352 Day Nutritional Challenge: Recipe #13 - Lemon Shrimp and Sausage Pasta Delight

 

This tangy, tasty dish takes my current no. 1 spot for my favorite meal (of course, that is apt to change. I couldn't believe what a flavorful dish! So, good I could eat it every night and still lick my lips and ask for more. 

Now this joint dish was created by my co-author Syndee Hendricks and myself. We each brought our own "point-of-view" to it. Syndee read about shrimp and sausage pasta. She was initially puzzled how this combination could be a "thing" ... but she soon discovered it was a yummy thing -- that is, if done the way we prepared it. 

You can pick any sausage you like, but if you want the full flavors of this dish, you will want to select mango-jalapeño sausage, which you can get at discount grocers like WinCo and Grocery Outlet here in California. Please keep in mind to look at your sausage ingredients and don't go for anything with preservatives in it. A great brand is called Aidells, which advertises "all natural" and lives up to its claim. Read the packaging ingredients label, and you'll notice only food-related ingredients and no "extras" we don't want to see on our packaging while doing our Challenge.  

Also, a little side note of success here. I had 5 pesky pounds left to lose that seemed that aside from not eating, which we don't do, I struggled to lose. Since I got serious about the Challenge, those last 5 pounds have gone away -- and that's what I mean about living the lifestyle with the side benefit of weight loss. And as you can see from my posts, I am eating fantastic foods. People don't like the idea of diets, which puts a negative connotation on eating. The Challenge simply embraces fresh, nutritious foods with no preservatives or additives. 

So, back to my latest favorite dish... I have been on a shrimp kick, because I bought fresh shrimp and didn't want to freeze it. I try to avoid freezing our fresh foods, too. Thus, when I buy food that quickly perishes, I try to use it up. Also, my boyfriend loves shrimp, so that's a bonus here. 

INGREDIENTS (FOR 2)

1/2 LB SHRIMP

2 FULL-SIZE SAUSAGES (MANGO AND JALAPENO)

1 STANDARD-SIZED BOX TAGLIATELLE PASTA

1 RED BELLPEPPER

1/2 HEAD OF BROCOLLI

1 CARROT

1 CLOVE GARLIC

2 FRESH LEMONS

LEMON JUICE

OLIVE OIL

FRESH GROUND PEPPER

SALT

LEMON PEPPER

 2 TBSP BUTTER   

 Step 1: Cut up all of your vegetables and set aside.

Step 2: Pour water into a tall pot and place on the stove to boil. Add tagliatelle pasta, 1 TBSP olive oil, and a TSP of salt. Boil for about 5 minutes.

Step 3: Add the vegetables to the pasta and boil for 3-4 minutes or until pasta is al dente. 

Step 4: Coat skillet in olive oil and put burner at medium heat. Take shrimp and add to the skillet. Coat shrimp in lemon pepper and cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Step 5: Melt the butter in a small pan. Once melted add garlic and let stand for 30 second.

Step 6: Take cut up sausage and add to shrimp. Now take slices of fresh lemon and squeeze over the shrimp and garlic. Next, taking melted butter and garlic and pour over it. Add more lemon pepper and fresh pepper. Then take 1/2 cup of lemon juice, add it, and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

Step 7: Drain the pasta and boiled vegetables and plate them.

Step 8: Take a big spoon and load each plate with the shrimp and sausage. Make sure you generously spoon in the lemon-based broth from the same pan. 

Now take your first bite of all of the ingredients together. You will thank us later!