Spring Meal #4

Fresh flavors to brighten up your week and simplify your life

This week’s plan has some of my favorite recipes that I’ve tried in a while, and I don’t say that lightly. We’ve got coconut shrimp that feels a little unexpected, chicken piccata in meatball form (trust me), a ten-minute flatbread that will save you when you’re crawling to the end of the week and crockpot tacos that cook themselves. We’re also squeezing a second meal out of a rotisserie chicken with a Thai salad that is actually worth looking forward to at lunchtime. Grab your grocery list, this is a good week.

DINNER #1: Coconut Shrimp with Springy Rice | Total time: 45 minutes | Serves: 4
I’ve been making this coconut shrimp for years and somehow it’s the perfect spring meal to me. It’s full of unusual flavors and uses ingredients that I don’t always think of, like shredded coconut and peas, without being ingredients that are hard to find. The coconut crust gets perfectly crispy while the inside stays tender, and the sauce tastes like honey mustard and honey butter had a baby. It’s a little more labor intensive than I usually recommend, but if you don’t mind a few extra minutes in the kitchen it’s a great one to mix up your norm!

Notes:
Swap: if you don’t eat shrimp, I’ve tried this with bite sized pieces of a white fish (like mahi mahi or cod) and it works great!
Add more: I do find that I’m scraping the bowl for enough of the coconut coating. Feel free to increase it to about 1 cup of coconut and panko if you like plenty of coating. We also love the sauce and find that we like to make a little extra of it as well.
Don’t Stress: the amounts in this are really just suggestions. Feel free to eyeball it and it should work well. Including the peas, your bag of frozen peas may be a little more or less than it calls for and that’s fine!