Citrus Grilled Shrimp Salad

You've probably noticed by now that my cooking is essentially copying other people's recipes.  Sometimes I'm adventurous enough to throw things together on my own, but I'm pretty much a stickler to what's on print.  It used to be so bad that if the recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon of an obscure spice, I would search frantically for it until I procured that particular ingredient, even if it meant going to several grocery stores.  That's probably why I have a dozen spices in my cabinet that all have 1/4 teaspoon missing from them, never to be touched again!  Cream of Tartar anyone?  So I have been learning that cooking is all about experimenting, and that it's okay to use substitutes when you don't have a specific ingredient OR you can just omit that ingredient all together...well as long as it isn't salt when you're making cookies or something- that's pretty essential!   

I decided to make a salad one night; Edwin is not a huge fan of salads unless they are covered in Ranch dressing or laced with fried chicken strips, so I decided to search for a healthy but tasty salad online.  I came across one of Robin Miller's recipes.  Here is the video for you visual learners (first link) as well as the recipe version:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/citrus-grilled-shrimp-salad/8545.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/citrus-grilled-shrimp-over-greens-recipe/index.html

The salad was easy to prepare, and I even did a little ingredient substitution and additions!  The salad called for chives, but alas I did not have any chives.  Strangely enough I did have leeks in my fridge, so I used those instead.  My resource for figuring out what to substitute came from : http://rawtestkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/10/substitutions.html.  I'm sure there are a ton out there, but that's what popped up when I performed my search.  I also added some grapefruit and cucumbers.  Aren't you real chefs out there proud of the risks I took? :)  

We brought the salad over to share with our friends Tim & Christine, but boy did I get one-upped.  Tim had made Chinese Roast Pork (siu gue yuk), and Christine made Turnip Cake (loh bak go).  I knew my salad was tasty enough, but it was the roast pork and turnip cake that Edwin kept reaching for.  Okay, I guess I did as well!  Too bad we didn't get pictures of those dishes.