Oven Roasted Shrimp & Sweet Potatoes

Shrimp is one of my favorite types of seafood, but I rarely make it....that's all going to change after last night's dinner.  It was so easy and so fast!  

I bought frozen shrimp from Sam's Club that was already peeled and deveined and let it thaw in a colander in the fridge. When it was time for dinner, I just lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread out the shrimp....

I sprayed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled on some Sweet Basil, Citrus & Garlic seasoning.  That's it!

Then I roasted them in a 425 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes and they were cooked to perfection!

Let me backtrack a little now....before I put the shrimp in the oven, I started roasting the sweet potatoes.  I peeled them and cut them pretty small to cut back on cooking time.  Then sprayed them with olive oil and seasoned them with salt & pepper. Super easy.  They went into the 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes and I added the shrimp at the end.

Add a side of veggies or a simple salad and you've got a quick, healthy, delicious dinner.  I was hoping to have some leftover shrimp, but the kids finished them all off.  Good thing they're so easy to make!

Ingredients:

     Shrimp {peeled, deveined & thawed}

     Sweet potatoes {peeled & diced}

     Olive oil spray

     Salt & pepper

     Seasoning of choice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spread sweet potatoes on baking sheet coated with olive oil spray. Spray lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, spread shrimp on another baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray shrimp lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper or seasoning of choice. Roast in the oven for the last 6-8 minutes of the sweet potatoes' cooking time.  

Leftovers Reincarnated....

With soccer practices two nights a week, basketball practices three nights a week and scouts once a week, I'm starting to love "leftover night."  Its so nice to just pull everything out of the fridge and let everyone create their own dinner.  There's usually something everyone likes and always enough ingredients for me to throw together a quick salad.

Here's my most recent "leftover night" salad creation....

*romaine lettuce

*reheated veggies

*cold salmon {reheating fish in the microwave makes my skin crawl!}

*a sprinkle of reduced-fat feta

*a drizzle of one of my new favorite dressings....

What's in your fridge???

Sweet Ginger Garlic Salmon & Coconut Lime Quinoa

Salmon is one of my favorite things to make for dinner.  It's quick, it's easy and it always looks like you put more effort into making dinner than you actually did.  This recipe is especially simple...just two ingredients.

Simply Asia's Sweet Ginger Garlic Seasoning
&

Salmon

{I got them both at Sam's Club}

Just sprinkle the seasoning on the salmon {don't skimp!} and broil on high for 15-20 minutes.  It'll come out of the oven looking something like this....

See where I stuck a fork in it to make sure it was done?  You'll know it's ready when it flakes easily.

Next on the menu....quinoa.  I have a confession to make - I've never made quinoa until today.  I wasn't really sure what I was doing {what's new?} but I knew I wanted to infuse it with the flavors of coconut and lime.  I found a recipe online here and then put my own spin on it.

    

1 cup lite coconut milk
1 cup water
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 bag frozen soy beans
small handful chopped cilantro

Bring the first 6 ingredients to a boil.  Add quinoa, reduce heat and cover.  Simmer about 15 minutes then remove from heat.  While quinoa is simmering, steam soybeans {maybe next time I'll try adding them with the quinoa}.  Let quinoa sit a few minutes then fluff with a fork and add the soybeans and cilantro.  Salt to taste.

Not too bad for my first try.  I'll definitely be experimenting with quinoa more in the future.

A fancy meal with not a lot of effort....just my style!