add the cooked rice noodles. Mix together well. Then add the cilantro and the cooked prawns (if using left-over meat, I add it with the carrots to heat it up from the fridge) 

-A