Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Sweet Chili Apricot Shrimp Skewers over Israeli Couscous

Main Dishes

Apolinaras really enjoyed the last Israeli couscous dish I made. In fact, he said it would have been a 10 if I hadn’t included the spinach in the salad, haha. He snuck another box into our cart at Trader Joe’s recently, which I thought was pretty cute, and since he’s completely spoiled, I decided to whip up a dish featuring the couscous and some tasty shrimp for him the very next day.

I basted the skewered shrimp with a sauce mixed up from Thai sweet chili sauce, apricot preserves, and a touch of rice wine vinegar. Then I cooked the shrimp up quickly on my grill pan and served them atop a bed of Israeli couscous with red onion, red pepper, and corn. This was such a lovely light summer meal!

Sweet Chili Apricot Shrimp Skewers over Israeli Couscous
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Shrimp:
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup low sugar apricot preserves
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Israeli Couscous:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 1/3 cups Israeli Couscous (1 8-ounce box from Trader Joe’s)
1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups cooked corn

Directions:
To make the shrimp, soak 6 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes. Thread shrimp onto the skewers. Place sweet chili sauce, apricot preserves, vinegar, and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Brush shrimp evenly with about half the sauce with a pastry brush. Heat a greased grill pan over medium high heat and cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side, or until pink and cooked through, basting well with the remaining half of the sauce while cooking.

To make the couscous, heat canola oil over medium high heat in a large saucepan; add onion and red pepper and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Add couscous and sauté 2 minutes or until light brown. Add chicken broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, put on lid, and simmer for 8 minutes or until broth is absorbed and couscous is tender. Mix in corn. Serve by evenly distributing couscous on three plate and placing shrimp skewers on top. Makes 3 servings.

Nutrition: 476 calories, 9.3g fat, 6.9g fiber, 38.0g protein per serving
Cost: $4.80 per serving

Red Curry Risotto

One of my favorite meals to whip up when we’re low on groceries is a red or green Thai curry. We always have coconut milk, Thai curry paste, and rice in our pantry, and even if we don’t have any fresh produce, I can usually at least dig up some frozen veggies to round...

Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken

The last part of our trip was spent on the Lithuanian coast in several resort towns by the Baltic Sea. We were there pretty early in the season so it was still a bit chilly at the beach and I just got my feet wet, although Apolinaras actually swam a couple of days! We...

Asparagus, Mushroom, Spinach, and Chicken Lasagna with Goat Cheese Sauce

Dinner party time! Shannon, Elina, and I decided to follow up our Spanish tapas party with a spring themed feast. Shannon rocked the appetizer course with a radish and polenta masterpiece and Elina’s scrumptious lemon strawberry shortcakes were the perfect sweet...

Champagne Salmon with Swiss Chard Quinoa

I was super excited when my good friend Eva asked if we would like to use her family’s farm share while they visit her parents in Austria for the next few weeks. Eva is inspirational because she works full time as a pulmonary pediatrician and is raising the two...

Fiesta Potato Pie

I think casseroles, like meatloaf, tend to get a bad rap, which is sad because not all casseroles contain “cream of whatever” soup - many are quite delicious! It’s been chilly, rainy, and depressing in Boston lately so I decided to cheer myself up by making a savory...

Basil Quinoa with Chicken, Eggplant, Zucchini, and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Apolinaras has quite the green thumb. Our apartment has a Juliet balcony, which is basically a huge sliding glass door that opens to umm, the bars of the balcony like this one. So as you can imagine, there's really not much room for plants, but Apolinaras is quite the...

Goat Cheese Risotto with Yellow Squash and Zucchini

It’s Wednesday night, and if all goes well, this post will go live on Friday. I’m leaving for San Diego early tomorrow morning for another work conference and thought I’d see how the scheduled post function works! Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, I’ll be all...

Quinoa with Chickpeas, Asparagus, and Lemon Goat Cheese Dressing

I actually jogged outside today with shorts and a tank top on – yay for nicer weather! Spring is almost here and I’m so ready for this season’s fresh produce. I actually couldn’t wait any longer and spontaneously grabbed a huge bunch of asparagus the other weekend. It...