Days like today make me so grateful that I have a husband that loves to cook almost as much as I do. Not only did he make a big breakfast for my son and our granddaughters but he made dinner for me later that night as well. Yes, his breakfast was not on my diet plan with it’s bacon and sausage. Add in the eggs cooked in a little of the remaining grease, and well, you get the picture. He did offer to make my eggs separately but I just wasn’t that hungry and just enjoyed the company with my coffee.

We hung out with the “little blonde hooligans” as I call my absolutely adorable granddaughters. Hadley is three and Willa is two; a combo that keeps you on your toes so I didn’t eat much during the day other than an apple. On the way home from dropping them off, we stopped at the Shrimp Dock. This is a small local seafood shop that carries fresh seafood and we are regular visitors. Jeff picked out a pound of medium shrimp that were gorgeous and we headed home for him to make one of our favorite recipes.

As I said, Jeff loves to cook as well and always has. We got married back in December of 1985 (over 34 years ago) and back then the place to go when you needed a recipe was Southern Living Magazine. Every year for Christmas my mom would buy me their annual cookbook and this is where tonight’s recipe originated…on page 13 from that very first Cookbook she gave us!

Notice how aged and stained both the cover and recipe page are! Looking at this brings back such good memories. While we have tweaked the old recipe just a little, much of it is still the same so here is our updated version.

Shrimp Spaghetti with Black Olives

Ingredients

• 8 oz whole wheat organic capellini, cooked(reserve some of pasta water to thin sauce, if necessary)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (16 oz) cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tbsp, capers
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped
• 2/3 cup black olives, sliced
• 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions

Heat oil in a large Dutch Oven over medium-high heat. Add shrimp, onion, jalapeño, and garlic. Sauté, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes or until shrimp just turn pink.

Remove shrimp.

Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, capers, salt, and pepper. Cook, uncovered for 5-7 minutes.

Add in capellini, shrimp, and parsley (and pasta water, if needed); toss until mixture is well coated….

Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with black olives and Parmesan.

Serve with a small garden salad and toasted sourdough bread spread with ghee.

Bottom Line: This has always been one of my favorite dishes for Jeff to make for me and it’s so nostalgic when I eat it. I love the changes he has made and by incorporating the whole grain organic pasta, it fits right into my new diet plan. I also loved that he took pictures of all the steps while he cooked so I could share it with you later. He even cleaned up the kitchen! It was a GREAT day!