Holiday Shrimp Salad

I feel absolutely terrible! I look forward to being able to continue learning how to blog! I have only just started and I have met some amazingly talented people along the way! I have just finished my finals for another hard class in my on-going online college and with getting up at 4 a.m. to do an hour commute to work, well, I guess it has all caught up with me and I feel exhausted! What is worse? My Thanksgiving dinner is only 3/4 of the way planned out. I have the absolutes that I am ready to get underway each year but I have just fallen in love with brining turkeys and chosing glazes that go with the brines. . .and I absolutely must do two turkeys this year! One deep fried (because it is soooo fast, good and moist) and my old faithful that is made with an herb butter put under the skin and an apricot glaze after soaking 24 hours in an icy brown sugar and citrus brine. Soooo good! This shrimp salad is another must! Every year I add at least two new dishes to my dinner! I just finished watching the food network do a dish with sweet potatoes where they were baked then scooped out of their skin and 2 full bananas were added along with honey and butter. This was spread into a baking dish and struesels was added to the top. I absolutely must look this up for the recipe! This dish is going to be one of my new dishes with the meal. I soooo love doing Thanksgiving because I have at least 5 appetizers, a soup or salad for my first entree (this year it will be a wonton soup) and then a *huge* dinner and THEN a huge dessert cart! I will post every recipe that I absolutely love and have honed to where I like it so that I have a reference this year. I just learned how to do snowflakes on pull apart dinner rolls so this is a must for this year too! Here's to the Holidays =D

Party Shrimp Salad

Ingredients:

FOR THE SHRIMP SALAD:
1 extra-large lemon
Celery leaves
1 T. pickling spices
1 t. salt
1/8 t. ground white pepper
3 pounds medium-size shrimp in their shells uncooked(5 c. cooked)
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 c. celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 to 2 t. snipped fresh dill or 1 t. dried dill herb **NOT dill seed**
FOR THE SOUR CREAM DRESSING:
2/3 c. Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise (not the light variety)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground white pepper
1/4 t. garlic powder

Directions:

TO COOK THE SHRIMP: Half-fill a large saucepan with water. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the water and toss in the rind. Add a few celery leaves, the pickling spices, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Drop in the shrimp in their shells and boil them just until they turn pinkish-white and opaque, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a colander and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking. Peel and devein the shrimp, discarding all of the pickling spices. Cut the shrimp into bite-sized pieces. (You need 5 cup of shrimp).
Place the cooked shrimp in a medium-size bowl, sprinkle with the lemon juice, and toss well. Add the celery and dill and toss again.
MIX ALL of the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl. Spoon the dressing over the shrimp mixture and stir until all of the shrimp and celery are well coated. Great for putting on an open sandwich using white or Challah bread, or simply as a salad on curly lettuce leaves. Refrigerate any leftovers and use within 2 days.

ENJOY!!!