Today's Praise: Soy Joy Berry Bars



Today's Recipe: Shrimp Scampi (inspired by WW)

So I was talking to a good friend of mine who I will be seeing/staying with when I am back in Boston. I used to live with her and her hubby for part of my time in Boston, and her hubby and I used to have a great time cooking the most unhealthy, fat laden meals you can think of. And drinking a lot of beer...or vodka. I was discussing with her my new transformation into a veggie loving hippie, when her husband started taunting me with the thought of chicken wings (please see previous post on FRIED CHICKEN!).

This took me back to one particular evening at their residence when he and I made one of our most famous dinners: sausage from around the world.

We had hot dogs, chinese sausage, italian sausage, and brats...all in ONE meal. All grilled and with beer dumped on them. Now that I look back on it, I remember how delicious it was. And think of how tempting my stay back in Boston next week will probably be. Thanks Todd :)

Anyway, today's recipe is basically a slightly modified version of the weight watchers shrimp scampi recipe, and since I"m only a half@ss vegetarian who still eats fish and seafood, I can share this with you. Notes on my modifications from the original recipe are below:

Olive oil
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 pound of shrimp (I get the frozen, deveined, in shell, NOT cooked. Thaw, peel and use)
Touch of oregeno
1/4 cup vermouth
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup stock (seafood or veggie)
S&P to taste
Parsley (dried works)
8 oz uncooked linguini - cooked to package directions

Oil in skillet, sautee garlic for a minute. Sprinkle in a little oregano (to taste, WW recipes tend to be too heavy on this), and stir. Add shrimp, stir, and cook until shrimps turn pink (3ish minutes). Add vermouth and simmer for a minute. Dissolve cornstarch in stock by whisking, add to skillet and simmer for 2-3 minutes until it reduces to the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

At this point I dump in some dried parsley and a ton of grated romano and mix...then you're done.

Serve with the cooked pasta!

Notes: WW recipe excludes the dumping of the cheese, but as we all know I'm Italian and grated cheese is practically the 6th food group. I've also found that I like to use a little more like 2 tablespoons of cornstarch than 2 tsps, but try it out and see what you like. You don't want that gummy, cheap asian restaraunt style sauce that comes from too much cornstarch.

Serve with a big salad. MMM.

Happy Hump Day!