Shrimp Burrito Taco Thingies & Guacamole

The meal I had the other night was perfect. PERFECT! It was filling and delicious and fresh and (other than the 2 avocados), pretty low on calories if you care about that sort of thing. It was one of those magic moments where you realize all the ingredients you have on hand are exactly what you need to make something awesome happen.


SHRIMP BURRITO TACO THINGIES

I'm just writing down what I made. If you're vegetarian or vegan, things can be substituted or removed and you'll still have a pretty hearty meal at the end of the day.

Ingredients:

- 8 raw shrimp (or protein of some other sort - black beans, black eyed peas, chicken, whatever)
- 1 clove garlic
- Guacamole (see recipe below to make at home)
- 2 tbsp red onion, diced
- 2 tsp green pepper, diced
- 2 tsp red pepper, diced
- 2 tsp mango, diced (previously frozen and thawed)
- 0.5-1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional)
- Juice of 0.5 lime
- Lime zest (CRUCIAL)
- 1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
- 1 cup cooked wild rice (or whatever kind you have on hand - I just love the flavor and texture of wild rice)
- 2 wraps
- Salt, red pepper flakes, pepper, and cilantro to taste

Cook your rice. With about 10 minutes left to go, start cooking everything else.
Marinate raw shrimp for 5 minutes in lime juice with lime zest, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Melt butter in a pan on medium-high. Throw in your shrimp to cook. At the last moment, throw in 1 clove of minced garlic. While you're waiting for the shrimp to cook, start cutting your other ingredients and make your guacamole.
Once the shrimp is done, cut it up and put it aside.
Clean your pan or get a new one. Put one of your wraps in it on medium-low heat.
Shred as much cheddar as you want on the bottom of it and spread a liberal amount of guacamole next to it. Add your shrimp (so it stays warm). Sprinkle the other ingredients and fresh cilantro on top and cook until the cheese is melted (maybe 2 minutes or less).
Remove from the burner and make a second burrito taco thingy.
Wrap it up and enjoy!
You can now add hot sauce, sour cream, or whatever else you might want. I personally love how fresh all the ingredients were in this, so I didn't want to sully them with any extra nonsense.

After I was finished, I had extra guacamole left over. Luckily, I still had some tortilla chips from a BBQ at my house a month or two ago, so I polished off the rest of the guac in no time! Honestly, I would have eaten it straight, though...

GUACAMOLE

This is the simplest guacamole I know how to make. You can always jazz it up with cilantro, tomatoes, lime juice instead of lemon, jalapeno, and other spicy stuff. You can blend cheese into it...the options are limitless. This is my Mom's really easy recipe that always tastes awesome and takes about 1 minute total to make.

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe avocados (if you get them the day before you eat them, put them in a sealed brown paper bag overnight and they'll ripen faster).
- 2 tsp lemon juice (some acid is necessary if you plan on keeping it more than 1 day - the acid is what keeps it from going brown)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- Salt to taste

Quarter the avocados and put them in a bowl. Mash up with a fork (you can also use a food processor for this part, but it takes more time during cooking and clean-up, so I forgo it).
Mix in minced garlic and lemon juice.
Mix in salt to taste. Beware - if you're using the guacamole with chips, most tortilla chips are already super salty and can ruin the guacamole experience if you've over-salted it. This needs to be synergy in your mouth.
DONE.

This makes a great snack or pot luck item OR YOU CAN SPREAD IT ON ANYTHING (sandwiches, burritos, bagels, pizza...it's pretty easy to get creative with it).

Items not dumpstered or donated: Butter, bell peppers (from my garden), cilantro (from my garden), rice, garlic, shrimp