Shrimp and Grits

 

My friends that dine with me often know how much I love shrimp and grits and how often I order it when we’re out. You would think since I’ve developed my love of cooking that I would have tried out this recipe, but I hadn’t…..until now! I have another confession to make. This is a tough one to admit since I’m a southern girl. Hi, my name is Dawn and I’ve never cooked grits. I know! I’m ashamed. I’ve only made instant grits. You know, the kind where you open a single serving package, add hot water and eat? Yeah, embarrassing, right? My father would be embarrassed. He always made us real grits. Well, now I’ve made grits on the stovetop and I must admit, they were pretty tasty. Must have been that cream cheese I added in at the end!

 

I wanted my first venture into the shrimp and grit world to be simple and quick. Luckily I was home during lunch one day and caught one of my friends, Sandra Lee, making this recipe on the Food Network. I altered her recipe a bit to make it more yummy, in my opinion. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind my enhancements. I’m  happy to share my recipe with you so let’s get started!

 

Ingredients:

 

Salt & pepper

1 cup quick grits

¼ cube cream cheese

3 strips bacon, coarsely chopped

½ Vidalia onion

1 small red bell pepper

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (or frozen)

1 clove minced garlic

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons hot sauce

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

 

Directions:

 

Cook grits according to package. Once grits are ready, remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted. The cream cheese makes the creamy, really bright white, and delicious!

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. 

Turn the heat to med-high, add the onions and pepper and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Then stir in garlic. 

Deglaze pan with the white wine…..which means, pour the wine in the pan and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. You don’t want all that flavor to go to waste.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until the wine reduces. Add the shrimp, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until shrimp turns pink, about 3-4 minutes. Or you can use frozen shrimp like I did. I thawed it out first, then added to pan just to heat.

Stir in butter, lemon juice and hot sauce. Toss around in the pan to coat the shrimp. Remove from heat, stir in parsley. Divide the grits among 4 bowls and spoon shrimp mixture on top of each. Now that is quick, easy and delicious!

 Now all you have to do is enjoy the fact that you made shrimp and grits….I did this by saying over and over “this is really good”, “I made shrimp and grits”. I will say that my husband was pretty pleased and went back to scrape any remnants out of the pan. I like a happy customer!

Grilled Flank Steak

Excuse the greasy cutting board but I was so excited I started snapping pics!

Flank steak is a delicious yet underrated cut of meat. It's pretty inexpensive too, and when cooked right, it is full of flavor! You really can't beat the flavor of grilled meat anytime, but grilled flank is really delicious! I also like to keep it simple and not get crazy with my marinade. I start with a simple marinade of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and minced garlic.  I'll give you the details, it's so simple.


Marinade:


About 3 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
2 cloves minced garlic

Place flank steak in an air tight container. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with Worcestershire sauce and add minced garlic. If you have time to leave in the refrigerator overnight, that is great, if not, try leaving it for at least an hour. I put mine in the fridge before I headed to work and the husband was in charge of lighting the grill when I got home.

Already starting to drool....

Once you are ready to get this party started, place steak on grill and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Yes,  I know that sounds fast, but this is a really thin steak and you do NOT want it overcooked! Set your timer! Don't mess around with this.


Remove from grill and immediately cover in foil and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Now we are ready to carve! Doesn't it already look delicious? David was in charge of carving. Don't worry about his grubby hands touching the meat, we weren't having anyone for dinner. Just us two little piggy's ate all this meat!

The key to slicing flank is to carve against the grain and at an angle. Doesn't it look pretty? Finish carving up and you are ready to chow down. It's as simple as that!

This was one of the best steak dinners we have had in a long time. I served it with some rosemary potatoes and creamed spinach. Now that's a good meal!

Easy & Delicious Berry Cobbler

Who in their right mind doesn't love a cobbler?? Cobbler is one of the best desserts ever created. And you know what's so great about it? You can make any kind of cobbler you want. You can make peach cobbler, apple cobbler, blueberry cobbler.....okay, I think you get my Bubba Gump reference. Just use the basic batter recipe and throw in whatever fruit you'd like. We decided to go with a fruit medley.  This is the best "go to" dessert ever!


I was hanging at my beach house last weekend......okay fine, we don't really have a beach house, but we know people who do. That's all that matters right? So my girlfriend and I decided we wanted to make a cobbler with some left over fruit she had frozen. I immediately went to the Google machine and found a recipe that we altered and made our own. We are happy to share it with you below. We'll call this, Maureen and Dawn's Best Ever Berry Cobbler! I'll share our secrets with you, but don't tell anyone....

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons butter

3/4 cup All Purpose Flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

2 cups fresh or frozen fruit of your choosing. I used mixed berries with a few peaches thrown in for good measure.

1 Tablespoon sugar

 

I have to apologize in advance, I forgot to take pictures along the way, but I have some lovely shots of the finished product. This recipe is so easy, you won't need step by step photo instructions.

Directions:

First, adjust the oven rack to an  upper middle position. We want to make sure the cobbler gets crispy and delicious. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Place the butter in an 8 inch square or 9 inch round pan, place in oven to melt in the pan. Once butter has melted, remove pan from oven.

Meanwhile, whisk dry ingredients (minus the 1 T sugar) in a bowl. Add milk and stir until batter is smooth. The batter will be pretty thin.  

Pour batter into dish with melted butter. Then scatter fruit on top of batter, pressing fruit down in the batter. Once finished, sprinkle the 1 T of sugar on the top. 

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until top is nicely browned and bubbly.

Some people might say it’s best served warm with a scoop of ice cream on top, but I’m a more of “on the side” kind of girl!  Enjoy this delicious cobbler however you’d like! Below is my preferred method. Yummy!