A Shout-Out and a Shrimp and Wild Rice Blend Skillet Dish

to our Minnesota lake neighbor,  Chuck. The temperatures overnight plummeted to -16 Up North. 

Not only was it colder outside but inside our house temperatures had plummeted to a very chilly 43 degrees. How do I know this? We got a dreaded call in the wee hours of the morning giving us this information. Being some 1, 700 miles from home we had to call on Chuck to help us out even though it was 8:00 AM and -16. We are MORE than grateful for his help unplugging the furnace exhaust outside vent at such an early hour and so bitterly cold. YEAH Chuck-THANKS!

Wishing I could have shared this meal today with Chuck as a thank you. 

Shrimp and Wild Rice Blend Skillet Dish 

Cook's notes: An easy one pan skillet meal packed with protein, nutrient rich vegetables and big flavors of sauteed garlic, onion and seasonings. I choose to skip the option of bacon bits sprinkled on top of dish. This skillet meal is a versatile dish. You could substitute green and red peppers for wilted spinach and use equal parts of brown and wild rice for rice blend mix pictured below. I used this rice product as a time saver. Recipe adapted from iowagirleats.com and serves 4. 

Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups chicken broth, divided
• 1 cup wild-brown rice blend mix (I like Lundberg Farms product)
• 1-14 oz. package of frozen cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• 2 TB. butter 
• 3/4 cup chopped sweet onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 -1/2 tsp. McCormick Perfect Pinch Caribbean Jerk Seasoning or Old Bay Seasoning 
• Dash of pepper
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes, patted dry on a paper towel 
• 4 cups loosely packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/2 lemon

Directions:

• Bring 1-1/2 cups chicken broth and rice to a boil in a saucepan then place a lid on top, turn heat down to low, and then simmer until rice is tender, 45-50 minutes.
• In a skillet on medium melt butter, add onions and saute until tender, 1-2 minutes. Add garlic then saute for 30 more seconds. Add chopped tomatoes and spinach, season with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning or Old Bay and pepper. 
• Saute until spinach has barely wilted, 1 minute. Add in rice, and remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth and shrimp to the skillet.
• Simmer until chicken broth has thickened, 2-3 minutes and shrimp is warmed. Drizzle lemon juice over the top of the dish right before serving. 

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