Shrimp and Pasta

I have discovered a wonderful little perk to staying at home with little one (I hope I don’t jinx this by sharing). Now that little one spends all day with me he’s more likely to give me a little extra time in the kitchen to make lunch or dinner. I’ve realized that I’m less stressed at dinner because I no longer feel like a bad mom for having to ignore my child as soon as I picked him up from daycare. I wasn’t a bad mom for cooking dinner, far from it, but he could really give me a case of mommy guilt. Now that we spend all day together he is more than happy to spend a little bit of time playing independently so that I can get our meals ready.

I wish I had this recipe during the mommy guilt days. It’s quite yummy, low fat and came together in a snap. Since I spent such little time cooking the kitchen didn’t heat up too much which was a big plus! Little one really enjoyed this meal. I was very impressed that he started the meal by eating his artichokes, mushrooms and shrimp. I was so proud. Then he discovered the noodles and that was it. He refused to eat anything other than the noodles. Oh well, at least I know my child likes artichokes!

I had to make one “big” change to this recipe. The original recipe call for the veggies to be cooked in ½ cup dressing and then the entire dish drizzled with the remaining ¼ cup dressing before serving. I didn’t like the sweet taste this gave the dish so I shifted all of the dressing to be used to cook the veggies. The ¼ cup of dressing cannot be omitted or else the dish is too dry. The little change I made is using bottled Zesty Italian dressing. This dressing is used in so many Kraft recipes that it made more sense to just buy the entire bottle and keep it in the fridge for future use. Oh - I like to cut my shrimp in half lengthwise. It makes it look like there's more shrimp and it's easier for little ones to eat! The 19 shrimp that came in that bag below suddenly became 38 on the plate.

Enjoy!

½ lb. linguine

¾ cup Zesty Italian Dressing (fat free!)

8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, diced

14 oz. artichoke hearts, drained, quartered

1lb. uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined

¼ cup Parmesan

Cook pasta in large pot as directed on package, omitting salt.

Heat dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Stir in mushrooms, onions and artichokes. Cook for three minutes or until the onions are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in shrimp and parsley. Cook for two minutes or until the shrimp turn pink and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Drain pasta and add to the shrimp mixture and toss lightly. Sprinkle with cheese.

Adapted from www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/low-fat-zesty-shrimp-pasta-53322.aspx?cm_mmc=eml-_-rbe-_-20120410-_-1061&cm_lm=4D7D535C64198320269D1D91F8C91141