31 days: Spicy Shrimp Salad

Spicy Shrimp Salad

A fresh green salad with visible cucumbers, tomatoes, and orange bell peppers, topped with spicy shrimp salad and roasted pumpkin seeds.

We like a lot of spice anyway, and I'm finding this cleanse has really made us crave spicy foods. So you'll see a lot of spicier dishes in this series. I'm not surprised by this; when I was super low carb before, my spice tolerance was at ghost pepper levels. Since I started eating sweets again, I noticed I have a much lower heat tolerance, and I wasn't sure if they were related. It's nice to get some more correlating data for my theory that the more sweets I eat, the less spice I can tolerate. I'd rather do spice.

This as pictured, however, is surprisingly low on the spice despite the name. I've got tips for spicing it up as we go, what I'll do differently next time.

Tip: Trader Joe's Mayo is candida diet friendly! It has no sugar, and the vinegar used in it is apple cider vinegar. Stock up, if you don't want to spend time making your own. 

Spicy Shrimp Salad
Candida Cleanse friendly!

Salad greens
Cucumber
Tomato
Orange or red bell pepper
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Salad shrimp, thawed/cooked & chilled

Additional (unpictured) salad ingredients I was out of but love to include: 
Sprouts, avocado, scallions

Dressing:
TRADER JOE'S or homemade mayo
Chili Paste*
Fresh pressed garlic (or minced, just don't ever tell me that you use the jarred stuff like my mother)
Salt
Pepper

Optional additions, to mix in with the shrimp:
Dried chipotle pepper, a fine dusting with your nutmeg grater/zester
Jalapeño or hot pepper of choice, small diced

Your portions, of course, will change according to how many people you're serving and your own preferences. Put the salad stuff in the bowl first, tossed or layered as to your preference.

Mix the dressing ingredients with the shrimp, and add anything you plan to include in that portion. The idea is to have spicy shrimp over cooling salad, and have the shrimp salad a little over-dressed so there's some for the salad. Top with roasted pumpkin seeds, or something to add a little crunch--sprouts and scallions are great on top.

* The chili paste I used has white vinegar. You'll see a few recipes that have small amounts of condiments which in turn have small amounts of white vinegar. It's a compromise we made for our sanity, because some versions of this diet weren't as prohibitive of the white vinegar and I have a hard time believing it's a problem. If you're super concerned, chili paste is easy to make and I encourage you to do so. It's on my list after I finish this jar!

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