Easy Garlic Shrimp and Pasta with Corn

by Michelle Jones, Founder of BetterBudgeting and FrugalFamilyRecipes

Category: Recipes, Frugal, One Dish, Pasta, Seafood, Corn
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Here's a super easy and delicious dinner I tossed together this week with some items we had on hand, including our last box of pasta. Last weekend we purchased a few boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables at a special event in our county to support Georgia Farmers during Covid-19. We waited in line for 3 hours just to pick up our order but we were happy to help our farmers! We've been enjoying fresh corn all week, and we also gave some away too. Which was really hard to do because we do love fresh corn. Feel free to substitute any type of protein for the shrimp in my recipe, any type of pasta, and even any other vegetables you have on hand in place of the corn.

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta, any type
1-2 lbs medium or large shrimp (shelled, de-veined, rinsed)
4 T. butter
Drizzle of olive oil
1 T. minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
1 T. chopped basil
1/2 - 1 c. corn
Pinch of salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese (for topping)

Directions:

Place pasta in large pot of salted boiling water and cook 8-10 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, add butter and olive oil to a large pan over med-high heat and cook garlic for 1 minute until soft and fragrant. Add shrimp, corn, and remaining ingredients (except the cheese) and saute until shrimp is done; pink color throughout.

Reduce heat to low and keep warm until your pasta is ready. Drain pasta and combine with shrimp mixture.

Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese or other similar grated cheese; whatever you have on hand. We used Cotija cheese, as shown in the top photo. Delicious!

Enjoy!

Michelle 

Get more recipes at FrugalFamilyRecipes.com and your free subscription to our money saving newsletter, Living a Better Life®, at BetterBudgeting.org

Easy Shrimp Scampi

Easy Shrimp Scampi
by Michelle Jones, Founder @BetterBudgeting

Category: Recipes, Frugal, Seafood
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4-6 servings

Shrimp Scampi has always been one of my favorite restaurant dishes. Though serving sizes can be quite small and the cost not so much. So, here's how I make this shrimp at home and feed my entire family for the cost of one single dinner entree out. I've been making this dish for a few years now, with my little secret ingredient, and it's delicious every single time. I figured it was time to share!

Ingredients:

2 lbs shrimp, fresh or frozen/thawed, shell on, deveined, and on SALE!
garlic butter sauce
Old Bay seasoning or just a pinch of salt, pepper, and parsley
olive oil

Directions:

Warm up a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil, over med-high heat. Rinse shrimp if needed and pat dry with a paper towel. Add shrimp to heated oil and toss lightly with spatula. For a large skillet of shrimp I will add 2-3 small garlic butter sauce cups that we save whenever we order pizza from Papa John's (see note below), then about 1 tablespoon of Old Bay (or other seasonings). All that's left to do now is toss the coated shrimp a few times and continue cooking until they are all completely pink on both sides. Remove shrimp to platter and serve warm, with a side salad and baked potato if desired. YUM!!!

Note: Garlic Butter Sauce - I'm pretty sure you can just drop by your local Papa John's and buy a few garlic butter dipping sauces, even without ordering a pizza. But if you don't have a Papa John's or want to make your own, just add 3-4 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and a pinch of salt for this dish.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Get more recipes at www.FrugalFamilyRecipes.com and your free subscription to our money saving newsletter, Living a Better Life®, at www.BetterBudgeting.com

Easy Crab and Pasta

Easy Crab and Pasta
by Michelle Jones, Founder @BetterBudgeting

Category: Recipes, Frugal, Dinner
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 -6 servings

Here's a quick and easy frugal recipe that my husband came up with years ago. This recipe makes a light meal, but its also quite filling. And, its delicious!

Ingredients:

16 ounces spaghetti (regular or whole grain), cooked and drained
3 T. butter (you can also use olive oil, or half of each)
1 pkg. imitation crab meat
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in crab meat. Cook to heat through, about 3-5 minutes. Add drained pasta and gently toss with crab mixture until combined. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Get more recipes at www.FrugalFamilyRecipes.com and your free subscription to our money saving newsletter, Living a Better Life®, at www.BetterBudgeting.com

Salmon Patties & Gravy

Featured Recipe Submission...

Salmon Patties and Milk Gravy (Cost is about $4.00 to serve four adults.)

I use a can of Alaska wild salmon, I can buy one can for $1.89. Some stores charge $2.00 a can. Still a decent price for what you get. Stir in one egg for each can you use. I sprinkle in corn meal, maybe about half a cup. You want the mixture to hold together so you can spoon it into the hot skillet. Fry till golden brown on one side turn over and do the same on the other side. Drain in paper towel. If you like cream gravy you can sprinkle a little flour in the bottom of the skillet, about two tablespoons. If you have grease left over from the salmon patties that will work or you can use about four tablespoons of butter to mix with the flour. Stir till you like the color. Open a can of carnation cream (evap. milk), put in bowl, add the same amount of water as cream, mix. Pour this mixture into skillet with grease/butter and flour. Bring to a boil and stir often, should be thick within a few min's. Serve with Salmon patties. Very inexpensive dinner. Makes about seven to eight patties.

Submitted by Nonia

New Garlic Shrimp Recipes!

We just had several new comments added to the Garlic Shrimp post, check them out... YUM!!! http://frugalfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/06/garlic-shrimp.html

Now I'll start going through my files to pull out the recipe submissions that came in over the summer, I will be adding them on here a bit at a time--if we didn't have 6 baseball games per week I'm sure I could do this faster! ;o)

And today is our oldest son's birthday!!! He is turning 15 today! I was thinking as I was getting dressed this morning that 15 years ago, my husband (with his broken knee that was still healing), was driving me to the hospital for our son to be born, and how much our lives have changed since then. It just doesn't seem real. How can you have a baby one day and then they turn 15 the next? lol Just kidding, believe me! HA, HA! We have come a loooooooong way. Ah, life, isn't it grand?! :o)

Other than the daily news of our stressed economy, world events and hurricane damages and all that, oh my goodness!!! And one of my dearest friend's recently lost her home to a house fire. And we've lost so many people and friends, and family, to cancer. So much of life is not so grand, that is for sure.

I pray all of you are doing well. And if you are going through a really rough time, hang in there. Hopefully things will get better soon! :o)

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellant or praiseworthy--think about such things." Phil. 4:8 (NIV)

And like I tell my kids... ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Editor's Recipe: Garlic Shrimp

I've never made garlic shrimp before but we love garlic on just about everything else and I was just thinking it would be great on shrimp too, does anyone cook shrimp this way? I'm thinking fresh minced garlic just smothered all over the shrimp, with maybe a combination of butter and olive oil cooked over medium heat? Served with a fresh salad and warm bread, YUM!!!