shrimp & grits casserole

The March 08 issue of Cooking Light had this recipe for shrimp & grits casserole. How fun is that? I thought it was a fun idea. So I made it. It was good! The grits were really creamy. I think I'll make this again, except I may cook the grits only as a casserole, and cook the shrimp separately. This was really "shrimpy."

I dotted it with Sriracha and served it on a bed of spinach that I cooked with bacon, shallots and garlic...(cook some bite size pieces of bacon, remove bacon and dispose of all but 1 Tbsp of bacon grease. Cook a shallot and a couple cloves of garlic in bacon grease until starting to brown, add spinach and cooked bacon and cook until spinach is wilted.)

Here is the casserole recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1 (3-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 large egg whites
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp, coarsely chopped
Cooking spray
Hot pepper sauce (optional)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Combine milk and broth in a medium heavy saucepan; bring to a boil. Gradually add grits and salt to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan, butter, and cream cheese. Stir in parsley and next 4 ingredients (through shrimp). Spoon mixture into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until set. Serve with hot pepper sauce, if desired.