¡Hola! ¡Happy Monday y Feliz Día de los Muertos!
How was your Halloween? Ours was, how should I say? Interesting?
While I was making dinner on Friday night the kids hacked away at the pumpkins we grew in the garden this summer, resulting in some very scary gourds. Imagine how Freddy Kruger might carve a pumpkin and you’ll get the idea; more stab wounds than faces those poor, poor pumpkins. They also completely removed the top leaving no “lid” which made it a tad difficult for the candle to stay lit in the gusting wind. Apparently tiny saws and young children don’t mix. You’d think I was new to this mothering thing.
And then Sunday was the beginning of Día de los Muertos and I made tamales and slept in an extra hour (!!) and realized that, ohmygosh, it’s November already! Which meeaaans, I can’t believe October is over and we’re on to the holidays…… which meeeeaaaans, things are going to get crazy busy in our house (and I suspect in yours as well)……which meeeeaaaans, I could try to be helpful and come up with an easy dinner you can get in your belly in less than 30 minutes. Which meeeeeeaaaaaannnnnssss, shrimp tacos!
No matter how many times I make shrimp tacos they are always a revelation to me. If you buy your shrimp already peeled and deveined (which I do because peeling shrimp is like number 1 on my list of kitchen tasks I hate) than this recipe takes about 15 minutes to complete but tastes like you’ve spent at least 53 minutes on it, maybe more.
You can marinate the shrimp longer if you want a more intense garlic-lime flavor, but they are pretty good at about 15 minutes of marinating time which is about how long it will take you to warm the tortillas, slice some radishes and jalapeños for garnish, and pop open a cold one. Then all that’s left is to sauté them in a little hot oil and dinner is served.
Tomorrow I’m going to be showing you step-by-step how to make these on TV, plus super important info on guacamole that you won’t want to miss. Here’s the link from the show if you’d like to check it out!
Have a great week!

Weeknight Shrimp Tacos Recipe
Simple garlic and black pepper marinated shrimp tacos take minutes to prepare. Dress them up with as many garnishes as you'd like for an easy weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 jalapeño, stemmed and sliced (seeds removed if you'd like it less spicy)
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
For Serving (choose as many or as few as you'd like):
- warm corn tortillas
- sliced radishes
- sliced green onions
- cilantro leaves
- lime wedges
- Mexican crema or sour cream
- Cotija or feta cheese, crumbled
- thinly sliced jalapeños
- guacamole
Instructions
- Combine garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, jalapeño, zest and lime juice, salt, and peppercorns in a blender. Blend until garlic and jalapeño are finely chopped and black peppercorns have been broken up.
- Pour marinade over shrimp and let marinate at least 15 minutes or up to 8 hours.
- Heat remaining tablespoon of oil a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once shimmering add shrimp with the marinade to the pan (careful, it will spatter). Cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp is firm, pink and opaque, about 2-3 minutes.
- Serve immediately with warm tortillas and condiments.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 273Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 255mgSodium: 1517mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 28g
One More Thing
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