The best time of year is upon us…shrimp season

This year I decided on an Asian theme and set out on Pinterest to find recipes. Everybody in the family loves fried rice and lo mein and I love egg roll in a bowl because it’s packed with veggies and is low carb. For those of you who are new, my main qualifications for cooking are quick and easy and I almost never follow a recipe exactly. I also cook for kids, who do not like shrimp (crazy, I know). So I cooked the shrimp separately in butter, and garlic which mixed well with everything.

This year I bought my shrimp at Jessys Fish Market, which is near the entrance to the Malecon, on the left. The location is easy in and out, and basically in the parking lot of my husband’s office. They did an excellent job of cleaning and de-shelling the shrimp. I bought 2lbs of jumbo blue and it was fresh and delicious.

Easy Shrimp Fried Rice, courtesy of Crunchy Creamy Sweet (spoiler alert – this turned out amazing!)

Ingredients:

1 lb small shrimp deveined and cleaned

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

3 green onions chopped

4 cups cooked rice (it’s better if pre-cooked earlier and refrigerated; fresh rice gets too sticky)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (turns the rice yellow)

3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, I used peas, carrots, corn, and green beans.

Instructions:

Beat eggs in small bowl, set aside.

Heat up both oils in a large skillet and cook shrimp until pink, remove onto a plate and set aside.

Add more oil to skillet, if needed. Sauté green onions for 2 minutes. Add frozen vegetables and stir until mostly heated. Add rice, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and, turmeric. Stir until heated through.

Make space in the middle of the skillet, by pushing the rice to the sides. Pour beaten eggs into pan and cook, stirring, until set. Stir everything together, adding shrimp and cook until everything is heated through. Serve.

Easy Shrimp Lo Mein, courtesy of Urban Bliss Life:

Make the sauce

In a small bowl, stir together and then set aside:

2 tbsp. soy sauce,

2 tbsp. hoisin sauce (I omitted this),

1tsp sesame oil,

Cook two (2) packages of ramen noodles according to package directions. (discard spice packets). When cooked, drain and set aside.

In a wok or large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. sesame or vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Cook about 1lb shrimp until fully cooked (both sides should be a nice pink color). Add thinly sliced vegetables of your choice (I used a bag of broccoli slaw) and 1 tsp minced garlic, stir until vegetables are slightly softened. Toss in the noodles and the sauce, and mix until the noodles and veggies are well coated. You can garnish with chopped green onions. Serve

This recipe was great because even though you know they’re bad for you, everybody loves ramen!

Egg Roll in a Bowl – this is a dish I make all the time – I usually use pork sausage. There are lots of recipes out there for Egg Roll in a Bowl, and I don’t always measure the same way, but the basics are:

Mix together 1/4 cup of reduced sodium soy sauce, 1-2 teaspoons of ginger, 1-4 teaspoons of minced garlic, a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar and set aside.

In a big skillet, cook the meat of your choice, and once it’s almost done open a bag of coleslaw mix and throw that on top, along with the sauce, and cook until the coleslaw softens to your liking. Serve with Sriracha if you like it spicy.

Buen Provecho!