Spaghetti with Shrimp and Leeks

Hello, hello!  How is everyone doing?  Finally, a blog post comes from the Gringo.  It’s hard to believe that I haven’t blogged in three weeks!  I caught a nasty bug that gave me a respiratory infection, and I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping and resting these past few weeks.  I’m feeling about 85% better, and I can make it through the day without a nap so progress to recovery is in the works.  I’m telling you, there’s something that happens to our bodies when you turn 40.  I think this was one of the worst colds/bugs I’ve ever had and I blame getting older for not being able to shake it off; shake it off (insert Taylor Swift reference here).  Wowza!  I did some cooking over the past three weeks, but let’s just say there were more take-out or $.19 ramen noodles dinners than home cooked meals.  I loved receiving emails from some of the readers asking if I was still doing the blog and when I’d post a new recipe.  Those emails and folks checking in on me at the office really meant a lot.  THANK YOU!

A lot has happened in the past three weeks:   the Twin Cities received over 20 inches of snow and has had temperatures close to 80 degrees, former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away, the leaders of North and South Korea met to discuss peace between the two countries, yards are showing us their beautiful calico colors of yellows, browns and greens, trees have a green haze around them as they develop their leaves for the season, daffodils smile in bloom, I’ve seen a few people wading in the lake next to our house (BRRRR), and the Payaso and I went to a Bon Jovi concert.

The Bon Jovi concert was at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  We had nosebleed seats that were in the top level directly across from the stage.  I’ve written in the past about my fear of heights, and I have no idea why I continue to buy seats that are so high off the ground, but I do.  We sat in a similar section when we went to see P!NK so I knew what I was getting myself into, but as soon as I saw those stairs leading to our death, I mean our seats, I instantly began to sweat and panic.  The Payaso, however, ran down the stairs without any fear or hesitation.  Let’s just say it took me a few minutes (or more) to take one step at a time like a toddler tackling his first stairs as I descended to our seats.  Our seats were in the first row of our section with the guardrail being glass, which meant we had a view of the entire arena 40’ feet above everyone else.  We generally try to get tickets on the end of the aisle so we aren’t so cramped, but for this concert we were smack in the middle of the row in seats 7 & 8.  Folks in seats 1 – 4 were already seated when we arrived.  They graciously stood up for us as we passed.  Pointing my butt to the stage and facing each of them, I slowly side-shuffled my feet as I hugged each one of them in order to not plummet to my death.  Thank goodness they had each had a few to drink and appreciated the sense of intimacy as we settled into a two and a half hour concert of Bon Jovi classics.  Thankfully, I had had a three hour nap before the concert, but around the second hour of loud rock and roll music, I was so tired and fading fast.  The Payaso had looked up the setlist and I kept looking at him to see if this would be the last song.  Bon Jovi, at 56, sang his heart out.  The arena had great energy and lots of big 1980/1990’s hair.  Bon Jovi still has great hair, btw, and his dance moves are stuck fabulously in the 1990’s.  I’m glad we went to see this Rock and Roll Hall Famer.  The music was great, and the people watching was equally entertaining.  Here’s a short video of “It’s My Life” where you can see what I mean by our nosebleed seats overlooking the arena (thank goodness those big screens were right in front of us!).

Now because I didn’t have much energy these past few weeks, I relied on recipes that were a synch to make.  I needed recipes that could be ready from start to finish in under 30 minutes.  This spaghetti with shrimp and leeks dinner was absolutely perfect to meet that requirement and was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.

In case you’ve forgotten, remember I always tell you that recipes are simply suggestions.  Make this dish your own!  For example, I had some frozen peas that I wanted to use up and so I added them to the pan right before I added the cream and parmesan cheese.  The Payaso abhors peas, and I rarely cook with them, but I wanted to use them up and this recipe seemed like the perfect vehicle for that.  You’ll see below the peas that the Payaso pushed to the side.  Want a little bit of spice to go along with the lemony freshness of the pasta?  Add some crushed red pepper flakes instead of the Old Bay seasoning when you cook the shrimp.  Use arugula instead of baby spinach.  Go crazy and use two pounds of shrimp.  Look through that fridge and see what items need to be used up because this recipe is completely versatile.   It’s a great candidate for week night dinners because it is so fast and easy.  Its flavors are bright and fresh, and perfect for this time of year.  Just please, please, please remember to clean all the sand and grit from the leeks (i.e. place cut leeks in colander and run under water for a few minutes).

Thanks for reading and staying with our adventures even though I haven’t posted in a while.  I’ve got lots to share with all of you.  Our gardens are starting to show signs of life, and I can’t wait to show you all how I use items from the garden in our cooking.  If you haven’t already, please like our page on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to the blog by email (or do all three!).  Tell your friends and ask them to follow our adventures, too.  Links to follow can be found below.

Hope you all are having a great week!