How to Love Shrimp Two Nights in a Row

Once a month we get to shop at a place called Cheapeake Quality Traders. It's a food warehouse that sells restaurant-quality food below grocery store prices. The selection is unpredictable, but I like surprises and variety, so it's great.

This time around I bought peeled and deveined shrimp, medium-large.

Last night I fixed a shrimp meal, sort of concocted of all my favorite on-hand ingredients. Shrimp with bacon is a combo I love. I call it...

Don't Invite the Rabbi, Just the Pasta

Shrimp (peeled & deveined), sauteed with garlic and butter
Bacon, crisp-fried; pour out grease but don't wipe out pan.
Pasta of choice( I had spaghetti on hand), al dente. Drain and drizzle olive oil; sprinkle herbs.
Spinach (sauteed for last last 2 minutes in that bacon-flavored pan)
Freshly grated Romano cheese (which I totally forgot to serve in a hurry to get out the door by 7:15.)


Tonight, since I had half a box of the thawed shrimp needing to be cooked and half a bag of fresh spinach., I made up another shrimp number. Let me preface it with this anecdote:


Joel is really enjoying helping me cook these days. Tonight he was standing on a chair next to me as I steamed shrimp and handed him spices to shake onto it as I instructed.
"I'm not a very good cook," he said.
"Well, you're learning," I told him.
"This isn't training, is it?" he asked.
"Uh-huh, it is, " I said.
"It's not combat training, is it?"
I laughed. "Not unless you argue with me."

(He had read a Beetle Bailey cartoon I'd cut out and copied for soldiers. It features a man of the cloth addressing a bunch of troops in a chapel. In the first scene, he says, "Remember, men, you have but one life to live, so live it well. You have but one body, so don't harm it. Keep it safe."
In the next scene, Bailey says hurriedly, "Thanks, Chaplain. Okay, men, that's it. Time for combat training!" )

Combat Training Shrimp Wraps

Shrimp, peeled & deveined, about 2 pounds
Old Bay seasoning (I ran out after a 1/2 tsp so just used the spices listed on the side of the Old Bay in quantities I like)
Fresh spinach leaves (a large cereal bowlful)
Fresh red pepper, diced (1/2 medium pepper)
Shredded cheddar, extra sharp
Avocado dip from CQT (or make your own, keeping it a bit chunky)
Wraps (these were tomato-basil from CQT)

Load 'em, roll 'em, eat 'em. They're so good you might get into combat over who gets a second one first.