Tomato Shrimp Linguine

I've always loved cooking and when I have the time I enjoy making extravagant dishes. However, lately my time is limited and I'm always looking for quick and easy ideas. An added difficulty to these meals is my vast amount of food allergies. Most of the items on my list of allergies are easy to get around, but the trickiest (and the things I miss the most) are eggs, dairy and sesame. 
After watching a video of Anna, from Vivianna Does Makeup, making a shrimp pasta dish I was inspired to create my own. I headed to the store and picked up some ingredients to throw together. The outcome was simple and pretty great. 

Ingredients:
2 tbsp - Olive Oil
2 tsp - Chopped Garlic
2 tsp - Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
3 to 4 cups - Tomatoes
1 box - Linguine
12 - Peeled Shrimp (frozen or fresh)
Sprinkle - Nutritional yeast or parmigiano-reggiano

Something to know about my style of cooking is that I tend to estimate when adding ingredients. I only measure when following a recipe, but for the sake of this blog I will do my best to give measurements although they will be approximate and you should feel free to adjust to your liking. 

Warm olive oil in a large pan

Add garlic stirring often to prevent burning

Stir in crushed garlic

Boil water in large pot

Cook linguine

Add sliced tomatoes to the garlic pepper mixture

Add shrimp and cover until shrimp turns pink

Mix into the pasta and enjoy

This would be the point where I would add a ton of parmigiano-reggiano in the old days (before I knew about my allergies). This time I decided to sprinkle a little bit of nutritional yeast on top to add a slight cheesy flavor. This was the perfect dish to enjoy with a sauteed vegetable or garden salad. I packed it up in containers to take as my lunch for the week. 

Homemade Blueberry Granola

Homemade Blueberry Granola

I found myself buying granola to take to work each day as a morning snack.  After looking at the ingredients and sugar content of my favorite granola I decided I could do better and make my own.  

First I gathered up the ingredients I already had and then headed to the store to pick up the rest. 

Ingredients:

   Old Fashioned Oats

   Coconut Oil

   Honey

   Maple Syrup

   Dried Blueberries

   Pumpkin Seeds

   Dried Coconut 

   Chia Seeds

   Ground Flax Seed

   Chopped Pecans

I combined 

     2-3 cups of oats

     1-2 cups of dried blueberries

     1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

     1/2 cup chopped pecans

     1 cup dried coconut

     1/3 cup chia seeds

     1/3 cup flax seed

                         into a bowl and mixed thoroughly. I'm not one for measuring when I cook, so these measurements are rough estimates.  The good thing is, you can't really mess up the measurements when making granola.  Just throw some stuff together.  

Next I melted the 

     1/3 cup coconut oil

     1/3 honey

     1/4 cup maple syrup

                          in a small bowl and poured over the dry ingredients.  Toss the mixture until the dry ingredients are coated with the wet.  

Then I spread the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and placed in the oven preheated to 300º.

Bake for about 5 minutes and stir then place back in oven for 5-15 minutes.  Watch closely to make sure your ingredients don't start to burn (unlike mine).  

Finally scoop your finished granola into a container.  I chose the classic mason jar (because, you know, Pinterest). 

Now you can enjoy your granola dry or with your favorite type of milk.  I go for coconut milk since dairy and I don't get along.  

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     - tag me in photos of YOUR homemade granola!