Sweet! Steak Potato Boats for your Shrimp

I try to stress in this series that eating healthy does not have to be boring. I’ve witnessed people losing weight a few weeks before a trip or event, and they invariably resort to some unsustainable diet and exercise routine.

The eating plan is usually just a can of tuna and one apple a day, or the same plain boiled chicken breast with some wilted spinach, meal after meal, day after day. The workout goes from nothing at all to exercising like they are in Marine boot camp. They suffer through both long enough to lose some vanity weight, and then binge eat afterwards and end up ten pounds heavier than they were before the restrictive diet.

There are several things wrong with this approach. The reasons for losing weight are stupid, the eating strategy is stupid, the exercise plan is stupid, and see if you can follow the trend here, the end results are…wait for it…stupid.

First off, no one else will care or even notice if you manage to lose five or ten pounds of scale weight before the reunion or beach trip. Second, you suffer through the restrictive diet and extreme exercise to end up heavier than when you started.

Maintaining a healthy weight is all about consistency and sustainability. Having a workout plan you can do every day and doesn’t leave you burnt out or too sore to move is crucial. Eating tasty foods that don’t bore you to death yet aren’t nuclear gut bombs every day is even more so. It has to become routine, and then you do routine things routinely. That’s how it works.

You also have to actually care about your fitness 365 days a year, not just when the bathing suit, tux, or dress is lurking in the closet threatening to pop seams and cut off circulation.

The diet part is simple enough. Think of things you like to eat, and then modify them if necessary to make them out of healthy ingredients. This recipe is a great example. I like steak. I like shrimp. I like sweet potatoes. I usually bake some sweet potatoes on the rare occasion that I have steaks.

Why not make it fun and interesting and up the flavor profile? That takes care of the boring part of a healthy diet, plus it tastes fantastic. You’ll need to know the process of the reverse seared steak I’ve shared before in this series. Here is the link:

https://www.mysaline.com/shirtless-reverse-seared-steak/

If you are still wrapping your potatoes in foil to bake them, I beg of you…stop it. We want crispy golden brown and delicious potato skins, and a foil wrapped baked potato will never fit that description. There’s a lot to get to for this recipe, so I’ll get to it.

Just remember, the key to healthy cooking is choosing the correct ingredients. Make sure your steaks are grass fed and your shrimps swam free. With that, a few simple cooking techniques and your Steak and Shrimp Sweet Potato Boats will float you comfortably to your desired weight destination. Enjoy.

Steak and Shrimp Sweet Potato Boats:

Ingredients:

2 reverse seared sirloin steaks, sliced thin on the bias

1 package frozen jumbo shrimp 16 -20 size, wild caught

4 baked sweet potatoes

1 yellow onion/1 red pepper/3 cloves garlic

4 oz grass fed butter

Sea salt, fresh pepper, Creole seasoning to taste

1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg

grass fed Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Instructions:

Wash and dry your sweet potatoes. Poke holes in them with a fork so they don’t explode during baking. Place them in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Toss to coat. Do not wrap them. Place directly on a middle oven rack with a large sheet pan lined with foil under them on a bottom rack to catch the drippings. Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour depending on the size of your spuds. Let cool, then slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out most of the flesh and place in an oven safe casserole dish. Place the potato skins upside down on an air fryer basket and spray with a little hit of nonstick:

Cook and prepare the reverse seared steak using the link above:

Thaw your frozen shrimp in a strainer under cool running water for around 5 minutes. Cut off the shell and devein if they aren’t already. Dry with paper towels, sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and creole seasoning. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until time to cook:

Chop your veggies. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet and then saute said veggies until soft:

Air fry the potato skins until crispy, usually around 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook 3 – 5 minutes per side:

Place the potato skins on a large baking sheet. Layer with the steak, then the shrimp and veggie mix, top with shredded cheese:

Bake at 400 degrees for about 5 – 7 minutes. Mix the sweet potato flesh with the cinnamon and nutmeg and place on a lower rack to reheat while cooking the boats. You can also hit the boats with the broiler turned on high for a couple of minutes to make it extra crispy.