Quick Dinner Recipe: Shrimp and Herb Succotash

How often does this happen to you?  You have a looong, hard day at work and your stomach is growling, but you know that an empty refrigerator is awaiting you at home. Or maybe you are a busy mom at home, and dinnertime is looming, so you need a quick dinner to put on the table.  What do you do?  I fight the urge to order a pizza once I get home, because I would rather eat something healthier and homemade.  That means that I have to put my thinking cap on to try and make a delicious dinner lickety split.  That's pressure!  Well, I have a fantastic easy dinner recipe that is so packed with flavor and nutrition that you will be amazed at how quick and simple it is to prepare!  Just a simple sauté of a few ingredients and dinner is done!  This may become a favorite dinner even when you have time to spare!

Just so you know, the Shrimp and Herb Succotash recipe that I am about to share with you came in handy for the exact dinnertime dilemma that I shared with you above!  It was Thursday night and I was anticipating my week of meals lasting me through Friday night, but we had somehow gone through it quicker than usual!  I had bought the Land O' Lakes Sauté Express® Sauté Starter on my last shopping trip, and was waiting for the weekend to prep the dish.  But no, I was hungry and it was time to test out how quick and easy this would make my meal.  I can safely say that this will now be a staple for us, in addition to a few items in our freezer to make a delicious meal in minutes flat!

P.S. - You will notice that my cooking pictures are night time pictures, but the ones at the top of the post are magically taken in daylight.  I couldn't wait to gobble up my dish that night, so these are my lunchtime pictures from the next day!  :)

Shrimp and Herb Succotash
A Vintage Zest original

Ingredients
Land O' Lakes Sauté Express® Sauté Starter: Garlic & Herb variety (see note below)
Shrimp, fresh (1 pound) or frozen (12 oz.)
Frozen onion and pepper medley, 2 bags (16 oz.)
Frozen lima beans (16 oz.)
Corn kernels, 2 cans (11 oz. each)

Note 1:  I cooked the recipe once with frozen shrimp and once with fresh shrimp, and both are delicious!  For a quicker cook, the frozen variety would be my go-to ingredient.

Note 2:  I intended to buy the frozen succotash blend of vegetables at the store, but they were out and I just made my own.  Feel free to substitute the frozen succotash blend of veggies.

Note 3:  I found the Land O' Lakes Sauté Express® Sauté Starter packages at my local Walmart in the Dairy aisle next to all of the butter.  See below to see where they are located!

See Land O' Lakes Facebook, Twitter (@LandOLakesKtchn) & Instagram (@LandOLAkesKtchn) for more info!

When you open the Land O' Lakes Sauté Express® Sauté Starter package, you will see individual little squares of butter.  Each one of them is good for a dinner for two, but since I needed to make 3 meals for each of us, I just used more of the little squares!

Directions

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Saturday Synopsis!

This weekend is already awesome with the event that I attended yesterday, and today I'm headed off to another wedding.  By the way, you may have noticed that I didn't share my usual Weekly Wrap-Up on Wednesday, because there wasn't anything interesting to wrap up after New Orleans.  Also, I really wanted to participate in the Capture the Color post that everyone was doing.  Things will be back to normal next week, so don't despair!

Before the synopsis, here's one of the pictures that did not make it into my final five photos on Wednesday!

Beautiful coastline on an island near Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Not quite blue enough for the contest though!

Here are last week's posts in case you missed any.  :)

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Sewing in Modern Times + Take My Pledge!

This has been on my mind for a few months now, and I would love to hear all of your opinions on this topic if you don't mind reading through my long windedness. :)

Well, if you are a regular follower you would recognize that my four favorite hobbies are cooking, traveling, organizing, home decor, and sewing.  In the media, you see shows and entire channels devoted to each of these subjects...except sewing.

Yes, there are a couple of public access shows, but they are so obscure that Nancy Zieman has a fraction of the public recognition of Gordon Ramsay, Anthony Bourdain, or Nate Berkus.

Source 

What about Project Runway?  I still watch it to this day!  It does deal with sewing and you hear about techniques, hemlines, patterns, etc.  However, it is focused more on the design aspect (as it should be) and less on the actual sewing.  Remember, there always seems to be a designer on the show who does not "know how to sew."

And The Great British Sewing Bee?  I LOVED the show and everything about it.  It had some interesting history, discussion about what makes good technique, and a little project for the viewer to recreate at home.  If you would like to check it out, you can find the first episode here.  As much as I loved this show, not a single person in the U.S. off the street would know this show, unless they sewed as well.  Well maybe in the microcosms of Silverlake, Brooklyn, and Portland.  I must say that I'm a bit envious about how much more popular sewing seems to be in the U.K.

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So why does this matter?

When I tell someone that I sew, there are a few responses:

1. My grandmother sews!
2. Like quilts and stuff?
3. Are a cosplayer / Renaissance fair aficionado?
4. Are you trying to become a clothing designer?

Basically, I've found that most people think of sewists as either grandmothers, quilters, costumers, or professional designers.  I feel like the hobby of sewing should be viewed like any other hobby, such as cooking.  Just because someone likes making desserts doesn't mean they want to be a professional pastry chef!  What happened to the regular girl who sews as part of her normal, non-costume wardrobe?  It wasn't too long ago that this was the norm!

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In fact, there used to be entire sections of department stores dedicated to fabrics and sewing patterns in the past, and it used to be all over the the television and movies.  Nowadays, there are very few instances of sewing in popular culture, but I found a couple of mentions recently!

Here is a clip from New Girl.  Jess is sharing her "first time" story, which the guys are eager to hear about...

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Tip: Saving Tomato Seeds

Since last week's tip of regrowing green onions was so popular, I thought that I would share my method of saving tomato seeds, which has worked pretty well for me!

It all started last year when a friend of mine brought over these yellow pear tomatoes that she said were growing like weeds over her entire backyard and side yard.  Since I'm a tomato fiend (recipe 1, 2, and 3 as evidence), I decided to try out saving the seeds for my mom to plant them in her garden...

Let's see how I did it!

By the way, this is one of the two plants that my mom grew in her garden from the seeds of a few tomatoes that I saved.  Amazingly enough, it popped up out of nowhere because the original plant was grown in a pot clear across the yard!  She thinks that it started growing in this second pot when she needed a bit more soil for the pepper plant and borrowed it from the tomato plant.  I guess a few of the seeds that were planted hitched a ride!

Here is how I got these plants going!

1. Cut the tomato in half to and remove all of the seeds by squeezing or pulling out with your fingers/knife.

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Capture the Colour

This is a fun photo blogging competition that I have seen several travel bloggers participate in.  I wasn't tagged, but I thought it would be fun to play along!  Here is the gist straight from the website:

"The idea was simple, publish a blog post showcasing five of your favourite travel photographs which best capture the colour of our five categories: red, blue, green, yellow and white.

Previous entries have showcased the beauty of our planet's natural landscape, impressive man-made wonders and exotic cuisine, as well as animals, friends and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. But, feel free to take a picture of pretty much anything you feel best encapsulates your travel experiences."

Sounds fun, right?

Also, there is the chance to win some prizes, but seeing as how I have never used a fancy camera, I'm not sure that I'm even close to being a contender.  :)  In any case, I did my best to find some vibrant photographs encapsulating the color.  Believe me, it was tough to pick just one picture per category!  I even made sure to hit 5 different countries and 5 of different themes (once-in-a-lifetime experiences, architecture, landscapes, man-made wonders, and food).  Without further ado, here are my pictures!

Red

Flamenco dancers in Barcelona, Spain.

Definitely a must-see for the wonderful dancing, beautiful music, and gorgeous dancers in their costumes.

Blue

Vibrant blue building in the streets of Bogota, Colombia.

This mountain city is full of steep roads, which you can see dropping down in the distance.

Green

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Refashioning the 1960s Challenge Roundup!

Last week, I shared the blouse that I made for the Refashioning the 1960's Challenge.  If you're not familiar with our Facebook sewing group go to our Stitch Once, Rip Twice general information page to learn about us and join in on the fun!

Today, I'm sharing the projects that our members made for the challenge.  Since this was a "Choose Your Own Challenge," we have three different categories this time around.  That's Refashioning, The 1960's, and Refashioning + The 1960's.  All of the garments are completely different this time, from a couple of tops, a little girl's dress, and a bunch of beautiful dresses!

Let's see what our ladies from across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Italy made this time!

First up are the Refashioning aficionados!

For those of you that did not catch my original post, here is the $1 button-down shirt that I refashioned into a feminine blouse.  Read all about it here and check out the surprise details on the back of the shirt and the sleeves!

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