Brazilian Inspired Honey Garlic Shrimp.

Guys!! Honey. Garlic. Butter. Shrimp. YESSSS!

All done with Belizean inspired flavors…which yes, is just as good as at sounds. Or at least I think it sounds good…. cause IT IS.

So let me explain this recipe, as it has a bit of a story. My brother and his girlfriend Lyndsie were just in Central America traveling through Guatemala, Belize and those areas. These two do a lot of traveling, I like to call them the “wanderers”. Basically they’ve figured out the key to life….travel, eat really good food and be happy. I could never be them because it’s just not my personality type, but sounds pretty awesome, and to each their own!

Technically they went on this trip for “work”, but let’s be real, chillin on the beach and drinking tequila sounds a lot more like vacay. They were on the hunt for textiles, furniture, antiques and that sort of thing for Lyndsie’s sister, who is an interior designer in LA. A little work and lot of relax is how they like to do things. Like I said, they’ve got things figured out.

Speaking of the fam, some of them went to Cincinnati and then up to Cleveland over the weekend to celebrate my cousin Matt’s graduation. Matt is one month younger than me, and guys, we could not be in more different places in our lives. Matt is SO excited to be done with school and have a little time off before he starts his new job at the Cleveland Clinic and steps out into the real world. Sometimes I wonder what I would be doing right now if I took a more traditional path. Like would I be writing this blog? Writing a cookbook? Would I have fallen in love with food photography? Or would I be a stylist in LA drinking kombuchas out the yazoo?? Like what? I wonder about this sometimes, but I’m super happy with where I’m at, so that has me pretty pumped!! That said, I am so happy for Matt! Graduating is such a huge deal…like HUGE. It takes a lot of freaking work to get through four years of school.

Congrats Mathew! 🙂

PS. all weekend long I was watching everyone’s snapchats back in Ohio, and man, they sure know how to have a good time…whoa.

ANYWAY, back to this KILLER Belizean Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp.

Brendan’s and Lyndsie’s trip through Central America, and all the delicious food they ate, inspired this shrimp. I’m sure it’s not super traditional or anything, but all the flavors are spot on. Coconut, garlic, shrimp, cilantro, plantains, jalapeño, ginger, rice and black beans.

All the good things in the world. 🙂

I’m actually not a huge shrimp person, I mean, I like it, but it’s got to be seasoned perfectly and just super flavorful. Plain shrimp I just can’t do, it’s too fishy or something for me.

SO, this shrimp is PACKED full of, but don’t worry, it’s still simple, fast and easy!! I’m all about these three elements now a days.

Here’s how this goes.

Start out by tossing your shrimp with olive oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro, honey, jalapeños, cumin and cayenne. This is the marinade/sauce, but the shrimp really only needs to sit in the marinade for about ten minutes or so because you also cook it in the same marinade, which in turn creates a yummy sauce! Once you’ve cooked the shrimp a bit, you then add the butter and sort of caramelize that garlic…YUM.

Then just finish up with the coconut milk and a generous handful of fresh basil.

Serve with a side of rice, avocado, black beans and fried plantains.

Done and DONE. It’s a super quick, no fuss meal, which I love on a Monday.

BUT, and this is SUPER important, you gotta, gotta, gotta make those fried plantains and a side of steamed rice. One, because the plantains are everything, and two, you need the rice for soaking up all the delicious honey garlic butter sauce. Obviously.

For real though, this sauce is EVERYTHING. You should probably put it on everything…thinking chicken, salmon, maybe even cook some chickpeas in it and get them all crispy…that would be YUM.

Either way though, the rice, the avocado and the plantains are a MUST. Just saying.

Sooo, Monday night dinner??!! FOR SURE. K, bye. ?