Recipe #42: Shrimp Po' Boy Sandwich

With several of the meals I have made this past week they really have not included meat in many of them. I have subconsciously removed most meats from our diets and I'm not sure why. Several of the recipes that I have wanted to make have had forms of protein and so it is not like we have not had a sufficiently balanced diet. I did not even notice this change until Ian pointed this out to me.

Before we made a conscious effort to eat healthier, our favorite (constant) meals consisted of fatty red meats and deep fried goodness. (If there are any avid Parenthood followers you may also think of Zeek Braverman's stance on deep fried foods: "Very greasy goes down easy.") But unfortunately, for the good of our hearts and our bellies, we have severely cut back. So even though Ian was not complaining about the lack of meat in our diets I decided to make him something special tonight.

I got this recipe idea from simply walking around the grocery store today for about 45 minutes. Yep, I aimlessly wandered around trying to find ingredients that were both on sale and also going to taste great with one another. Fortunately I was in luck and I found my recipe while also making my $8.00 budget!

On the way home from the store I began to think about how Ian and myself had attempted to plan a vacation to New Orleans. (Great food, great booze, great nightlife, great people...let's be honest, you were probably planning a vacation there, too!) But we had a change of pace, which affected our change of heart. It did not matter much anyhow because we had a wonderful time in New Buffalo and Chicago on our vacation this summer. But since we couldn't go to New Orleans I decided to bring New Orleans to us.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 loaf of Freshly Baked French Bread
* 16 oz of Frozen Deep Fried Shrimp
* 2 Roma Tomatoes
* 1 cup of Fresh Spinach Leaves, divided
* 1 cup of Cracked Pepper, Olive Oil Mayonnaise
* 4 Garlic Cloves
* 1 tbsp of Cayenne Pepper
* 1 tbsp of Cajun Seasoning
* 1 tbsp of Dried Basil




Cooking Directions:

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the shrimp onto a baking sheet and cook for about 10 minutes.

On a cutting board, mince the garlic finely and place in a small mixing bowl.

Add the mayonnaise, cayenne pepper, cajun seasoning, and dried basil to the garlic. Mix together.

Slice the tomatoes on the cutting board.

On the cutting board, slice the bread loaf in the middle. Take one half and then slice again in half.

Place the 4 bread slices in the oven for only about 2 minutes to toast.

Once the bread pieces have been removed place them on a serving plate.

Add about a 1/4 cup of the sandwich spread onto both pieces of bread.

Place the spinach leaves and the tomato slices onto one side of the bread.

Then add a generous portion of shrimp onto the other piece. (The sandwich spread on both slices should help the ingredients stick to the bread.)

Fold the sandwich together and cut in half.

Add any extra shrimp as a side dish and serve with the other 1/4 cup of sandwich spread. (Each sandwich will get 1/2 cup of sandwich spread)