Grilled Shrimp Salad Niçoise is topped with shrimp instead of tuna; making for a delicious twist to this hearty salad.

I don’t know about you, but when it’s hot – and in this area that means HIDEOUS humidity – I don’t want to be anywhere near the kitchen cooking up a storm. Are you the same way? Whew! Glad it’s not just me.

So, for us, that means a lot of salad and a lot of grilled meat. Yeah, we’re outside, but the back of our house doesn’t get afternoon sun. Which is good because I can’t imagine what we would do if it did. That would mean even grilled meats would be out of the question because it would just be too darned hot to even eat!

I, unfortunately, have never been too hot to eat. I’ve rarely been anything where I couldn’t eat with the exception of a stomach virus. Then, eating is definitely not on my mind. I love food too much to let anything stand in between me and it. Hence the weight issue.

Moving on.

So, summer time. We eat salads, we have slow cooker meals, and we have quick meals. Unless it’s Monday, I have a raging headache, and I planned a mac n cheese that just took way longer than anticipated. Yup. You guess it. That was last night. It was delicious mac n cheese, but sitting down to eat at 6:30 when you go to bed at 9 isn’t such a great option.

I need to plan meal times better. I suck at that. Honestly. Is there like an info-graphic of standard cooking times? If so, please let me in on that one. I need to pin it…to my FOREHEAD! *snort*

Yes, this is a random, chain of thought type post. Bear with me. It’s been a long week. Yes, I realize it’s only Tuesday, but when you wake up with a headache on Saturday that hasn’t truly gone away, it starts to wear on your thought processes.

I’m still trying to play catch up both here and at work for being out last week. I need a vacay after my vacay! I thought I’d get more accomplished while I was on the road than I did, but wasn’t as organized before I left than I was. Honestly I think I’m going to start a tele-work day just so I can get some blog stuff done before work.

No. Not tele-work so I can blog. We would get up at the same time. The hubs has to be out the door about the same time because he would have to switch from the 8-4 shift to the 7-3 shift. That means, I would have an extra almost 3 hours to blog before I would have to start work at 7:30. AND I could get some gnat tasks that have been on my plate at work for a while, but just haven’t been able to get to because I’ve been interrupted with other, more urgent, type things to do.

It’s a vicious cycle that never seems to end. BUT I think tele-work might be the answer to the all the problems. Where’s that meme??

And this salad was the solution to our dinner problems that night. I had the potatoes, eggs, and beans already cooked from Sunday. You see? THAT’S what I need to do! Prep more on the weekends!! But not this past weekend. We were sloth’s Sunday from our drive home.

Where was I? Oh yeah, dinner.

This was the solution to our dinner problems that night. Everything was nice and cold with the exception of the shrimp which were smoking hot from the grill. This is actually the second shrimp salad niçoise I’ve made. They’re so easy to make and make for a hearty, yet healthy, dinner.

How do you stay out of the kitchen during the summer?

Grilled Shrimp Salad Niçoise

Name: Grilled Shrimp Salad Niçoise
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined; 4 large eggs, boiled, peeled, and quartered; 2 cups green beans, blanched and cooled; 2 cups baby potatoes, boiled until fork tender and cooled; 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved; 1 cup green olives; 1 cup red onion; 4 cups lettuce, torn; 1 recipe Dijon Dressing

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Grilled Shrimp Salad Niçoise is topped with shrimp instead of tuna; making for a delicious twist to this hearty salad.

Ingredients

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
4 large eggs, boiled, peeled, and quartered
2 cups green beans, blanched and cooled
2 cups baby potatoes, boiled until fork tender and cooled
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup green olives
1 cup red onion
4 cups lettuce, torn
1 recipe Dijon Dressing

Instructions

The day before:

Prepare the vegetables the day before to allow them to cool completely before assembly.
Place the eggs and the potatoes in a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil.
Once the water begins to boil, cook the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove from the pot and rinse in cold water until cool enough to handle.
Peel and refrigerate.
Continue to cook the potatoes until just barely fork tender. Drain and cool before refrigerating.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the beans and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until they are crisp tender. Drain and cool before refrigerating.

To Prepare the Salad:

Preheat the grill (or broiler) to medium-high heat.
Thread the shrimp on skewers and grill 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until no longer opaque in the center.
Remove from the gill and assemble the salad.
Divide the lettuce evenly between four plates.
Arrange the beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and onions evenly on the plates.
Garnish with the 1 egg and 1/4 cup of green olives per plate.
Top with the shrimp then drizzle with the dressing before serving.

Nutrition Information

Yield

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 469Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 430mgSodium 2144mgCarbohydrates 39gFiber 9gSugar 9gProtein 40g