Margarita Shrimp Stir-Fry
chef and photography:
Miranda Wampler



If you're looking to escape this early summer heat and enjoy fresh garden vegetables, my daughter came across a delicious new way to enjoy shrimp using frozen margarita mix.





1 can frozen (thawed) Margarita mix
2 tablespoons Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning
(1 teaspoon red pepper flakes for a spicier taste)
1 lb uncooked peeled deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen, tail shells removed
2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 medium green bell pepper cut into strips or julienned
1 medium yellow bell pepper cut into strips
1 medium red bell pepper cut into strips
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 cup uncooked instant white rice
1 cup water





In a small bowl, stir margarita mix and fiesta lime seasoning. Reserve 2 tablespoons mixture. Add shrimp to remaining mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.















In 10-inch non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook bell peppers 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender-crisp.











Remove shrimp from marinade; discard marinade. Stir shrimp into skillet mixture. Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and firm. Stir in reserved 2 tablespoons of sauce and add the cilantro. Cook until heated through.

Meanwhile, cook rice and water as directed on package. Serve stir-fry over rice.


















If you happened to pick up 2 cans of frozen Margarita mix, you might want to blend a couple of refreshing frozen drinks to have with dinner or enjoy afterward in the summer night air.

This is http://www.giftweblog.com/cgi-bin/to.cgi?l=hamm The Bartender's Frozen Margarita Maker. It's wonderful for making yummy frozen drinks!!!





Enjoy!

Yes, I said leftover burger! I would be willing to bet there are a lot of you for one reason or another that end up with some leftover ground beef. We grilled out this weekend and for the 999th time, I ended up with too much ground beef. Not to fear, it usually ends up as extra burgers for lunch the next day or goes into spaghetti sauce. But today I was hankerin' for a homemade meatball sub.

This quick and simple recipe for mom's meatballs will work for my favorite meatball sub as well as a number of other dishes. You can also double the recipe and freeze them for later use.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1 lb. lean ground beef
* 1 egg
* 2 Tbsp. milk (or water if you are lactose intolerant)
* 1/2 cup bread crumbs
* 1/2 cup minced onion
* 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1/8 tsp. pepper

(I use Morton's Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend instead of salt and pepper because it also gives it that wonderful garlic flavor.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, onion, salt and pepper and combine. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine. Form into meatballs about 1" in diameter and place on a broiler pan. (A 13" x 9" baking dish will do as well.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. Cool and freeze, or when baked, use in your favorite recipe.

To finish this wonderful and easy meatball sub recipe I just picked up a jar of Ragu pizza sauce, a pack of sliced mozzarella, and some sub buns at the local grocery store. And voila!
























I also had some leftover macaroni salad. Pasta salad would be great with this too. Simple Italian Meatball Sub and pasta dish! Mmmm...

Gosh! Isn't that a phrase we've all heard time and time again? "Better late than never." I know I heard it a lot growing up. And it suits my life, the material in this blog and the blog itself quite well. If you check the dates, you will find that I have neglected my wonderful blog page for almost 8 months. Yikes!!! I went back and reread every page and I remembered why I loved this old blog. I enjoyed sharing my everyday; albeit humdrum, life with all of you. Good memories on this old farm, great recipes, fun times, and Miranda's beautiful photography. If you decide to peruse this website, please notice that after scrolling to the bottom of each page, you can click on 'older posts'. There are quite a few pages if you are interested. I know I had fun with each and every one of them!

So... here I am again! YAY!!!



After the crazy winter weather we had that seemed to last forever, it was difficult to even begin yard work, fencing, and gardening this year. So, for the past couple of weeks (yes, it is May) Kent and I have tried to finally get these things checked off of our "to-do" list. Mowing, trimming, mulch, removing limbs, branches and twigs from the yard, and yes... finally tilling our small garden. Flowers will have to wait until next weekend.





This has been a good start to getting back into blogging... I have missed you my friends!