Every year my family travels to Topsail Beach in North Carolina. We have been traveling to this special location for the last 20 years. We rent an Oceanfront beach house for the week. This year my dad turned 60 years old so we were able to celebrate his special day on the beach!!  I look forward to this vacation every year. It is the only place I never want to leave. My favorite part of vacation is making new memories and creating new dishes inspired by the local finds. I love going to the farmers market in Wilmington at the Popular Grove Plantation and getting inspired by the fresh local ingredients. There are plenty of fish markets as well on and off the island.

Preparing this shrimp salad was so much fun with the fresh seafood. We purchased large shrimp with the heads still attached since the cost was nearly double for the shrimp to already be prepared shelled, deveined and heads removed. We boiled up shrimp one night with old bay for dinner and with the leftovers created this salad to snack on for lunch the next day. This salad goes great with crackers, on a bun, over a salad of mixed greens or by the spoonful.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lime juiced (about 1-2 tablespoons of juice)
• 1/2 cup miracle whip
• 1 cup plan greek yogurt or (mayonnaise)
• 2 Tablespoons of dijon mustard
• Fresh cilantro chopped (petite handful)
• 2 stalks of celery (chopped finely)
• 2 pounds of cooked large shrimp (heads and exterior shell removed, after cooked cut in half [optimal size about the size of a nickel]) *****
• Salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Directions: 

Place the first 7 ingredients in a resealable container and mix. Add the shrimp and stir. Let the ingredients marry overnight in refrigerator for best results.

****If you have fresh raw shrimp and need to prepare bring a large stock pot of water to boil and cook the shrimp for 4 minutes. Season the water with a generous amount of old bay seasoning; strain and place shrimp over ice and let cool completely before adding them to the cream mixture.