Tag Archives: Inspiration

Summer Cooking Inspiration – Herbed Zucchini Noodles with Grilled Shrimp and Tomatoes

In an effort to share more of what we love and what we cook, here is the first in hopefully a little series of summer cooking inspiration posts.

These posts will serve as just that – inspiration. I won’t have exact recipes of what we made – I will just share photos of the process and notes of what we did in hopes that it inspires you to cook something that makes you happy.

This one was a perfect summertime meal – zucchini noodles with grilled shrimp and tomatoes. We cooked this meal on our charcoal grill and enjoyed every moment of a perfect not-quite-summer evening.

Here’s what we did:

Zucchini noodles:
We spiralized 3 large zucchinis and tossed them generously with olive oil, salt and pepper. We actually cooked these on the grill, in our vegetable grate, and it worked so well. We cooked them, tossing often, for about ten minutes. Right before we pulled them off the grill, we added minced garlic and freshly chopped herbs. We used herbs from our garden – basil and rosemary. Once off the grill, we mixed in fresh lemon juice.

Shrimp and tomatoes:
We skewered the shrimp and tomatoes separately. To season, we mixed minced garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and a ton of fresh lemon zest. We brushed this on both the tomatoes and shrimp before going onto the grill, and then again once we flipped them on the grill. We cooked the tomatoes until the were slightly blistered, and they were just perfect in this dish.

The dinner:
For putting the meal together, we just topped the zucchini noodles with the grilled shrimp and tomatoes. We didn’t do this, but thought that it would also be great topped with a bit of fresh Parmesan cheese.

One thing we would change next time is adding a bit more seasoning to the zucchini noodles. We’d probably add more salt, pepper and herbs, lemon juice and maybe a pinch of red pepper flakes. 

Our favorite part of the meal was the marinade/seasoning mix we made for the shrimp and tomatoes. The combo of olive oil, minced garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper was so, so delicious and the flavor really came through nicely in the dish. We will be making that again to put on many things. I think the key was using a lot of lemon zest – I used the zest from one large and thoroughly zested lemon.

Take a look:

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Good Vibes

02_Thirds_Clevenger

Mahatma Gandhi:

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

Kurt Vonnegut:

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.

Anonymous:

“Some people think that to be strong is to never feel pain. In reality, the strongest people are the ones who feel it, understand it and accept it.”

Two quotes for you tonight. Whether you’re feeling pain for those affected in Boston, or going through something personally, I send hope that you are able to understand + accept. Even through the tough stuff, try to enjoy something beautiful.

Good vibes sent to those affected in Boston, and anyone needing them tonight.