Grilled Lemon Garlic Shrimp Skewers with a Brown Rice and Red Bean Salad

A calm summer evening 

enjoying a Grilled Lemon Garlic Shrimp Dinner.

Garlic Grilled Shrimp are what summer is all about. Jumbo shrimp are marinated in a delicious garlic herb mixture,then grilled to perfection in under 15 minutes. You can't beat a recipe that's easy to make yet fancy enough to serve at your next gathering. Serve the grilled shrimp over Brown Rice and Red Bean Rice Salad. A side of Mexican Cornbread  was served. Previously posted https://sockfairies.blogspot.com/2014/09/autumn.html
Dinner serves 4. 
Cooking Tips: 
When shopping for shrimp, always take quality and source into consideration. When in doubt over freshness frozen shrimp is the ideal choice. Since shrimp is going on skewers you want them to be large and juicy. Take notice of the shrimp per pound and choose #16-20.  
Make sure wooden skewers have been soaked in water for 1-2 hours. 
Let marinated shrimp sit in zip loc bag 30 minutes in the fridge. 
Ingredients:

• 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined, leave tails on for a nicer presentation
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1- 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1- 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons fresh parsley leaves chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes optional

Directions: 

• Place the olive oil, honey, soy sauce, lemon zest, parsley, thyme, garlic, chili flakes, salt and pepper in a jar. Shake well. 
• Add the shrimp and marinade to a resealable freezer bag and seal. Shake to coat the shrimp with the marinade.
• Marinate in the refrigerator for one hour. 
• At this point you can broil, grill or saute the shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side or until pink and opaque.

Vegetarian Brown Rice and Red Bean Salad

Cook's Notes:  A nutritious salad made with brown rice, beans, tomatoes and peppers tossed with a Tex-Mex Dressing. Note that red beans and kidney beans are actually different types of beans.  However,  they can be used interchangeably in recipes that call for either dried or canned beans. Kidney beans were used for this recipe.
Recipe adapted from Midwest Living Magazine
Ingredients: 

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ – 1 teaspoon bottled hot pepper sauce
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic and herb blend (McCormick brand) 
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2-1/2 cups cooked brown rice or basmati rice, (about 1 cup uncooked)
• 1- 15 ounce can red beans, rinsed and drained
• ¾ cup chopped tomato
• ½ cup chopped red sweet pepper
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 fresh jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped

Directions: 

• For dressing: In a screw-top jar, combine lemon juice or vinegar, oil, honey chili powder, cumin, pepper sauce, seasoning blend, salt, and black pepper. Cover and shake well. Refrigerate. 
• In a large bowl, combine rice, beans, tomato, sweet pepper, onion, and jalapeño. 
• 1 hour before serving add dressing, mix well. Serve rice dish at room temperature or warm in a microwave.