Roasted Shrimp and Balsamic Spring Vegetables

Do you ever get that feeling that you have been eating too much bread, pasta, cheese, bacon, butter, and eggs? That was me last week. I satisfied my insatiable cravings all week with hardly a vegetable in sight. Falling behind on my dinner planning, the vegetables served at dinner time last week were ice-crusted frozen edamame and a sad looking tossed salad of romaine, mushy tomatoes, and sliced carrots. I needed to get back in the swing of planning meals for my family. Thanks to my husband's bum knee, I had plenty of uninterrupted time to plan a week's worth of new dinner recipes loaded with vegetables as I sat in the waiting room while he had knee surgery.

I came across a recipe for roasting spring vegetables that looked intriguing. I decided to roast seasoned shrimp right along with the red potatoes, carrots, asparagus and portebello mushrooms for a colorful and healthy dinner, and I would have only one pan to wash when dinner was done.

Roasted Shrimp and Balsamic Spring Vegetables is a one pan meal that completely cooks in the oven. The recipe is loaded with vegetables and has something for everyone to enjoy. Some friends dropped by with their 4 kids as well as an extra friend of My Oldest over for dinner and all were happily fed with this meal.

I served the Roasted Shrimp and Balsamic Spring Vegetables with a big pot of pasta, fresh marinara sauce, and grated Parmesan cheese allowing diners to design their own dinner. Some had pasta topped with the shrimp, roasted vegetables and marinara. Others ate the shrimp and roasted vegetables sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. And the really adventurous eaters had buttered noodles. Add a few bottles of wine for the adults and a couple pitchers of lemonade for the kids and all were very, very happy.

And my husband even did the dishes.


Roasted Shrimp and Balsamic Spring Vegetables

A versatile recipe that can feature different vegetables such as vidalia onions or radishes. Just make sure all the vegetables are cut in the same size chunks.

serves 5

olive oil
salt
pepper
6 red potatoes, cubed in bite-sized pieces
1 pound asparagus, cut in 2-inch pieces
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups quartered baby portebello mushrooms
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 pounds shrimp (21 - 25/pound) peeled and deveined
1 1/2 teaspoons grill seasoning such as Penzey's BBQ of the Americas

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

On a large, rimmed baking sheet, place red potatoes and toss with about 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring once.

Remove sheet form oven and add asparagus and carrots and drizzle with another tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Return sheet to oven and roast for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and add the portebello mushrooms and drizzle all the vegetables with balsamic vinegar. Return baking sheet to oven and roast for 5 minutes.

Toss the shrimp with the grill seasonings and place on top of the roasted vegetables. Return pan to oven and roast an additional 5 - 7 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked through. Remove pan from oven and serve in large bowls.


Thanks to everyone who left comments for The Great Beef Giveaway. The winners of The Healthy Beef Cookbook: Steaks, Salads, Stir-fry, and More - Over 130 Luscious Lean Beef Recipes for Every Occasion are Martha, Lori, and Angela. And the winner of the $100 American Express gift card was The Paskins. Please email me your addresses so I can send your prizes to you. Congratulations to all and thanks for participating in Beef Week.