Healthy Paella is a fun, one pan, traditional Spanish meal packed with veggies, shrimp, and chorizo. Â Low carb, low cal, gluten free, and paleo! Â
Hi, friends and happy Monday! Â Can you believe it’s Recipe Redux day already? Â If you are looking for the healthy habits challenge, please check back tomorrow! Today is all about a trip down memory lane!
A Vacation-Inspired Recipe:  Start unpacking your favorite vacation memories. Think about a trip you took stateside or internationally and create a healthy recipe from an unforgettable meal you enjoyed. Or, create a recipe from a native ingredient you saw or tasted on your travels.
It took me a while to settle upon a recipe for this months challenge, but I finally decided to relive my two-month internship in Barcelona, Spain.
I received a full paid scholarship to be able to accept the internship, and needless to say I cherish the memories of those two months deeply.  I made unforgettable friendships and memories that will absolutely stand the test of time.
While I was there I worked at a company called Starlab and did marketing research for the aerospace division. Â I remember I put together a huge report for their hydro-engineering division. Â Unless I went back and read it, that is pretty much all I could tell you about it.
It seemed like all the other interns were working at wineries or barely going to their internship while I was working full 6-8 hour days with the longest commute on the train (excluding the siesta lunch hour.) Â I know, poor me, I have so much to complain about. Â Let me go grab my world’s smallest violin so you can play it for me while I complain about an experience of a life time.
I still had plenty of time to explore Barcelona…..
Stadium
travel to Paris one weekend….
and Rome another weekend…
I know it was a rough life.
One thing my friends and I always joke about is how we lived on yogurt, bread, wine and Hardrock Cafe Nachos for two months.
I’m not sure what the food is like in Spain because I’ve heard that Barcelona kind of marches to the beat of its own drum with everything, including food. Â They even speak a different language, Catalan, so although I spoke a decent amount of Spanish, I still couldn’t converse very well. Â The best comparison I’ve heard is it’s like Austin in the middle of Texas if that means anything to you.
The famous traditional dish that I’m sharing with you today is one that I was actually served several times when I was there, and I’m not sure if I liked it because I never ate it.
I’m 100% sure this is because I couldn’t get past the shrimp with legs and a head thing. I couldn’t believe it when I found a picture of it, suspicions confirmed.  Come on, that’s creepy!
I know that is normal in the majority of the world, but I couldn’t do it. Â So, I decided to recreate the dish for today’s post! Â I used this classic recipe to inspire me and then did my own thing with pre-peeled shrimp.
It came out really delicious and was really quick to make, it’s healthy, low carb, and you can use shrimp without eyes. Â Side note, when I was making this yesterday the guy that came over to bug spray said it smelled amazing like a restaurant.
You may not want to make this if you don’t want your neighbors knocking on your door asking you what that amazing smell is!
Healthy Paella
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped or minced
- 2 leeks chopped
- .75 pound chicken chorizo
- 4 ounces haricot verts or green beans trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
- 1 cup broccoli chopped
- 8 ounce tomato sauce canned
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 16 ounce cauliflower rice or 1 large head riced
- pinch saffron
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 pound shrimp peeled and deveined, tails off
Instructions
- In large pan over medium heat, saute garlic and leek in olive oil for 1-2 minutes, until translucent and fragrant.
- Add chicken chorizo and cook on medium high for 5-8 minutes, until cooked almost all the way through.
- Add green beans, broccoli and tomato sauce to pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes until vegetables are tender.
- Add cauliflower rice with chicken broth,paprika and saffron. Stiffing frequently cook for another 5 minutes until cauliflower is tender. (Add more broth as needed)
- Lower heat, add shrimp and cook until shrimp is pink and curled up (or until hot if using pre cooked shrimp.)
Notes
Nutrition
For 1/5 of recipe:
Pin for later:
Don’t forget to check out my fellow reduxers healthy travel inspired recipes as well!
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I felt the same way about shrimp when we were in Mexico! But I love Spanish and Mexican cuisine, so I will definitely try this one, pinned for later 😉
LOVE, love all your pics. I’m traveling through my armchair. Great recipe too.
Thanks Serena I had to real it in. I could have easily put up a million more!