This Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards recipe is a one sheet pan meal that’s quick to toss together and it cooks in 30 minutes!
At what point in life do we “get our life together”. When I was growing up I had a magical number, by the time I was 30 I was going to have everything figured out. I was going to be wearing fancy business suits and living in a nice house with a husband and kids. I was going to definitely have my life together by the time I was 30. I mean when I was 13 it seems like 30 was going to give me YEARS and YEARS to get stuff right.
I’m 30 and I have no idea what I’m doing. haha I’ve got the husband and we’ve got the adorable dogs. We finally live in a place that I love, the apartment that we moved into has really just brought the life out in us.
Did that last line make sense? We’ve been moving houses every few years since we got married 9 years ago. Every house we lived in just sucked the life and happiness out of us. Don’t think that a house can do that? Oh it can. We lived in a pretty rough little farm house a few years ago and the last house we lived in was better but it needed work. However, since we’ve moved into the apartment we’re just happy and happy with life.
Sorry, I got off track. Life, life is what we we talking about. 30 years of living and I still don’t have things figured out yet. I’m still struggling with loving where I live, because I would much rather be at the beach. I’m still struggling with what I eat and staying active. I’m still struggling to be happy with myself. You’d think after 30 years of living with myself that I’d love me by now. I’m STILL struggling with what foods my body loves and hates. haha
What you need to make Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards:
- lemon
- olive oil
- minced garlic
- whole jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
- applewood-smoked bacon
- collard greens, tough ribs removed
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
Two weeks ago I was feeling super puffy, like all over. My face was bloated, my tummy was feeling puffier than normal, my neck was puffy, everything felt gross and bloated. I went back over the things we had been eating and for the past two weeks our diets and dinners had mostly been rice and pasta dishes. Well, no wonder I was feeling like dirt.
I’m a “carbivour” haha, I LOVE carbs. Pasta, Breads, Rice, I live for these things. Starchy Veggies? YES, I’ll have a baked potato or mashed potatoes please! Mac and Cheese? I could literally live off of that.
My body however is like, NO NO NO.
I had engraved in my brain that I needed to make rice and pasta dishes to survive. You see, a few years ago, I did. We went through hard times. I relied on cheap and filling recipes to feed us. We couldn’t afford to have meat with every meal, even though Thomas was a meat person and insisted on it, sometimes it just wasn’t in the cards for us (or our wallets).
While we’re not exactly where we want to be with finances and life, I am proud to say that we’ve worked our butts off and we live in a nice place now, I can go to the grocery store and not count pennies and I don’t have to survive on rice and noodles.
So, last week I decided that I was going to go low carb. Just for a week though, I didn’t want to make some huge announcement that I was cutting out carbs for life, because I’m not haha. But quietly, in our home, I made a plan with myself to try to go low carb (not no carb!) and see how I felt.
Well, Wednesday night was the last night of my “weekly low carb” trial. I made it and I admit that I do feel a lot better. I’m not as sluggish and my bloating is almost gone, I can really tell it in my face.
Even though my low carb week is over, I still find myself looking for the low carb options. I made the Easy Caprese Chicken from Carolyn’s low carb blog “All Day I Dream About Food” the other night and last night when we all went out for pizza downtown, I didn’t even flinch when I ordered the grilled chicken salad over the pizza slices.
I’m thinking that maybe I’ll work some pasta back into my life this weekend.
We’ll see how that goes. But until then, let’s get onto a meal that I made last weekend, this Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards paleo sheet pan meal!
I got this little cookbook in the mail called “Sheet Pan Paleo” to review and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It was perfect for my adventure is trying to cut down on the starchy carbs last week. Now I’m not going Paleo full time and I’m not even going to attempt to go paleo part time, but there are some recipes in this little book that I can totally get behind.
These recipes look easy and they’re great for when I’m looking for ways to “cut the bloating down”. Oh and I mentioned that these are one sheet pan meals?
HELLO easy clean up! You know what else is great about this little cookbook? It was written by another food blogger. 🙂 Sheet Pan Paleo” was written by Pamela from Pamela’s Modern Family Table.
Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards
This Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards recipe is a one sheet pan meal that’s quick to toss together and it cooks in 30 minutes!Whole Shrimp with Bacon and Collards
Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 450Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 502mgSodium: 2548mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 60g
Thank you, Ulysses Press for sending this book over for me to look at. Disclaimer: They didn’t require that I write about it but I really wanted to share this recipe with y’all.
Also, I’m we’re giving away a copy of “Sheet Pan Paleo” to one of y’all! Check out the giveaway below!
Be sure to check out Ulysses Press and Pamela.
Stephanie says
I love my carbs too, but I SUPER love shrimp. This book looks like a winner, as does this meal!
Faith (An Edible Mosaic) says
I am the same way – total carb-lover, but my body not so much, lol! This looks like a perfectly filling, hearty, and delicious meal…it would definitely make me a happy girl!
Lauren Kelly Nutrition says
I love the colors in this dish! And Carolyn has the best low carb recipes, I agree!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
This looks great! My husband looooves shrimp and bacon pretty much makes ANYTHING taste several notches better!
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
Pretty sure that I could never give up carbs, but I cam certainly get behind collards & bacon with only one pan to clean up afterward.
Amanda-The Kitcheneer says
I used to live for carbs before I discovered paleo. I love how it makes me feel! I eat low carb about 90% of the time. This sheet pan filled with greens and healthy shrimp is calling my name!!! Yum!
colleen kennedy says
SHRIMMMPPPP!!! My favorite food! This is a lovely dish! I am not that familiar will gollard greens (like kale right??) but I really want to try this dish! Bacon shrimp and greens?? Yes please! The cookbook sounds great as well!
Heather | All Roads Lead to the Kitchen says
Isn’t it funny how that works? I can remember when 30 seemed so old…and so far away. Now I’m 40 and you know? I’m still wondering when I’m going to figure things out. Fortunately I know that I adore greens, bacon, AND shrimp – so I need this in my life!
Renee - Kudos Kitchen says
Hate to burst your bubble, but I’m 56 (gulp) and I still don’t feel as thought I have my s#@* together! Oh well, at least you are happily married, living in your dream apartment with your furkids, and you’re cooking amazing food. That’s more than a lot of people can say!
Rose | The Clean Dish says
I just had the exact same experience; we never liked the places we stayed at – now that we have our own (small but cute) home, I can’t believe how much more content I am! I would have never thought the right place would make SUCH a huge difference. I just feel more at peace with everything. Your collards and shrimp dish – delicious!! I forever associate collards with the South because that’s where I tried them for the first time… LOVE!!
Kim Beaulieu says
I’m die hard sheet pan girl. I love using them for just about everything. They just work. I use them for cooking one pan meals, but they also work great for grilling. You can toss them on the grill to reduce flare ups, make brick chickens in bulk and I also leave empty ones on the side of the grill for transferring stuff to and fro. Hubs laughs because I get mad when he tries to scrub them too hard to clean them too. I love all the marks and colour because once they get weathered I use them as photo backdrops. ha ha ha. I’m an addict. I probably have about 12 or 15 sheet pans. Lol!
Don’t sweat the “get your life together” stuff. Life is a journey. It’s not about the destination, it’s all about the ride along the way. Life would be boring as hell if we all figured it out in our 20’s or 30’s. I still don’t have my life together, and I’m almost 50. I’m cool with it. As long as you’re becoming comfortable in your skin you’re doing great. I think that’s what the journey is all about. Being happy with who you are, warts and all. That’s when life shifts into high gear, it’s like life is rewarding you for finally loving yourself. Sounds stupid and sappy right. I know, it totally does.
Kudos on low carb. I wish I could. But my body forbids it. I do think it’s awesome you’re figuring out which foods work and which don’t. I had to do years of elimination diets. It’s brutal. I hated every minute of it. But it’s good to learn what helps and what harms each person. Everyone is so different. I bloat with MSG. Big time. I get brain fog with it too.
Oh, and the recipe rocks. I did come here for the recipe, I promise. Bah ha ha ha. Totally sidetracked after reading your post. lol
Karyn @ Pint Sized Baker says
I’m a carbaviore as well! Not because of my wallet, but because I HATE cooking. This sounds like a great book. I’m always looking for easier paleo meals that are quick to cook, as well as having my husband cook from it. lol!
Pamela says
Thanks so much for the shout out! Glad you enjoy the book.
Jess says
Oh my goodness gracious, this looks divine!!!! I especially your food-tography 🙂 otally pinning, have a great day! xo