Spicy Broccoli and Shrimp Skillet

This week I signed up for an online menu plan by Cooking Light and tonight I made our first dinner with it and it was great! I subscribed to their cooking magazine years ago, back in the day when we would clip out recipes and save them, before the internet. I got a lot of good recipes that way. When I saw their ad promoting their Cooking Light Diet Plan, I remembered how good their recipes were so I signed up for 3 months for around $22. They email me everyday with the day's menu plan. You can also look ahead at all their menu choices, too, and save good ones you like in your "cookbook". You can choose between vegetarian, gluten free or the one I chose called SmartCarb. SmartCarb is minimally processed foods and refined sugar and is overall lower in carbohydrates. That one seemed closest to the way I eat. Bruce does not eat low carbs. and also eats much more than me so then I get tempted to overeat. For example, he wanted more of that granola I made for our guests last week so today I made more. I don't plan on eating it because it's not a going to help me lose any weight but we now have it sitting there on the counter staring at me! For dinner tonight, he made rice in the rice cooker to go with the broccoli and shrimp but I didn't put mine on rice. So, I need to modify my meal choices quite a bit when planning meals with him which is why I don't do very well trying to lose weight. Cooking Light's daily plan gives you 3 meals plus snacks but I mainly like the dinners because I get so tired of always trying to think of what to fix for dinner. That's a surprising problem...a person who has a food blog doesn't know what to cook for dinner...On a day-to-day basis, it does get monotonous. But now, I can just check my emails and see what Cooking Light is telling me to cook today. I like that. Actually, I look ahead at the meal plans and pick out 2 or 3 to fix that sound good and then go to the grocery store to have all the ingredients ready. They will also print off a grocery list for you of your meal plan if you really want to be lazy. This dish doesn't look like much and it's very easy to fix but the flavor gives a big punch to it. It has a lemony sauce with red pepper flakes for a bit of a bite that goes perfectly with shrimp and broccoli. You can use larger shrimp or prawns but I just chose some local Oregon shrimp. This recipe will not disappoint.


Serves 4 (I like to make more servings than 2 so we have leftovers for lunch the next day)


5 cups broccoli florets
3 tsp. grated lemon rind, divided
3 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper, divided
1-1/2 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp (I used local Oregon shrimp which is tiny but still tastes good in this dish)
cooking spray
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1. Cook broccoli in boiling water 1 minute. Drain and plunge into ice water, drain.

2. Combine 1-1/2 tsp. lemon rind, lemon juice, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper in a small bowl. Add shrimp, toss to combine.

3. Combine oil, remaining 1-1/2 tsp. lemon rind, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, and crushed red pepper in a small bowl. Add to large skillet and heat up slowly.

4. Add broccoli to skillet and mix well with oil mixture.

5. Add shrimp and mix together in skillet. Heat thoroughly on medium heat and serve.