Shrimp & Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Shrimp & Whole Wheat Spaghetti... It's Tuesday night, your cooking for one, it's late September so it's starting to get dark a little earlier now, and you're ready to make a quick but satisfying dinner. You're in the mood for a little carb but you know the weekend is just around the corner and you aren't interested in totally ruining your healthy streak for the week. You've got 5 whole peeled shrimp, a bunch of fresh broccoli, a hand full of baby yellow tomatoes, garlic, lemon, and green olive tapenade - so clearly turning that into a Dahlicious sauce over perfectly al dente whole wheat spaghetti comes to mind... clearly.

On the Menu:
Shrimp & Whole Wheat Spaghetti

How To:
Super Simple. Saute the broccoli and tomatoes with a crushed garlic in olive oil over medium/high heat. Once the broccoli starts to brown and the tomatoes are getting soft, add in your shrimp. I let my shrimp marinate in a bit of lemon juice for a few minutes before tossing it in the pan. Cook them for just a minute or two on each side until they're pink and a tiny golden. Add a big squeeze of lemon juice and a tad more olive oil. Let that saute for a bit until the tomatoes are soft enough that they're ready to be squished. Go on and smash them up, creating a bit of a sauce and add a spoonful of the tapenade. I happened to have a jar of this on hand but you could add capers or chopped olives, heck even whole kalamata olives if you have them! This was just an extra layer of flavor and texture for me. I love olives and that acidic punch they bring to a dish so I often toss them into a lot of my sauces/sautes (side note: they're great for spicing up plain green beans as well, when you're sauteing your greens just add a spoon full and they really brighten it up).

Once your pasta is just al dente, still a bit firm on the inside, scoop it out (its OK to keep a little bit of the starchy water - so don't feel like it must  be drained completely) and toss it in your shrimpy mixture. Give it a good toss and let it sit with the stove off for a minute or two to get the pasta fully coated in that Dahlicious goodness. Now the pics don't do it justice, but this dish was very flavorful (as you might assume from the garlic and tomatoes and tapenade and lemon) but it was still light. Plus with the broccoli and shrimp in there is was healthy too!

Hope yall are having a Dahlicious week!

Additional side note - I am a big promoter of TJ's but I will remind everyone that all of their nut butters have been recalled due to salmonella outbreaks. I happened to eat the Almond Butter with Flaxseeds for lunch on Monday - wish me luck!!