The Inaugural Recipe

The Inaugural Recipe...I don't mean it was made for the Inauguration, I mean that it is the first one to be posted to the new, hip, blog of mine.  [stop laughing, I can be hip...]

A little rule of thumb I like to follow (and I believe all chefs should follow):  If you use someone else recipe, give them credit.  I don't care if you alter it in some way, you should still give them some credit.  For example, see below.  Unless all you did was see a recipe and think that's looks good, I'm going to make my own, then fine.  If you didn't look at their recipe or follow any part of it, then it's yours and kudos to you for being awesome.  So, if you happen to use one of these recipes...and everyone loves, maybe you could be like "yeah it is great, I found it on this blog...insert blog name...."  Maybe?

This is a simple recipe.  Part of which came from Hungry Girl's (http://www.hungry-girl.com/) 1-2-3 (http://www.hungry-girl.com/books/4) amazing recipe book.  I tweaked it a little, because well, we always tweak the recipes we use.  That's how they become our own. 

BBQ Shrimp and Grits
Ingredients:

• Shrimp (as much as you want, I think I used probably about 25 shrimp)...fresh works fine but I used the frozen kind that is already de-veined.  Works so much easier.  Make sure once you defrost the shrimp, you remove the skin, legs, and tails.
• BBQ sauce - whatever kind you want to use.  I used Sweet Baby Rays Sweet and Spicy.
• 1 cup of Quick Cooking Grits
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of fat-free cheddar cheese
• 2 laughing cow garlic and herb cheese wedges
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• salt and pepper
• bacon
• scallions
• skewers - I recommend metal.  They are fast and easy to use.

1.  First things first, defrost your shrimp, remove skin, legs, and tails.  Put on skewers, I like to put as many that can fit.  Once all the shrimp are on skewers, lightly coat the tops with BBQ sauce.  I put all the skewers on top of a 13 x 9 cake pan cover (works great to carry them too!).  Once the tops are coated, flip them over and coat the bottoms.  Then sprinkle lightly with pepper and salt (to taste).  Place in fridge.
2.  Cook how much bacon you want to have.  It goes on the top crumbled so it is really a personal preference.  We used maple bacon and cooked the entire package.  We didn't put the entire package on our meals but we like bacon.  And will eat it straight out of the fridge if it's cooked.  It's my favorite.
3.  Chop scallions.  Just like the bacon, how much is up to you.
4.  Boil the water and add the grits.  Lower to lowest setting, stirring often.  If you don't stir it, they will stick to the bottom and get clumpy.  Cook until all water is absorbed, about 5 minutes.
5.  When the grits are almost done, put the shrimp on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes, turning half way through.
6.  Remove the grits from heat once they are done cooking.  Add the cheddar cheese and butter.  Stir until melted.  Add the cheese wedges, but be sure to break them up well or you'll end up with lumps of cheese in your grits.  Cover until shrimp is done.
7.  Construct your plate!!! I prefer grits, shrimp, bacon, then scallions.  Enjoy!

If I had thought about adding this recipe, I might have taken pictures, but well, I didn't.  But if you're like me and you're not sure if things are going right if you don't have a picture to compare to, don't worry!  I'm sure you are doing it right, and if not, who cares.  Cooking is one big giant experiment.