So… here’s what happens in my house when Momma starts a new job: The awesome hobby she started not long before THAT happened gets lost and forgotten. For about 9 months, apparently.
I needed two nudges to get back on track.
1) A good friend who is maybe the only person that checks this site religiously and, very kindly, challenged that it looked like it died. (I see you, MD.)
2) My sister taking on a new round of Whole 30, while I just wrapped mine in January. Which resulted in an involved conversation about how to avoid the inevitable mid-month food rut.
And also probably Real Reason #3) I straight-up missed it. But nudges don’t hurt.
As for the crazy Early 20’s of the Whole 30 progression where you lose the will to cook and likely eat – sometimes you need a nudge there, too.
I blame my actual 20’s. You know, those years of your life where your metabolism tricked you into believing you were invincible? That mindlessly consuming things like pizza, beer and ice cream would never catch up with you? Silly kids.
If you’ve ever completed a Whole 30 (or if, bless you, you eat clean every day), perhaps you didn’t hit that food rut. For my sister and I, though, food boredom is a thang. The Struggle. Is. Real.
Here’s is what I think most folks need when the “For The Love I Can’t Do Any More Meal Prep Blues” hit: a really easy dinner. Enter this recipe. 15 minutes, I promise, and this thing is ready to go. It’s the time equivalent of Kraft Mac’n’Cheese only much healthier.
What does this recipe have going for it? Some cheater ingredients. Not “cheater” as in bad for you, but “cheater” as in, the hard work is done already. In my case, my go to is a large contingent of Trader Joe’s freezer section.
To be fair, I love a lot of their freezer items (turkey burgers galore, anyone?). My main squeeze for this meal, though, is their spiral zucchini. I don’t own a spiralizer – and that sounds like a LOT of work – so these are my ultimate shortcut.
Also, while I love shrimp in basically any form, their Argentinian Red Shrimp is also a love. Most versions of frozen raw shrimp will work, however, and can be found at almost any local grocer. Since compliant sausage can be little harder, you can give some of these variations a try:
- TJ’s spicy italian or garlic herb chicken sausage are my faves
- Applegate – found at a bunch of different stores, they have sweet italian or fire roasted red pepper
- Meat counters – make sure you ask for sausage with no sugar/unsweetened, some spots like HyVee or Whole Foods do have options
I should start off by saying that this recipe is really for 1-2 people. However, if you would like to make for a larger family, or just enjoy leftovers, you can easily double it. (Two packages of zucchini spirals, a whole pound of shrimp, whole peppers, etc.)
Because I am one of two in my house that eats shrimp, and my sister is also cooking for one, I built this recipe to fit the two of us. Yep. Sort of selfish this time around.
For prep, this meal will use one pan, one cutting board and one strainer. Pretty straight forward if I do say so myself. To prepare the zucchini spirals, you will essentially follow the package instructions. Place the spirals in a saute pan and cover them. I cooked mine for about 6 minutes, until they were thawed completely and could easily be tossed in the pan.
While these are cooking, you can get to prepping the rest of your ingredients. Dice up half of two different colored peppers, or one whole pepper, if you so choose. I was working with one orange and one red bell pepper, simply because I like the color variation. (Have I mentioned I like to play with my food?) Slice the sausages and set all of this aside as you return to your zucchini “noodles”.
If you use the same zucchini spirals, you will find there is still a fair amount of liquid in the pan. I placed mine in a strainer to drain while I cooked the remaining ingredients.
Once you return the pan to the stove, circle the pan with one tablespoon of olive oil. Toss the peppers and sausage in the pan, coat with olive oil and allow to the sausage some time to brown. The peppers will soften a bit as they cook, as well. This should take about 5 to 6 minutes total.
Meanwhile, mince one clove of garlic. This can be done by finely chopping with a knife, or you can whip out a handy garlic press, if you happen to own one.
Toss the garlic, shrimp, salt and cajun seasoning to the pan. Lightly toss everything together to coat. No matter the type of raw shrimp you use in this recipe, your shrimp should shrink a bit and brighten to vibrant pink or red. This does not take long!! Watch your shrimp carefully, as you don’t want them to over cook. About 3 to 4 minutes should do it.
Lastly, push all of your cooked proteins and veggies to one side of the pan, and place strained the zoodles back in. For just one more quick minute – really, like 60 seconds – saute the “noodles” to warm up and finish the last minute of cooking. Toss everything in your pan together, and devour!
Ingredients
- 12 oz zucchini spirals
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 oz compliant sausage (I used Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage), sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 lb. raw shrimp (I used Argentinian Red Shrimp), thawed
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cajun seasoning/old bay seasoning
Instructions
- Place zucchini spirals in a saute pan and cover, cook for about 6 minutes (until the noodles thaw and separate)
- Set noodles aside in a strainer and return pan to stove
- Heat olive oil in pan
- Cook peppers and sausage together until peppers soften and sausage browns, approximately 5-6 minutes
- Add garlic, shrimp, salt and seasoning to pan and toss together
- Cook until shrimp are bright and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes
- Push cooked mixture to one side of the pan, and place strained zoodles back into pan
- Saute zoodles for another minute until warm and fully cooked through
- Toss all ingredients together and serve
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