Directions:

*HINT*  Do yourself a HUGE favor and start buying frozen shrimp. They are fantastic to have on hand for a quick, last minute dinner like this.  They are perfect in salads, pastas or on their own!  I always buy the frozen shrimp with the shell on, but you can buy them shelled and deveined.  Just make sure they are farmed or wild from the USA.  I wouldn’t buy any shell fish (or any fish for that matter) from Asia.  OR you can obviously buy them fresh and cook them that night!

I do a quick marinade on the shrimp.  Just put them in a freezer bag and add salt, pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 fresh lemon juice (I usually add a splash of soy sauce too, but not necessary). Marinate for 30 mins to 2 hours or not at all! They are fine with out a marinade since the pesto will be the sauce.

Boil water for the pasta and cook according to your liking.

Grill shrimp on a grill pan or in a frying pan.  Shrimp cook fast, 2-3 minutes per side.  I like grilling them since it gets a nice color on them.  If you want to be fancy, squeeze the other 1/4 of a lemon on the grill pan and throw a pat of butter on the shrimp…super easy and super yummy.

Steam asparagus (or roast it).

Drain pasta, remove shrimp from pan, chop up the asparagus into 2 inch spears and combine.  Add pesto spoonful by spoonful until it gets to the consistency that you want…AND VOILA! Protein, carbs and veggies in one dish.  Super simple!

Works great with grilled chicken too! Add chicken breast with 1/2 bottle Italian dressing in a freezer bag and marinate up to 24 hours in the fridge.  Grill, chop up and add to pasta and asparagus and serve. Asparagus can also be swapped out for any frozen veggies you may have on hand. Peas work great in this recipe too!