Lemon garlic shrimp skewers

This was a super easy meal that’s perfect for a weekday.  There’s not much to say about it, except that I paired the shrimp with brown rice for a healthy meal. 

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Skewers
Cooking Light

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 to 2 1/2 pounds peeled, deveined shrimp (12 to 15 per lb.), rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 or 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
Lemon wedges

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix salt and sugar. Add shrimp and stir gently to coat. Cover and chill 45 minutes to 1 hour. Rinse shrimp well and drain; also rinse and dry bowl.

2. Return shrimp to bowl. Add olive oil, parsley, lemon peel, garlic, and pepper. Mix to coat. Thread shrimp on metal or soaked wooden skewers, running skewer through the body once near the tail and once near the head end of each shrimp so it looks like the letter C.

3. Lay shrimp skewers on an oiled barbecue grill over hot coals or high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 2 to 3 seconds); close lid on gas grill. Cook, turning once, until shrimp are bright pink and opaque but still moist-looking in center of thickest part (cut to test), 5 to 6 minutes total. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over shrimp.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Nutritional information: CALORIES 161(47% from fat); FAT 8.3g (sat 1.2g); PROTEIN 19g; CHOLESTEROL 140mg; SODIUM 259mg; FIBER 0.2g; CARBOHYDRATE 1.6g

Fabulous day

I love, love, LOVE Fridays.  There’s something so wonderful about having the whole weekend ahead of you to be productive, have some fun, spend time with the people you love, or just be lazy.  Today did not disappoint me.  I had a great day with my students, and I ended up staying at work until almost 7pm to do some much needed spring cleaning in my classroom.  I’m telling you – there is very little that excites me quite like clean, organized spaces.  Just the thought of returning to my organized classroom on Monday makes me a happy teacher. 

To top off my productive afternoon/evening, I decided to cook one of my favorite things tonight.  CLAMS!  I’m not even sure why I love clams so much, but I do.  And I had been thinking about clams all day.  During my lunch break, I searched Cooking Light’s website to find a healthy and delicious meal, and I found this:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1072155

And then I just decided to wing it.  YUM.

This is not a pretentious, difficult meal to make.  This is a throw-stuff-together-and-love-it kind of meal. 

The super easy directions? 

1. Throw your favorite spaghetti in a pot.  I used Barilla Plus.

2. In a large pot, bring 1 cup of water to a boil.  Throw in some clams (but be sure you’ve scrubbed them first). 

3. In a small saucepan, sautee 1 clove of garlic and 1 small tomato (seeds removed). 

4. When everything is finished, toss it all together in the same large pot and add some salt and olive oil.

5. Serve the meal in bowls, topped with parsley. 

Yummity yum yum.