Challenges in Creativity #4 - Mojito Shrimp Salad

Since starting this elimination diet I've been trying to increase the variety of proteins I eat.  Some of this is by necessity since I'm currently not allowed salmon or tuna.  Apparently I was eating too much of those.  To replace these two fish I've been eating more shrimp, sardines, kippered herring, and will soon be trying canned mackerel.  I've also bought ground bison the past couple weeks to sub-in for ground turkey or beef.  Ryan doesn't love fish as much as I do, so canned versions of sea food work well.  I can buy it when it's on sale, and eat it when I don't feel like cooking for one.

Even though I'm focusing on healing my gut and balancing hormones, I have allowed myself about 1 alcoholic drink on the weekend.  Not that this is actually cutting back that much from what it was, but instead of 1-3 glasses of wine now it's 0-1 cocktails.  Last weekend Ryan and I invited his brother and girlfriend over to play Settlers of Catan, eat horderves, and drink a few drinks.  So that I could partake Ryan whipped up some delicious Mojitos; outrageous settlement and city building ensued.

Not knowing how much lime juice or mint we would need, we were left with about 1/3 a bottle of lime juice and 1 package of mint.  Neither of which I wanted to go bad, since I hate wasting food.  Naturally I made a salad dressing out of them.  In my last post I wrote about how it's been difficult making a really tasty dressing without vinegar or mustard.  Well this dressing is even better than my Suja juice dressing.Wild planet makes canned shrimp, like the tiny kind you find on salad bars, that is very affordable.  Living in Minnesota means that any fish/sea food not found in a lake, and even the lake fish can be astronomically expensive.  Anytime I see canned fish on sale, I stock up.  For a quick and portable lunch that used up a few leftovers, I threw together spinach, baby kale, and a yellow bell pepper.  At work I topped my salad with 1/2 an avocado, 1 can of shrimp + 4 bigger shrimp I had left in the freezer, and my mojito dressing.  The sweet, tangy, minty-ness paired perfectly with the shrimp and avocado.  I didn't really measure my ingredients when I made the dressing, but here's my best guestimate:

 It's super delicious, refreshing, and just a tad sweet; but what kind of meat to serve it with?  SHRIMP!

Mojito Dressing
1/3 cup Lime juice
2/3 cup avocado, grape-seed, MCT, or lite olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1.5 Tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a bottle and shake it up until the honey is dissolved.  Or combine ingredients in a blender and blend till combined.

If you are allergic to shell fish, I think tuna, salmon or just about any other fish would be delicious on this salad.  Of course, if you don't like anything that swims, chicken or pork would work too.

Now back to those shrimp.  I'm not going to get too technical or political, but please buy wild caught shrimp.  Shrimp and seafood from Asia are typically farm raised.  Meaning the little crustaceans are raised in a cesspool of their own fecal matter, they are fed food that is not actually their normal diet, most of the ponds are contaminated with other toxic materials.  Also, many of the "farmers" raising these critters are being held in forced labor camps which are basically forms of modern day slavery.