Shrimp and Grits
Updated: Feb 6, 2021
Because we all watched My Cousin Vinny and wondered what grits are and what they taste like.

To cut the conversation short: grits are similar to polenta - made with ground corn that is boiled. While breakfast grits (the kind that Cousin Vinny had) are simple, dinner grits are richer. For this recipe, grits were boiled into a vegetable broth and margarine/ butter plus some sharp cheddar cheese were melted over.
To top the grits, a mix of shrimp and fresh vegetables was cooked together in a basic roux and topped with chopped bacon. To keep the proportions of macronutrients within the recommendations, we controlled the portion of roux and used turkey bacon.
To further control the amount of sodium, no salt was added to the dish. Keep in mind however that turkey bacon has quite a bit of salt and so does the sharp cheddar cheese and that these 2 give the dish plenty of flavor.
If you enjoy eating with your bare hands, use whole shrimp. It will make you enjoy each bite more and ensure you're taking your time when eating - which may even help with getting the proper satiety cues and control the total amount you're eating.
If this is not an option for you, use already peeled and deveined shrimp.
This recipe is part of the 2020 - Week 47 - Southern Flavor Menu . Look under Menus for the other recipes of the series or Subscribe to our mailing list and receive complete weekly menu ideas with everything from the grocery shopping list to all standardized recipes in a menu, as well as an organized Order of Cooking list to save you time in the kitchen.
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