My son has his first job. Because he is 15 and most places around here don’t hire until at least 16, he had to get creative when searching for an employer. He was able to find a position where he works at a farmer’s market for a local, family-owned shrimping business. He spends every other Saturday morning selling their beautiful, fresh off the boat, Gulf brown shrimp. Because he has been working so hard, his boss has offered him the opportunity to help with marketing by working with me to create some delicious shrimpy goodness. My son is a pretty good cook in his own right, so for most of the recipes in this blog post, I only confirmed that ingredients would work together, made sure that they fit my nutritional viewpoint, and helped with the photography. Please enjoy the fruits of his labor, and by all means, if you have a kiddo that wants to work but may be a little under the normal hiring age, help them explore other options and foster that desire!
Just look at that beautiful shrimp cocktail salad….ceviche style!  He took peeled and boiled gulf shrimp, cherry tomatoes, green onions, avocado, cilantro, jalapeño, and garlic and tossed it all with fresh lime juice. The FamBam cleaned this out pretty quick as both an afternoon snack with tortilla chips, and later as tacos with either corn or jicama tortillas. There wasn’t any left over, so I think my foodie teen can call it a win!
His next creation was a scampi pizza with shrimp, also completely consumed and delicious. He decided to make the recipe quick and easy by using an already baked artisan crust from our local market, and it was tastier than I expected. We frequently use roasted garlic naan for flatbread pizzas at lunch, so this was a familiar application for him.  He brushed the crust with scampi butter, sprinkled a light layer of fresh shredded mozarella, and then placed some scampi butter tossed shrimp on top. After baking, he brushed the edge crust with the scampi butter and sprinkled the top with fresh parsley and chives. The whole process took less than 30 minutes and was so flavorful serve alongside a mixed green salad.
This beauty is my personal favorite! We frequently eat fresh burrata with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives as a quick lunch in our house. This dish was a little twist on that family favorite.  My son took a couple of burrata from the fridge and surrounded them with black olives, slivers of garlic, cherry tomatoes, chives, chopped boiled gulf shrimp, parsley, and uncured bacon pieces. He drizzled the dish with a bit of garlic oil and some porcini infused balsamic vinegar. This was light, easy, and quite frankly delicious! I really appreciate Lil Emma’s Seafood for giving my teenager a chance. You can find these recipes on @lilemmasseafood.com, on Instagram @lilemmasseafood, or on my Instagram @healthyplatehealthyyou. They will also be linked to this blog shortly. Enjoy!!
Healthy Plate Healthy You 