Mary Jan's Meal Plans: Vodka & Quinoa Make a Healthy Dinner

A few months ago, a friend, who shall remain nameless, visited my home and brought a bottle of cheap vodka. No offense to any of those bottom shelf vodkas, but experience has taught me that quality vodka yields better recovery results.

Since no one in my house, or anyone who visits is willing to drink this vodka, I had to come up with a way to use it. I decided to incorporate it with today's recipe and had amazing results. In addition to using the vodka, I had to make sure this recipe was easy, delicious and not so far on the healthy eating side that my boyfriend would turn his nose up. You just can't make a Southern, meat-and-potatoes man eat quinoa without a little bit of hesitation. I settled on this delicious Spicy Shrimp & Quinoa recipe. I used vegetable stock, quinoa and sundried tomatoes from my Whole Foods Market pantry essentials. Hopefully it will also make you want to lick the pots clean and get rid of some cheap vodka.

Recipe Tips

Be careful on the chiles, please. I used 2 and it packed quite a bit of heat. If you have kids, you may want to only use half or less.
Infuse your sundried tomatoes and vodka the night before or the morning of. They should infuse for at least an hour.

Spicy Shrimp & Quinoa

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (without oil)

3/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1-2 chiles, chopped (make it as spicy as you can handle)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Place sundried tomatoes in a bowl. Add vodka. Cover the bowl and allow tomatoes to infuse vodka for at least 1 hour. Prepare quinoa according to package directions using vegetable stock.

Remove sundried tomatoes from the vodka and chop. Save the liquid. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add onions and saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and chiles and saute until softened. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Remove pan from the heat and add sundried tomatoes and vodka. Return pan to the heat and allow the sauce to cook for 2-3 minutes to allow the alcohol to cook out of the sauce. Add tomato sauce to the pan. Season shrimp with remaining salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Once sauce begins to simmer, add in the shrimp. Cook until shrimp are no longer translucent and have turned pink. Serve shrimp over quinoa. Add a salad for a complete meal.