Broiled Shrimp with Spinach Orzo Salad

How was your Easter weekend? It’s been beautiful here in Boston so I’ve been enjoying the weather. I love it when it’s unseasonably warm! Hope it’s nice where you are.

So, every month, I receive a few different cooking magazines…Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Taste of Home’s Healthy Cooking, and Cuisine at Home. Not surprisingly, I don’t usually get a chance to read them immediately but get around to checking out the recipes eventually.

I recently made a combined dinner of two recipes from different magazines, Broiled Shrimp with Spinach Orzo Salad. The Broiled Shrimp recipe came from the April 2010 issue of Cuisine at Home and the Spinach Orzo Salad came from the April/May issue of Healthy Cooking. It turned out to be a great light meal.

Shrimp is something I don’t cook too often but when I do, I’m always surprised how easy it is. This broiled shrimp is super quick to prepare and cook. The mixture of flavors resulted in a tasty shrimp dish!

I love pasta salad, especially because it reminds me of summertime cookouts. This Spinach Orzo Salad is an easy side dish that’s a little different from a tradition rice or pasta side. I ate the leftovers for days and it was perfect for lunch.

Broiled Shrimp

Adapted from Cusine at Home

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/8 tsp. dried dill

2 Tbsp. whole wheat panko breadcrumbs

¼ tsp. dried oregano

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails left on)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Stir in lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs and oregano. Set aside.
4. Coat two small cassserole dishes with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.
5. Arrange six shrimp in each dish and divide butter/lemon juice mixture over shrimp. Top with breadcrumbs mixture.
6. Broil shrimp for about 5 minutes. Watch closely as the shrimp cooks very quickly.
7. Serve with Spinach Orzo Salad (recipe below). 

 Spinach Orzo Salad

Adapted from Taste of Home’s Healthy Cooking

Servings: 4

Ingedients:

8 oz. whole wheat orzo

3 oz. fresh spinach

¼ c. reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled

¼ red onion, chopped

¼ c. reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette dressing

¼ tsp. dried basil

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted

Preparation:

1. Cook orzo according to directions. Drain in cold water.
2. In a large bowl, combine spinach, cheese, onion and orzo.
3. In a small bowl, combine balsamic vinigarette, basil and pepper. Pour over orzo mixture to coat.
4. Chill salad until ready to serve.
5. Top with toasted pine nuts before serving. (I toasted pine nuts in my toaster oven using the light setting)

 

Turkey Time

The two positive things about working on a day that most people are off are 1) my commute was a breeze and 2) I even got a front row parking space at my office. It’s the simple things, I tell ya. Another “simple thing” is my fondness for Taste of Home’s Healthy Cooking magazine. I’ve mentioned this before, see here and here.

It’s a publication filled to the brim with simple, healthy recipes (plus very limited advertisements! woohoo!). I practically I folded the corner of every other page in the most recent issue – which means I have  a lot recipes to try! Every recipe has nutrition facts and most include nice little cooking tips, too. It makes me happy. I just wish it was published more than six times per year – but this issue will keep me busy for a while.

I recently made Mustard Turkey Cutlets (featured on pages 35 and 36 of the October/November issue). While not the prettiest dish (is meat ever that pretty?), the recipe was perfect for a quick weeknight meal. The sauce (a mix of mustard, apple juice concentrate and cornstarch) cooks up in no time. I grilled the turkey cutlets using my beloved indoor Cusinart Griddler. Dinner was ready in 20 minutes flat!

This dish made bland-by-itself turkey breasts burst with flavor. The tangy, bold sauce was awesome! I even made a wrap sandwich with the leftovers and the turkey was just as tasty chilled. 

On the side, I streamed green beans then sauteed them for five minutes with a little red onion, cherry tomatoes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I topped the veggies with a little light feta I had left over in the fridge. Quick and tasty!

For those who are interested, Healthy Cooking has an offer for a free issue. Check it out! If you don’t like the magazine, there is no obligation to subscribe. I trust that you’ll enjoy the recipes as much as I do.