It’s been a pretty crazy week here so I haven’t had much of a chance to post any recipes lately. Sean has been sick all week, we’re trying to prepare for a trip to Charlotte next week and to top it all off, I won a trip from Guinness for a trip to Dublin! (I still haven’t gotten over the shock of that one). In between all that, I did manage to cook the meat loaf dinner this week. If you would like the recipe I use, you can check a previous post I did on it right here. For tonight, I am going to make a recipe I saw on the Food Network website for an easy Shrimp and Grits. I am not a big grits fan, but Michelle loves them so we thought we would give this one a try. This recipe cheats a little by using instant grits, but feel free to use whatever works best for you.

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp and Grits

3/4 cup instant grits

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter

1 1/4 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon, plus wedges for serving

2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat, covered. Uncover and slowly whisk in the grits, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

meanwhile, season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic and cayenne pepper, if using, and cook, tossing, until the shrimp are pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the heat and add 2 tablespoons of water, the lemon juice and parsley; stir to coat the shrimp with the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Divide the grits among shallow bowls and top with the shrimp and sauce. Serve with lemon wedges.

It’s a very simple meal. The prep time and the cooking time should only take you about 30 minutes in total and it will make a nice dinner.

Well it’s back to the crazy week for me. More medicine to pick up for Sean, start packing for Charlotte and we have a party to attend tomorrow, so I won’t be cooking anything tomorrow. There won’t be a meal plan for next week since we are leaving to travel on Tuesday, but I do plan to blog while we are gone and post some recipes and ideas that a few readers have asked about. If you have anything you would like to see or read about, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll see if I can fit it in for next week’s writing. Thanks again to everyone for following along. Have a wonderful Friday, enjoy your day, and enjoy your meal!