Every time I go to my local bookstore, I always somehow end up in the cookbook aisle. In fact, pretty much every time I go to the bookstore, I emerge with a new cookbook. Problem is, I’m terrible at following recipes. Even though all my cookbooks are heavily bookmarked with recipes I want to try, I' always never have the right ingredients for the recipe I want to make. And eventually give up and do my own thing.

But I’ve had a lot of time recently, so I figured now would be a good time to start making good use of all the cookbooks I have. The first cookbook I have that caught my eye was Abbey Sharp’s The Mindful Glow cookbook, and surprisingly, I just happened to have most of the ingredients needed for the asparagus, pea, and tomato quinotto, which is basically risotto made with quinoa.

But after reading through the recipe grand total of once, I began making changes to it. To start, I decided to add some seared shrimp, since we had way too many bags of frozen shrimp in the fridge. Plus I had just used all my ricotta on a semi-failed attempt at homemade tiramisu that you probably will not be seeing on the blog anytime soon. Whoops.

I realized I only had par-cooked quinoa, as opposed to regular quinoa, but this feels like less of a change and more of a easier fix.

I also roasted the tomatoes, and some yellow squash I had on hand that was about to go bad.

But honestly, as it was coming together, it was looking pretty good, and pretty close to what Abbey probably had in mind.

And in the end, despite all my experimentation, it turned out to be pretty tasty. And even better, it took less than 30 minutes, which I particularly appreciated because I cook three meals a day at home now.

shrimp and veggie quinoa risotto

inspired by the asparagus, pea, and tomato quinotto from Abbey Sharp’s The Mindful Glow Cookbook

serves: 4

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

ingredients

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 yellow squash or zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1/2 12 oz bag cauliflower rice
8-10 stalks asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch long pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 lb. shrimp
1 cup par-cooked quinoa
1 cups vegetable or chicken stock
garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

steps

Preheat oven to 430º
Grease pan, spread tomatoes and zucchini, tossed in oil, and salt and pepper, in one layer and roast for 15-20 min, or until zucchini is slightly browned and soft.
Sear shrimp in pan, 1-2 minutes/side.
In a separate saucepan, cook quinoa according to package instructions.
Combine cauliflower rice, peas, roasted vegetables, and mix it in with quinoa.
Serve with seared shrimp on top, and enjoy.