Happy Labor Day weekend.
Without working too hard, these recipes might be something different and fun to try if you enjoy playing around with different recipes.
These recipes came from our wonderful 14 1/2 years spent living/teaching in the Rio Grande Valley, near McAllen. Recently I have had a craving for this version of shrimp cocktails and have found them at several restaurants here in East Texas.
This is a good, easy large recipe, but of course you can cut the recipe in half.
Mexican Shrimp Cocktail (Salad)Ingredients
3 lbs. cocktail shrimp, cooked
46 oz. bottle of Ketchup
1 and 1/2 onion, diced (1 and 1/2 cups)
4 Roma tomatoes, diced
4 avocados, diced
1 cup chopped cilantro
15 Mexican limes, juiced (three-fourths cup lime juice)
1 cup Clamato
Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
Rinse and drain shrimp which have been cleaned and cooked. In a large bowl, add shrimp, Ketchup, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, Clamato and lime juice.
Mix well. Chill for 1-2 hours. Add avocado, salt and pepper before serving.
I believe this will make at least 12 servings for a main dish, more if it is used for an appetizer.
Since this made enough for the two of us to eat for several meals, I add the avocado when ready to serve (just as the recipe says).
We just had crackers with this, but I think the next time we have this delightful dish, I will make an easy Cheesy Garlic Bread to go with it.
Cheesy Garlic BreadIngredients
1 loaf French or Italian bread, split horizontally
1 stick butter, softened to room temp
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced (depends on the size, and how much garlic you like)
1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
Steps
Mix butter and garlic, and spread on bread. Top with Mozzarella cheese. Place on foil on top of cookie sheet (it saves you from having to wash the cookie sheet), and place in 400-degree oven for about 8 to 10 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Slice into 2 inch pieces before serving.
Makes 5-6 servings. (You can get fancy with this simple recipe by adding sliced ripe olives, chopped green onions or even drained green chilies peppers. Just add them before you sprinkle with cheese.)
Were you the one who asked for a recipe for Mexican Wedding Cookies? Someone asked me recently, and I just happened to find this easy recipe. It is very much like what I grew up knowing as Sand Tarts.
Mexican Wedding CookiesIngredients
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped
Powdered sugar
Steps
Cream together margarine and powdered sugar. Add flour, vanilla, and nuts and mix well. Shape into walnut sized balls. Place on a greased (or sprayed) cookie sheet, and bake at 350o for 15 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown. Cook for 5 minutes, and roll in powdered sugar.
Makes about 24 cookies.
In digging around in old recipes and other things that I saved for one reason or another, I found something that hit me just where I needed it today.
I think I had it on a bulletin board in one class or another.
It has nothing to do with recipes, Labor Day or anything except life.
“People who deal in sunshine
Are the ones who draw the crowds.
They always do more business
Than those who peddle clouds.”
In “The Power of Positive Thinking”, Robert Vincent Peale said that positive thinking was contagious. Try to give it to everyone you meet.