Balsamic Lime Shrimp

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday. I loved every minute of it. Great food, people, concerts, fireworks, and activities. We are so exhausted - we did way too many fun things!

A while ago my mom and sister were doing weight watchers and were trying to find as many zero-point foods as they could. They used to put balsamic vinegar and lime juice on their salads because there was no fat and barely any calories. At first I thought it was an odd combination - until I tried it. It was perfect together. I thought maybe I could carry that over into a marinade. I made this healthy marinade for shrimp skewers. no fat, and just a little calories really from the honey. Try this while your grill is still hot from the weekend!

Balsamic Lime Shrimp

1/4 inch fresh ginger - sliced thinly
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp lime juice
2 lg or 3 small garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 T honey
Shrimp - enough for two skewers per person

Place all ingredients, except shrimp, into a large ziplock bag. Squish the bag around until the honey has dissolved and all ingredients are combined. Add shrimp. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (no longer!). Place on skewers (soak your wooden skewers in warm water for about 30 minutes before you grill - they won't burn - see mine for proof!) and grill for about 2 minutes on each side or until flesh is pink and is no longer translucent. I don't have a grill, so I do this under my broiler for the same amount of time. Garnish with cilantro.
I served mine with a green salad and whole wheat couscous.

Cilantro Lime Couscous
boil 2 1/4 cups chicken stock and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add couscous, stir, remove from heat, and cover for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. Stir in a splash of lime juice and a handful of chopped cilantro!

Tips:

Use this marinade on any protein - chicken, beef, salmon, pork. Would work great.
Don't marinate your seafood for more than 30 minutes, the acids start to cook the fish (and not the way you want it to).
If you need to/want to stretch your marinade a little further, use a little (1/2 c) flavorless oil, like canola. Unless you live on the coast and know your shrimp is really fresh - buy it frozen! That way you know you are getting the freshest shrimp possible in your area. Plus, you get can it peeled and deveined already.
Fresh ginger can not be substituted - it's just too good. Plus it's cheap. Buy a piece, peel it, then freeze what you don't use.