Honey Lime Shrimp

I love seafood and I have since I was a little girl.  Both of my parents lived in Florida when they were younger (that's where they met!), and we still have some family/friend ties, so I spent much of my childhood either near or literally in (yay for boats & stilt-houses!) the Gulf of Mexico. It still holds a special piece of my heart...I love the beach!  I digress.

So, seafood: I make tilapia a lot because it is cheap and super easy and fairly healthy.  However, sometimes I like to splurge on shrimp.  There is just something that seems so fancy when shrimp is served for dinner.  This recipe is simple, quick, and other than the shrimp and maybe a lime, you probably have everything you need right in the fridge/cabinet.  The first time I did a honey-lime recipe it was in fact tilapia, and Jess loved it!  For that you marinade filets in the same mixture, but then before you pan fry it you cover it with a bit of flour with salt & pepper.  Delicious.  Maybe some day I will show you. But today, it's just shrimp & roasted California vegetables.

Note about cooking with shrimp: for this recipe I used shrimp from the meat department at Kroger.  However, if frozen bags of shrimp are on sale, that is normally what I buy.  It just happened that the "fresh" (it is still actually frozen...) loose shrimp were cheaper.  What I do recommend any time you're cooking with shrimp is to make sure you get raw, not cooked.  Shrimp can get rubbery and overcooked extremely quick, so if you use pre-cooked and then try to heat it up you can easily go too far.  Shrimp is super easy to tell when it's done, too!  It turns that nice pink color.  So there you have it: fresh or frozen, but make sure they are raw!

Jess got more food than me, so he got to eat his shrimp on a bed of pasta...ok, maybe I had a half cup, too! 

Honey Lime Shrimp - 9 WWP+ per serving, yields 2 large servings (1/2 lb each)
Ingredients
1 lb large shrimp, raw
4 TBSP Honey
1/2 cup Olive Oil
4 cloves Garlic, minced
Juice and Zest of 1 small Lime
1 TSP Salt
1/2 TSP Pepper
1/2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes

Not many ingredients! 

If your shrimp are frozen, thaw them out the day before or the same day by running cool (not hot, you'll cook the shrimp!) water over them in a strainer for about 5-10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients except shrimp. 

Pat shrimp dry and add to the marinade, making sure they're all covered.  You may prefer to put them in a ziplock bag or a flat dish, whatever is easiest for you and allows all the shrimp to be covered with the marinade. 

Marinade in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour, then set out on counter for about 10 minutes to bring to room temperature. 

Cook shrimp in a pan over medium heat until they turn pink, about 2-3 minutes. 

Not done, yet...

Finished! 

I served mine with roasted carrots, cauliflower, & broccoli.  If you want to use the marinade as a sauce, in a small saucepan add the marinade and bring to a low boil and then simmer for a few minutes until it reduces by about half.  You can add a little chicken broth if you need to add a bit of liquid.  Just make sure you make a reduction, because you've got raw shrimp juice hanging out in there.

I roasted the vegetables in the oven at 400F for about 30-40 minutes with some lemon pepper seasoning.