Greek Shrimp

We’ve been eating a lot of hummus around here lately. There is a Greek restaurant in Houston that I absolutely love and miss, and there isn’t anything in Waco to satisfy those cravings for…  

Avgolemono (lemon chicken) soup
Spanakopita
Chicken kabobs with tzaziki (cucumber yogurt dip)
Gyros
Stuffed grape leaves
Baba Ghanoush (broiled eggplant dip)
Roasted Potatoes
Tabbouli
Baklava

We don’t have a lot of Greek culture near us. So we were inspired to bring that to shrimp. Along with the grilled pizzas, we had shrimp on the side. The idea came from Food Network’s kabob feature last week (which I can’t find at the moment) that Greekified lamb kabobs. When you pick out shrimp, any will work, but there’s something so tasty about fresh caught shrimp. If you live near a coast, you know what I mean. Matt used Texas gulf shrimp in this dish, and it made all the difference!

Greek Shrimp with Grilled Margherita Pizza

Grilled Greek Shrimp

Skewers ready to go on the grill!

Serves 6 as a side, 3 as an entree

6 skewers
1/2 pound medium raw shrimp, peeled with tails on
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into 1-inch chunks
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into 1-inch chunks
1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
dash of cracked black pepper
dash of dried basil
1 teaspoon Cavender’s Greek Seasoning (salt in)
3 TB herbed feta sprinkles

step one: In a large baking dish or in the kitchen sink, pour water over wooden skewers and let soak for 15 minutes. (This prevents burning and sticking later on the grill.) Peel and rinse shrimp and set aside.


step two: In a medium bowl, mix together the next five ingredients to make the marinade. Drop the shrimp and bell peppers into the marinade, stir around, and cover with saran wrap. Let marinade in the fridge for 30 min to 1 hour.

step three: Layer shrimp and peppers on the skewers. Grill on each side for 4 minutes, or until cooked, tender, and peppers are soft. Serve on or off the skewers, sprinkling feta on chop.

Can you believe it’s already Thursday? Incredible! We’re almost to the weekend, friends,
and I hope you enjoy time with those you love and who love you back.

***UPDATE: Matt made this, and I can take no credit whatsoever. Sorry, Matt! As with many of these dishes, he gives invaluable tastebuds and even more important daily input in our kitchen. Matt, you are awesome. xo***

~Laurel~

Shrimp Pocket

Vitalogy by Pearl Jam

While I was at work one day, Matt decided to cook. He’s retraining the grill as summer quickly approaches, getting in a few practice runs before the real Texas heat finally settles in. Matt grilled a steak for himself and created something fun for me, a Shrimp Pocket. I requested lots of veggies and a few jumbo shrimp.

Mirrorball by Neil Young

Matt loves vinyl and put on a few records while he prepped the food…



He wrote out a list of the ingredients for the shrimp pocket…for me.

shrimp pocket
*2 servings*
6 jumbo shrimp
2 stalks celery, cut into 2/3″ bites
2 stalks green onion/chives, chopped
1 zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 red bell pepper ” “
Large handful fresh green beans
10-12 baby carrots
juice of 3 squeezed lemons   
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1 t. sesame seeds
1 TB olive oil
3 TB soy sauce
1-2 t. red pepper flakes, crushed in hand

directions:
1) Toss all veggies in a medium sized bowl. Squeeze lemon over veggies and add all seasonings. Adjust seasonings to taste.
2) Add peeled and rinsed (cooked or raw) shrimp to veggies. Toss.
3) Cover bowl with saran wrap or foil and set in fridge for 1-2 hours. 

4) After time in fridge, lay out 2 sheets of aluminum foil. Pour veggie/shrimp mix with sauce onto foil and wrap up to keep all ingredients from leaking out. Place on grill for 20-25 minutes, flipping to evenly cook food. 

Enjoy.

 Sam slept, we ate.
If you prefer not to drag out the grill, you can cook the foil-less pocket ingredients in a wok. It’ll take 15+ minutes to fully cook the carrots and bell pepper. Either way, the veggies will taste delicious and the shrimp will be heavenly. Happy eating!



~Laurel~

Valentine…

“St. Valentine” overseeing construction of his basilica

St. Valentine…was his message a myth or a mantra? Can we ever show ultimate love?

Either way, I do love this holiday.

From elementary school crushes and paper valentines with Barbie or Transformers…

Middle school awkward dances and hand-delivered roses and balloons…

To grown-up feelings and intuition that forces us to make our move…

Some people HATE the commercialized, Hallmark-ified, Hershey’s-drowning day. *YES!* It’s a day that America has poured chocolate syrup on, wrapped in a gigantic red ‘new Lexus’ bow, but you know what? It’s still a great idea! I only wish spending a day around the theme of love is each and every day. (Maybe that will be an issue on the next voters’ ballot…)

 Romantic business aside, I love this day for all types of loving friendships and relationships. My heart goes out to the lonely on this day, and I hope they know that I am thinking of them and hope God brings them comfort, especially on this day. We can all find things to be thankful for and people/puppies that we love.

Now on to our evening…

$3! Shhh, it’s a hostess’ secret.
So cute…new haircut and de-bearding!

Matt and I celebrated the end of the day with a little sushi and some good old-fashioned time together.

We had plans to MAKE sushi, but a long day at work meant we ordered a tray of FRESH spicy tuna, shrimp, crab and salmon sushi! $15! I couldn’t believe it.

 For a bit of sweet, Matt picked up some chocolate covered strawberries, and we still had some cake pops to devour.

Sometimes the best things we can do is just sit and relax, enjoying time together and not really “doing” anything! I thank God (and Pat, my mother-in-law) for such an amazing man to be my life partner and best friend. Happy Valentine’s to all! (each and every day!!)

~Laurel~

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