Today's Eats

Today I am beat. After being up late every night this weekend and then eating a bunch of crap on Saturday, I just feel run down. But I still got up this morning and ate a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage:



Iain is my scrambled egg buddy. Ryan doesn't like them so Iain and I always eat them together. I cooked two eggs for Iain and I to split and I cooked two small sausage patties that I formed from freshly made sausage at a local grocery store. It was really good sausage. I'm usually a little wary of buying it there because the first time I got it someone was quite heavy-handed with the salt but the past two times it's been great.

Anyway, that breakfast kept me feeling full for a long time and I didn't eat lunch until around 3pm. I had an egg salad sandwich and a granny smith apple and until just now, as I was typing the words, I didn't think about the fact that I had an egg for two meals today. Hopefully I'll have something else at dinner! Anyway, here's a photo of lunch:



My plan for dinner was to make the most fabulous Shrimp and Grits you have ever seen and, depending on when Sean's planning to get home, I still have every intention of making it. Also, I will post the recipe later and request that you make it ASAP. It is that damn good!

Come back tonight for the update!

*********CLANG CLANG CLANG******* DINNER BELL'S RINGING

Well, I did it. I fixed my go-to dish. You know, we all have at least one that we came up with and feel so good about sharing. This is mine. Barbeque Shrimp and Grits. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of eating grits, please do me a favor. DO NOT get instant grits or I will have to personally come to your house and whomp you upside the head with my beautifully seasoned iron skillet. And I don't want to do that 'cause I like y'all! Bear with me, because the photos are going to look like one of my kids has a stomach bug and threw up in our family barf bowl but trust me. This smack is GOOD! A restaurant here, called Lucky 32, served this forever and it was what I ordered every time we went. Then they up and changed it to regular old shrimp and grits with sausage. I like that, too but this was so different that I wanted it instead and I was forced to try and find my own recipe.

You will need:

1 or 2lbs of shrimp (i usually get the peeled, frozen variety, no tail thank you)
1 bottle of Heinz Chili sauce- Don't you dare use ketchup
2 or 3 cups combined of onion and peppers
1/4 lb of bacon OR olive oil for a healthier version
a handful of brown sugar
chicken broth (3/4 cup)
heavy cream (1/4-1/2 cup)
half and half (2 cups)
water (2 cups)
1/2 stick of butter
salt to taste
1 cup Old fashioned grits

First, boil the half and half and water adding the butter and turn the heat down. Add the grits and stir so they don't get lumpy. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes. They will thicken with time. Stir occasionally. I added a couple of generous pinches of kosher salt as well.

Second, heat the olive oil in a medium sized skillet. If you're using the bacon instead, dice and cook until crisp, reserving the grease. Add your peppers and onions to the oil and cook over medium heat until soft and slightly caramelly. Is that a word?! Once the peppers and onions are cooked, add the entire bottle of chili sauce, the handful of brown sugar, and chicken broth, allowing this to simmer as the grits cook. Taste to see how much salt is needed. This is a sweetish dish so don't be shocked by that when you taste it. Add your cream here. Don't use milk or it will curdle. Cream is a requirement and there's not enough in here to cause the calorie conscious too much trouble. In fact, when I was doing weight watchers, a serving of this was 8 points. Carrying on......

While the sauce is simmering, take your thawed shrimp and cook them quickly in another skillet but don't overcook them. In fact, if your husband calls and is going to be later than you thought he was because he's stopping at the store to buy this GINORMOUS box of crackers:



then please, in the name of all that's holy, under-cook the shrimp and add it to the sauce to let it finish cooking until he gets home. Once he arrives, fix him a lovely bowl of these gorgeous, creamy grits:



and then top them with the BBQ Shrimp Sauce. This is where it looks ugly as a mud fence but tastes incredible:



This recipe will easily serve 6 people nicely. If you make it, please let me know what you think, or what changes you made to the recipe to make it your own.