Recipe Weekend / Summer Recipe Challenge: Ya Ya Shrimp Casserole and Sauteed Green Beans from Wild Oats

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received these products, free of charge,from Wild Oats, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about them.

As you know, we LOVE Wild Oats products at our house!

They have quickly become a staple in our pantry, fridge and freezer, thanks to their great taste, good for you ingredients and great prices! So when Wild Oats challenged me to come up with a scrumptious summer recipe, using some of their most popular products available at Walmart, in a blind sample, I was happy to give it the old'food channel' try!

. Here are the products I received:

Hmmmm.....2 beans, 3 spices, 2 sauces and rice.....talk about a surprise box cooking challenge.....

First snag- only 1 person in household likes Garbanzo beans. Second we've had a LOT of red sauce lately and everyone is sauced out....

Ok, time to regroup and see what I could do- keeping in mind that our AC unit is out and anything involving more than 45 minutes in a super hot kitchen is NOT great for the appetite!

So this is what I ended up using from my surprise box. All the ingredients, except the beans and sauce, and then I added in some Wild Oats products (not pictured) from the pantry and freezer, to act as substitutes. Ok, so a little cheating there, but it was the same brand, so I kept the faith by staying with same brand, right?? . LOL I also added some staples from the pantry.

So what did I come up with?

Ya Ya Fiesta Wild Rice Shrimp Casserole

with

Apple Hardwood Rosemary Sauteed Green Beans

Look good to ya?

It IS!!!!

Let's start with our Ingredients list:

For the Rice Casserole

2 lbs small shrimp, uncooked

(medium to large would have been better- I used what I had on hand)

Wild Oats Medium Salsa

Wild Oats Raspberry Jam

Wild Oats Long Grain Wild Rice

Wild Oats Frozen Broccoli Florets, cut small

Trinity- onions, red, yellow and/or green bell peppers

Frozen Carrots, steamer style

Can of Mushrooms, drained

Can of Cream of Celery soup

Olive Oil

Wild Oats Rosemary Leaves

Wild Oats Oregano Leaves

Wild Oats Basil Leaves

Pepper and Salt

Toppers if you like- fried onions, cheese, sauteed mushrooms

and for the Green Beans

Wild Oats Canned Green Beans

Olive Oil

Wild Oats Rosemary

Apple Hardwood Seasoning

Directions:

1. Start your rice on the stove top, according to bag directions. For my 9 x 13 deep pan, I used 2 cups of rice and 3 1/2 cups of water. It will cook for about 20 minutes, allowing you to make the rest of the casserole.

2. In sautee pan, cook shrimp about two minutes, with 1 tsp each of Rosemary, Basil and Oregano leaves. Drain the mushrooms while the shrimp are cooking.

3. Drain shrimp. While shrimp are draining, make your sauce- 1/3 to 1/4 a jar of salsa (how much depends on how much spice you want in the recipe) whisked with 2-4 tbsp of the raspberry jam (again depends on how sweet or spicy you want the flavor as to hour much). For us I did between 1/3 and 1/4 on Salsa and used 4 tbsp of jam.

4. Add shrimp and mushrooms to your sautee pan and add your raspberry salsa sauce.

5. Coat all shrimp and mushrooms with the sauce, and then sprinkle with 1/2 tbsp of Rosemary leaves (yes, we really like Rosemary!).

6. When shrimp and mushrooms have sauteed and excess liquid has evaporated, set pan aside.

7. In large mixing bowl, add 1 to 1 1/2 cp of chopped broccoli florets, the carrots, the cream of celery soup, 1/4 tsp of oregano and basil leaves. Stir together well, then add your shrimp and mushrooms.

8. Do NOT rinse sautee pan! Add a tbsp of olive oil to the pan with 1/2 cp of holy trinity and sautee, making sure to get leftover bits of the Raspberry salsa! When done, add to your bowl of ingredients.

9. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and coat your 9 x 13 baking pan with a smidge of the oilve oil, to coat it for easier clean up!

10. When your rice is finished, add it to the ingredients in the bowl and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add more Oregano or Basil, Cajun or Rosemary spices, to taste.

11. Place pan n oven and cook for 15 minutes, and then remove and add any toppings you want to add. We always have a disagreement on toppings, so I placed ours in thirds- one plain, one with fried onions, and one with shredded Mozarella (because I was out of Monterrey Jack and didn't realize it) and the fried onions (yes, that would be Miss Grace's end). Put back in oven for another 10 minutes.

Beat everyone OUT of the kitchen, as the smell will have them begging like the dog and driving you nuts with the 'is it done yets????"

12. While casserole is on it's last 10 minutes, make the green beans: dump green beans into medium pan and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and then add 1 tbsp olive oil to same pan with 1/4 tsp Apple Hardwood spice and 1/4 Rosemary leaves. Add green beans back and sautee beans until thoroughly coated and cooked.

13. Remove casserole and let set for 3-5 minutes before serving. Bask in glows of admiration (and silence as mouths are busy eating).

This is a super recipe, as you can add whatever veggies your family likes, and alter the sweet/spice flavor to your preference. You can also substitute crawfish, chicken, duck, sausage and even crab in the recipe, and they will all taste great. It's a super easy recipe that you can make in less than 30 minutes, and have on the table 20 minutes later. Serve with a salad (if not making beans) and some type of bread and you have a very filling Summer dinner recipe, that is perfect for when the kids come home 'starving' from camps and Summer activities. Plus it's super for leftovers the next day too, as the flavors have more time to meld.

You can also make the dish up ahead of time and freeze until needed. Just cook at 350 degrees instead for 45 minutes.

So I hope this recipe has let you see HOW many products Wild Oats now has in their product line, that are available at your local Walmart store! YOU REALLY can eat organically on a budget! Wild Oats is here to help!

Create your own Wild Oats based recipe for the Summer Challenge and share with us and Wild Oats by tagging Wild Oats! Be sure to check out their Instagram page, where you can get more recipe inspirations! You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook, to see what other recipes come in from the Surprise Box Summer Recipe Challenge! And get organic recipes and healthy tips for a better lifestyle on their Pinterest page!

Be sure to join us this upcoming Wednesday with a special

Wild Oats Twitter Chat !

You'll learn about the Organic and Natural Food industry and how you can help to get more products where you can purchase them!

Join the Twitter Party on Wednesday June 10^th from 6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. CST.

We’ll cover a variety of interesting topics and best of all, you could win

one of three $50 Walmart gift cards.

That’s a lot of delicious Wild Oats products!

To enter, simple go on Twitter and join the conversation using #AffordableOrganics

Additional participants will include @BisonDave, @OrganicTrade and @OrganicCenter, who will talk about hot topics like non-GMOs, organic farming, organic meal planning and how to make organic foods more affordable and accessible to everyone.

I Can’t wait to hear your questions and comments when we kick things off at 6 pm on Wednesday!

See you then!