Sunday Dinner

I've been lamenting my lack of cooking for months now. I will occasionally cook but it is not a regular occurrence in my household. This is not good for my pocket or my diet for that matter so I need to remedy this and fast. I've cooked two days in a row so perhaps I can keep up with cooking but I really need to get on meal planning, until I do that cooking around here will be haphazard at best. In any event, I want to share with you a simple recipe that is both quick and delicious. If you are a lover of shrimp this is right up your alley. I present you with a Southern classic - Shrimp and Grits!



This recipe was so easy, the most difficult thing to do was chop green onions. Seriously. I think the total cooking time was ten minutes from start to finish. There are several shortcuts in this recipe, I used quick cooking grits - the recipe called for cooking them in the microwave. I'm not sure why, it would have been just as easy to cook them on the stove but I followed the directions and cooked them for eight minutes, stirring half-way through. In the meantime I cooked veggie bacon in the pan for 4 minutes, broken up into bite sized pieces. This is my alteration of the recipe since we don't eat bacon in my household. I next added a cup of soy milk(with a teaspoon of flour for thickening)- another alteration - the recipe calls for heavy whipping cream but we are lactose intolerant and soy milk worked well. To that I added the frozen gumbo veggies, a teaspoon of creole seasoning, and a can of tomato seasoned with hot chilies. Finally, I added 12 ounces of shrimp.



After cooking for about 4 minutes, here is the final product, served over grits and topped with thinly chopped green onions. This was my first time making the recipe and it is so easy and delicious that I can see it being a regular addition to the menu around here. The one caveat is that my husband does not like okra so I may have to do another substitution for the gumbo veggies next time, but that is no biggie. For the full recipe click here. This is one of Publix's Simple Meals that they cook in the grocery store and have all of the ingredients on hand in the refrigerator next to the demonstration area. I've found that Publix has the best quick recipes and whenever I wander into the store I hope they are cooking something I can eat because it always answers the question "What's for dinner?" for me.

Try this recipe and let me know if your family likes it as much as I did!






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Comments

That looks SO good!! I'm going to have to try that. We don't eat bacon either, so glad to know the substitute worked well!
Mr. Man said…
Mmmmmm!Mmmmm! MMMMMMMM! (you get the idea, right?
CailinMarie said…
good for you! keep on cooking!
LittleTechGirl said…
That looks delicious!! I will definitely be trying that soon. :0)
Liz Mays said…
I bet the hubs would like that a lot! His family was from the south and he loves his grits!
I make that sometimes but never used the cream or milk in it. Looks yummy and I LOVE okra. It's just one of those things that either you like it or you don't.
Jen said…
I hear ya! Meal planning is the only way to be able to cook regularly. And it can be so time consuming. This dish looks yummy. We are vegetarians, but I bet I could make it with tofu!
Keep up the good work. (I keep a list of possible meals on my fridge. Half easy/half needing more effort. And I give myself two nights a week for "random" or "leftovers.")
Mocha Dad said…
I love shrimp and grits. I'll give it a try.
Anonymous said…
Mmmm..it looks delish! As a matter of fact, your dish looks 100 times better than the one depicted on Publix site.
I'm thinking you should cook at home more often also and share some yummy recipes!
Sherri said…
Really? Only 10 minutes! I love, love shrimp and grits. My neighbors her in the North have no idea what I'm talking about when I say the word "grits". Ha!
strokeofliving said…
Well it seems to me that you are developing your cooking skills now. Good job it looks delicious!

Next time you might want to substitute the soy milk with coconut milk, it's much healthier and it makes a great base for a paste. When I make curry sauce I use coconut milk. I encourage you to delve into researching Soy a little bit more. You'll be surprised on what you discover.
Anonymous said…
That looks so good. I don't know if I can get the kids to eat it, but me and the hubs would love it, I'm sure.
Unknown said…
Sounds simple enough even for me!
Unknown said…
Thanks for the recipe, that looks yummy! Can't wait to try it!
Anonymous said…
I love simple recipes so thanks for this. For a pretty good weekly dinner planner I have been using karaskitchencreations.com. She has some good stuff on there. Keep up the daily cooking. I have been doing this for the past 2 weeks and I've already lost 4 lbs. and I haven't even been exercising regularly! Don't hate me... ;o)

My best, Lynn
Bailey said…
I'm going to try this recipe. I enjoy cooking; it actually relaxes me. I think it's great that you're going to try to cook more often and you're starting on a good foot by planning the meals. Keep up the good work!
Amy said…
I am SO proud of you! That looks delicious!!!
Kathleen W. said…
Yum! Though I don't like shrimp or okra, the sauce looks great. I also use veggie bacon and soy milk in cooking, which works just fine. As long as you don't boil the soy milk, it doesn't separate or curdle.
Felicia said…
I'll definitely have to try this! It looks like something right up my alley.

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