Spicy Shrimp Burrito Bowls with Ranch Elotes

Rob and I had an adventure yesterday.

We went to Guthrie, Oklahoma to see my friend in a play (A Few Good Men) and decided to make a whole day of it. The play didn’t start until 8 o’clock at night, so we went down early in the afternoon to walk downtown and go to all the shops.

Guthrie was the original state capitol back when people first moved to Oklahoma (late 1800’s). The downtown area is gorgeous and chock full of history, and about a thousand antique stores. Maybe not a thousand, but quite a few. I ended up with a HUGE haul of cookbooks.

One antique stores had about three shelves full of old chuch and women’s league cookbooks, and I was in heaven. I tried to not by them all, but found so many that sparked my interest. I ended up buying five (FIVE!) amazing cookbooks that I can’t wait to sift through. These two were the most prized gems:

There is no history or printing date on the Oklahoma Senate Cookbook, but I’m really intrigued by it. I’m hoping to find somebody that knows something about it at the Capitol (which is now in Oklahoma City, by the way). The other cookbook, Pick’s Fine Foods, is filled with recipes from an old restaurant that closed down long before I was born in what was once Old Town Britton. I’m part of a facebook group that talks about the history of the town, and they had mentioned the restaurant last year. I used to live in The Village, that was down the street from Britton.

Britton annexed to Oklahoma City in the 50’s or 60’s I believe, so it’s no longer a town in and of itself. I can’t wait to look through these recipes that have long been forgotten except for a handful of people who remember the restaurant and its former glory.

And look! Old ads were printed in the inside!

The Senate cookbook also has a few “helpful hints” pages printed by an old timey typewriter. I especially liked this page that tells you what might have went wrong in your baking disasters.

We took so many pictures of all the things we did in Guthrie yesterday that I’ll have to post them later. If you’re ever in the area, spend a day (or a night) in this cute little town. It’s well worth it.

I managed to squeeze in some cooking yesterday before we hit the road, so I could make sure I had meals to eat throughout the week. Shrimp was on sale at Crest last week, so I grabbed a few bags to throw in the freezer. I decided to make burrito bowls with the shrimp I had, and wanted to make them like some shrimp tacos I used to get at a Mexican-Korean restaurant that used to be down the street from where I worked (RIP Vamonos). The tacos were in soft corn tortillas with this delicious ranch corn mixture.

Ranch, corn, shrimp—I’m in. These bowls ended up tasting exactly like those tacos and I’m so glad I cracked the code. I was going to use just plain ol’ bottled ranch, but discovered a ranch seasoning packet in the back of my cupboard so I whipped up some ranch dressing myself. I like mine with more sour cream than mayonnaise, and I added a dash of lime juice and chili powder to kick it up a notch. Delicious.

Burrito bowls are fantastic because you can put whatever you want in them. I opted for just brown rice, black beans, and salsa to go in mine along with the shrimp and ranch elotes. It was amazing! Feel free to add whatever else you like: avocado, cheese, chopped lettuce…the recipe is yours to make.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Place shrimp in a large bowl and add chili powders, cayenne, lime juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro. Stir until shrimp is well coated. Set aside to marinate while you cook the corn.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn kernels and cook for about 4-5 minutes, until soft and sweet. Let cool.

In a large bowl, stir together sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, ranch seasoning and chili powder.

In a small bowl, add cooked corn kernels. Spoon 1/2 of the mixture in with the corn. Add queso fresco and stir until well mixed. Reserve remaining ranch dressing for serving, if desired.

Cook the shrimp: heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp and cook until pink, about 3-4 minutes. Build the bowl: Start with rice and then top with beans, shrimp, and ranch elotes. Serve with salsa and reserved ranch dressing.