Lazy Sunday Suppers

After having a very full Saturday, and getting to see my wonderful sister- and brother-in-law (and their fabulous boys) we stayed at home Sunday.  Scratch that--correct it--stayed in BED on Sunday.  Well, most of it.  The girls came in and woke us up at about 9ish.  We all slept in because we got home so very late last night.  Both of them rolled over us about twenty times ("Mommy.  Mommy.  Wake up.") and finally Darling Daddy got up and got them some breakfast, and put some bacon in the oven. Don't know about you, but bacon cooked in the oven on a cookie sheet is the ONLY way we make bacon around here. After that, the little sillies were off to play Legos and random assorted games.  I've been having so much trouble with my lap-band and allergies (inflammation-wise) lately, but today I was armed and ready: I took an Allegra and 3 ibuprofen.  I was bound and determined to get something down the ol' gullet today.  No real luck at noon, so at about 2pm I took 4 more; that was the magic number, apparently, and did the trick.  Only took about two hours to kick in, so we all packed up in the mini and headed to Target.  Headed over to my favorite section--the frozen seafood--and stared at all the delicious (and relatively inexpensive) flash-frozen goodies.  I bet you didn't know that most of Target's Archer Farms brands of fish/shellfish are caught right here in the good ol' USA and are wild to boot.  If you didn't know that the flash-frozen seafood is actually more fresh than what you get at your grocery store, I invite you to check out the episode of "Good Eats" about flash-frozen foods.  Alton Brown is a big advocate. I recommend any pacific salmon they have; it is absolutely delicious.  I almost got that when a bag down below caught my eye.

Archer Farms Wild Caught Key West Pink Shrimp.

*drool*

I've bought them before and they cooked up beautifully.  For $13, and a pound of some of the most delicious shrimp on the planet, it was hard to beat.

And here is what I made with my delicious shrimp!

Shrimp and Grits.  For less than $5 per person.  And soooooo incredibly easy.  And....GLUTEN FREE!

Grits are just about my favorite food.  Shrimp is just about my favorite food.  Add salt, butter, and bacon fat?  It's pretty much heaven.  I'm sure of it.

My cookie sheet from the bacon cooking was put to good use.  Matt had poured almost all of it into our bacon fat keeper thingie (it's an old peanut can), but there was still plenty of fat and cracklins on the sheet, so I threw the shrimp in one layer down on the cookie sheet and added more butter, then a little kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic salt.  Be generous with the salt; shrimp need a lot of seasoning.  I put them in a 350*F oven for 20 minutes total.  10 on one side, then I flipped them for 10 minutes on the other.

Next, I whipped up a pan of grits.  Again, use your salt liberally.  Grits need it.  I use about 1T salt in a pan of water that is enough for 6 servings (a 3 quart pot).  Do not fear the Morton Girl and her umbrella walking in the rain.  She is saying, "More salt, please."  Forget that "When it rains, it pours" nonsense. Nobody wants to hear all that.

Then I took a low soup bowl, and served up some o' dem grits.  I then scooped up some shrimp, and of course the lovely butter/bacon mixture and placed it on top.  You can see how the butter escaped to the rim of the bowl; it is lovely to spoon that over the grits and take a bite.  Oh my.

How cheap and easy can one dinner be?  There's a joke there somewhere.

The ultimate in Lazy Sunday Suppers...hope you enjoy it!  More to come with Sunday Suppers soon!