Shrimp Prima Vera and Irish Oatmeal

My little herb and vegetable patch out back, which I will now refer to as, "the rabbit buffet," is chewed and nibbled away! They have eaten the leaves off of my green beans; completely demolished the Italian parsley; chewed holes in the green peppers and then spit the rest of the green mulch out. The only items that didn't meet with their culinary standards are the banana peppers, tarragon and...Carrot Leaves! That's right, of all things in a garden, you'd think they would have bothered the carrots, but no! I have weird bunnies! I, at first, tried to scare them away by attaching an aluminum pan to a string that blew in the wind and made noise. One of my sons observed this garden security measure and thought it gave our backyard a "redneck effect". I then, hung a small wind chime to make some noise, but I think the rabbits just considered it "dinner music"! I think that next year, I'll pot my herbs and put them on the porch and spend my time and money chasing down Farmer's Markets instead of weeding and watering...just to feed the rabbits.

Enough about my garden woes, last week I tried to put together a dish that is my favorite at Olive Garden, Shrimp Prima Vera. I just noted the items in the dish and then made my own version of the sauce. For those of you who like the flavor that wine gives their sauces, you might miss that with my recipe, but my family didn't. When I took the thumbs-up vote after we ate the new dish, everyone was very complimentary! Blake and I even had a re-run of it for lunch the next day! So, I thought I would share this new recipe that we loved with you.

Marcia's Shrimp Prima Vera

1 bag frozen cooked medium shrimp, thawed (de-veined and tailess)
1 jar Ragu Roasted Garlic Sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 thinly sliced onions
2 thinly sliced green peppers
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
pinch of salt
olive oil

In large heavy skillet, saute onions, garlic and peppers in olive oil. Add jar of sauce and all other ingredients except shrimp and pasta. Let simmer on low for 10 minutes. Cook angel hair pasta in boiling, salted water. Drop thawed shrimp into sauce just long enough to get hot through. Serve sauce over drained angel hair pasta.


Here's how I fix Irish Oatmeal:

1 1/2 C steel cut oats (I use John McCanns Irish Oatmeal)
6 C water
1 tsp salt (optional)

Place ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on low for at least 8 hrs. (heating elements in crock pots can vary, so keep an eye on them after several hours to make sure the oats stay moist; stir the oats occasionally.) These are good with brown sugar mixed in and raisins if you like them.


I will be at BlessedwithGrace, TheGypsy'sCorner and BalancingBeautyandBedlam today for the recipe swaps.