30 minute Italian shrimp

My youngest used to love shrimp but now she’s going through denial. So we’ve been having shrimp a lot lately. Even with our ‘you’ve-got-to-eat-at-least-a-bite’ rule around our house she hasn’t budged to sampling more than she has to. I have hope: As a kid, I didn’t like shrimp either.

Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti

20-30 medium raw shrimp

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon olive oil or butter

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1/2 lemon (optional)

1 jar spaghetti sauce

Directions

1. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Prepare the shrimp. Note: I usually add half a bag of the medium-sized shrimp from Costco into warm water while I’m making the pasta. By the time the pasta is done, the shrimp is thawed. I removed the tails and dry off the shrimp before sauteing.
3. Bring the olive oil to medium-high heat in a large skillet.
4. Place the shrimp and garlic in the pan and cook until the shrimp begins to turn pink, about 3 minutes. Add a squirt of fresh lemon juice and the cayenne pepper, then pour the spaghetti sauce (Barilla is my fav) into the pan and cook until heated through, about 4 minutes.
5. Serve the shrimp over the spaghetti.

Kids’ reactions: Well, you know what my youngest said. My teen gave it two thumbs up; my tween was mediocre on this one. She ate it, didn’t love it. But Mr. Squid (not technically a kid) was a fan and even finished off the last three shrimp left in the pan.