Marinated Grilled Shrimp and Rice

Happy Tuesday folks...hoping everyone in the Nashville area is OK and staying safe and somewhat dry!

First up, gotta show the bouquet of flowers. Originally from Earth day then added to last Thursday by sweet hubby!

The morning sun was so pretty on them.  Lovin' these orange lillies

Next up....Check out this box of freebies that came to me yesterday!

I was so excited!!!  If you want to see if you can still qualify for freebies like this, go to Sample Showcase and see if you can still sign up.  I'm hoping for more boxes like this in my mailbox!

Okay...onto dinner.

First up we have a Marinated Grilled Shrimp.  I have mixed feelings on this one.  My shrimp were too small so I don't feel like I got the best of this recipe.  I'll give it another attempt but I want to make sure I get the big shrimp next time....oh, I'll try to remember to check to see if we have propane in the grill too!

Cast of characters:

3 cloves of garlic minced

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 lb fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

skewers for grill

In a large bowl stir together the garlic, olive oil, tomato sauce and red wine vinegar.  Add the basil, salt and cayenne pepper.   Mix well and then pour over shrimp in dish and gently stir until shrimp is coated.  Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate for 1-2 hours.

When ready, skewer shrimp and cook on preheated grill 2-3 minutes per side, until opaque.

Now.....since we had no propane I just broke out the George Foreman GRP90WGR Next Grilleration Removable-Plate Grill with 5 Plates, Red and used that to grill up those shrimps!

Here's where I messed up....I let them cook about 3 mins each side which was WAY too much for these little guys.  They shrunk up too much and I think we missed out on the marinade flavor because they were so small.  I'm def. willing to give this marinade another shot though.

See what I mean...sad sad sad little shrimpies!

Onto the rice....

Cast of characters:

Just pick up a boxed rice mix that you like, I couldn't find the brown rice so I settled for this one.

Box directions indicate 2 tbsp butter, melted and then brown up the vermicelli in the butter.

once this is golden brown instead of adding water add some type of broth, I used chicken because it's what I had.   Also add the zest of 1 lemon to the mixture.  Bring to a boil and let simmer as indicated on the box directions.  Now, hubby decided it was a tad too much lemon for him and that maybe next time we don't use the whole lemon or use the zest of a smaller lemon. As you can see from the pic...the lemon was a good sized one!   I liked the way the rice with the lemon complimented the seafood.

 So here is dinner:

I'll try it again but you know...sometimes things work sometimes they don't.  It's ok either way...just experiment and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised and sometimes.... well, there is always cereal or popcorn! 

Peace, Love and Yummies!!!