Shrimp Boil

I have been wanting to do a shrimp boil forever, but have just never done it...until today. Truthfully, I got the final push from my neighbor who did it last weekend. I went over to her house to drop off a large chunk of Parker's bday cake (more on that later) and cookie party favors for her two kiddos since they couldn't make it to the party. We chatted for a bit and she told me that she had made shrimp boil and that it was really good and easy. I didn't really research a recipe...kinda just did my own thing. I figured, how hard can it be??? It turns out not at all. Sooo easy and sooo delicious!

Gather it:
Raw shrimp (I used frozen since my grocer store's "fresh" counter had a sign that said previously frozen and it was more expensive. I got the large sized and already deveined shrimp, 30-35 count).
1 pkg of beef kielbasa (already cooked), cut into large chunks
2 ears of fresh corn, cut into thirds
6 large red potatoes, quartered
1 fresh lemon, quartered
1/2 cup Old Bay seasoning
1 bottle of beer (hubby happened to have a bottle of Yueng Ling so that's what I used)
Make it:
1. In a large pot, boil water (I used our pasta pot and filled it 3/4) and beer with Old Bay seasoning. Add potatoes once it comes to a rolling boil and cook for about 8 min until almost done.

2. Add corn and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add kielsbasa and squeeze lemons and then add the peel to the pot. Cook for another 4 minutes.

4. Lower heat to a simmer and add shrimp. Boil until pink and cooked through.

And that's it! Kevin and the kids were swimming while I was cooking and they were not ready to come inside yet so I brought dinner out and sat by the pool, large white Christmas lights on around the pool cage, Bob Marley playing in the background, sipping wine (beer in Kevin's case), and watching the kids jump in the pool, run up to us and ask for a bite. It was easy clean up since Kevin and I just ate straight from the platter and used a paper plate for the shrimp peel and corn cob.

Shrimp Linguini Alfredo

After a little Pinterest browsing, I saw a fettucini Alfredo recipe. I'm not a huge alfredo fan normally, but I was craving some. I clicked on the link and low and behold I have ALL the ingredients...well kinda. I didn't have cream, I had half and half (leftover from this recipe). I didn't have "real" butter, but the kind that comes in a tub. I didn't have fresh Parmesan, but the kind that you shake out of a bottle (my Italian mother-in-law, would be shaking her head at me!). I didn't have fresh parsley, but again the kind that you shake out of a bottle. I didn't have fettucini, but I had linguini. So I guess I didn't have a lot of the ingredients except for the shrimp and the black pepper. Anyway, I started googling to see if my substitute ingredients would work. I saw that half and half would work. I wasn't concerned about the others except for the cheese. But if it didn't work out, there's always Papa John's! I didn't didn't work off of a single recipe - most of them were the same anyway. For my first time making it, I thought it turned out pretty well. Although now that I'm thinking of it...I totally forgot to add garlic!!! WHAT?!? The recipes didn't call for garlic, but Kevin and I LOVE garlic. Darn! Well here's the version that I made:

Ingredients:
about 1 1/4 cup half and half (I only have a 1 and 2 cup measuring cup, so I eyeballed it)
about 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh if you have it, but the "not fresh" kind turned out pretty yummy)
about 1.5 Tbsp of butter
parsley (fresh if you have it, although dried worked well and Parker loved helping me "cook")
freshly ground black pepper (to your taste)
shrimp (slacker me...I buy the pre-cooked, peeled, and deveined shrimp, I eyeball how much my family will eat)
1 lb of pasta

(I didn't use these but will add the next time)
minced garlic
diced white onions

Directions:
Allow water to start boiling in pasta pot. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in a fairly large pot/pan that will be big enough to hold everything. Add half and half, black pepper, and parsley (garlic and onions, if you want). Water should be boiling around now - add pasta to pasta pot.

Add Parmesan into cream mixture in small amounts and incorporate into sauce before adding more. I started out using a wooden spoon, but found that a whisk did a better job. Allow sauce to thicken.

Add shrimp to sauce and simmer. 

Drain pasta when cooked and add to sauce mixture and toss to incorporate the pasta. I did add a little lot more parmesan cheese on top then tossed it some more. 

My early dinner b/c I had to work. The kids of course wanted to have several bites of my dinner then had a little bit more with Kevin about an hour later. 

This totally just hit the spot for me and way cheaper than going out for dinner! But, next time, I'll use regular pasta - I used whole wheat, which has that nutty flavor and I think regular will taste better. Besides, the hubby has repeatedly told me that he doesn't like whole wheat pasta. And I might as well try using using fresh parmesan, fresh parsley, and real cream and butter. lol 

Oh, and I had a side of veggies with mine...I hope the kids did too. I told Kevin to make sure to make them some sort of a veggie side dish. I forgot to ask him when I got home.