As we end July and head into August, the weather in much of North America heads to hottest temperatures many of us will see in a year. These, my friends, are salad days. In honor of this hot and sweaty time, we're bringing you a couple of weeks of inspired salad recipes that involve little to no cooking time. Keeping it cool, refreshing, and nutritious is what it's all about!
Our first recipe involves grabbing fresh ingredients like shrimp, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and salad greens and pairing them with convenience foods and/or leftovers like roasted green chiles, cooked rice, corn on the cob, and black beans to make a truly stunning salad. Of course, you can tweak the offerings (use fresh peppers and cheese as desired, for example), but this base recipe will get you a great meal and you can always shift it a little from there based on your preferences and what you have on hand.
If you want, you can whip up a couple of cheese quesadillas in the pan you cooked the shrimp in or put out a bowl of tortilla chips and your favorite salsa. Keep it quick and simple!
Tex-Mex Shrimp & Corn Salad
- 8 oz. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tsp. Penzeys Southwest Seasoning - or similar seasoning blend
- ¼ cup roasted green chiles - from a jar or can is fine
- >2 teaspoons olive oil
- ¾ cup leftover rice
- 1 cooked cob of corn, kernels removed (about ¾ cup)
- 2 green onions, sliced
- ¾ cup cooked black beans
- 6 oz. mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
Toss the peeled and deveined shrimp with the Southwest Seasoning and green chiles; set aside.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil in it. Add the rice and stir-fry it for 5 minutes before adding the seasoned shrimp and cooking, stirring constantly, until the shrimp is cooked through. Add the corn kernels, green onions, and black beans and cook, stirring constantly, for another 2-3 minutes or until everything is cooked through and warmed. Remove from the heat and toss the halved tomatoes into the skillet and toss a bit to warm and coat with seasonings.
Place the greens in the bottom of a shallow serving bowl and arrange the contents of the skillet over the top of the greens. Serve immediately.
- Yields: 4 servings
- Preparation Time: 30 minutes