Once again, it’s that time again. It’s the most dreaded time of day/week/month/year, whatever. Yes, it’s time to 

Decide what’s for Dinner

I hate this time of day. Usually it happens around 4:30 or 5:00 and Greg and I gaze into each other’s eyes from across a crowded store and we will both desperately hope that the other one has some inkling of what we can put on the table quickly and easily. And, if customers and tasks allow for a quick consultation, we will bounce ideas off each other and generally come to a consensus as to what to send home with Christian or Garret with instructions on preparation. 

Otherwise,

it’s pizza or burger night again. 

But…

Today I drove to Woodstock to pick up some Christmas goodies ( almond sticks, raisin buns, stroopwaffles and other deliciousnesses ) so I was home at a reasonable time and could actually say, I’ll make dinner.

I’m thinking Shrimp. 

We didn’t often do seafood while the kids were young. Two of them were possibly allergic, and definitely sensitive to shrimp, and fish was really only acceptable to them all if it was in the breaded and stick format. Not very appealing to the adults in the room, so we just avoided the whole concept as a survival mechanism.

All grown up now, though.

Well, at least for the most part, all my humans in the house are adults, and I’m at the point where if I want shrimp, I just buy shrimp and they will either eat it, or eat lots of the bread provided as the side dish. 

But, I do try to make dinner appealing to their developing adultish taste buds. 

What will make shrimp taste better?

Why, Bacon, of course. 

And onions, and cream sauce, and pasta, and garlic. And Cheese. 

Yup, all that together might make it all go down all of their discerning throats.

So, to still have some semblance to a real recipe, I opened my cupboards. 

 

I’ve been meaning to try this Alfredo Sauce we have in the store, it’s been sitting in the cupboard for a really long time, and I had some pesto  that I love to throw in recipes all the time, along with the Blanco seasoning that Greg adds to lots of stuff.

And, of course, we have cheese in the fridge, and onions, and bacon was an easy grab from the freezer.

(So here’s a pro tip = ask for bacon ends at Schinkels at the fresh counter if you only want bacon for things like sauces, or bacon bits or cooking. It’s a little bit cheaper because you get all these odd sized pieces that don’t look nice in the counter, but taste the same. I usually get some, chop it up into pieces and throw a bag in the freezer to just use a handful at a time when cooking)

 

Cook like a pro.

Also, I’ve learnt to hold off frying up the shrimp until almost time to eat. Otherwise, I’ve ended up with small pieces of shrimp that are rubbery and tasteless.

So tonight, I fried up the bacon and onions, and added that to the Alfredo sauce that was simmering on the stove, and then turned that down to low.  I shook in some Blanco and added a dollop of pesto, too. But it still needed something more. So I added a bit of milk (maybe half a cup) and half a bag of Italian shredded cheese.

This is important – I kept the sauce on low – didn’t want to burn with the milk and cheese added, (which I may have a habit of doing when distracted) so I just put it on the back burner and let it stay warm while I did other stuff.

When it was closer to time to eat, I sautéd the shrimp in some bacon grease I now keep at all times in my fridge, and then whisked them into the sauce.

The cheese was stringy and goey and looked lumpy for a little bit, but I kept whisking and it all blended beautifully.

After that, it was simple to add some cooked spaghetti noodles and toss the whole thing together.

Amazing thing, this time. When the dinner dust settled, and everyone was helping to clean up (yes, they will do that if I tell them to), there was some bread left, and not a single shrimp or noodle.

Maybe they are all grown up now.