It has been a long time since I have published a recipe. My life has been preoccupied with wedding planning and just too many activities this summer. Tonight I wanted to make a simple salad for dinner. I don’t like to cook much on hot summer days. My grill gets used just about every night.

I dug through the refrigerator and freezer for ingredients. I put together this romaine salad topped with grilled shrimp tossed in hot sauce like Buffalo chicken wings. I changed a traditional blue cheese dressing recipe to use no-fat and lower fat ingredients. The result was amazingly good.

Spicy Buffalo Shrimp Salad

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Old Bay seafood seasoning
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce (Original)
1 stalk of celery, medium dice
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped or a bag of hearts of romaine salad mix

Heat a grill pan or BBQ grill to medium, 350 degrees. Peel and devein the shrimp. Toss with olive oil in bowl. Place shrimp on the grill and liberally dust with Old Bay. Cook for 2 minutes, until the shrimp turns light pink. Be careful not to overcook shrimp. Turn and repeat for the other side of the shrimp. It generally takes 3-4 minutes to grill shrimp.

Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk in Frank’s Hot Sauce. Toss the shrimp with the hot sauce mixture until well coated.

Place a bed of chopped romaine in a large salad bowl. Chop the celery to a medium dice. Toss over the romaine. Top with grilled sauced shrimp. Dot the salad with the chunky blue cheese dressing.

Makes 4 lunch size salads or 8 side salads.

Chunky Low Calorie Blue Cheese Dressing

1/2 cup fat free or reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup fat free or reduced-fat mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon low-fat (skim) milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Use a fork to break up large chunks of the blue cheese. Chill and serve cold. This dressing must be used within a week.