Scampi Supper with Friends!

Scampi Supper With Friends!

Totally forgot about taking these photos...this dinner party with friends was the night before my sweet husband's heart attack.   Since then he is recovered, but Covid 19 has kept us from entertaining people in our home.  That is one of the things I miss during this quarantine time...but hopefully those days will come again.

This scampi dish is so simple ( find the entire recipe at the end of the post) and perfect for company because you can make it ahead of time and pop it in the oven when you are ready.

I make this in a 13x9 pan...and I love my Temptations cookware that I purchased at the QVC outlet.  I like this pan because it comes with a lid and a trivet to place it on when you take the pan out of the oven.  Just place the shrimp ( peeled and deveined) in the bottom of a pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

The original recipe I found on All Recipes did not call for cherry tomatoes, but I love it in this dish.  Just put any amount you would like - I put them in whole, but you could slice them if you wish.

In a saucepan mix together butter ( I use Smart Balance for cooking), mustard, lemon juice, garlic ( I use the jarred garlic), and parsley.

Heat in pan until melted and pour over shrimp and tomatoes...

Another ingredient that was not in the original recipe but I love is to sprinkle panko breadcrumbs over the entire mixture.

Pop in a 450 degree oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until the shrimp are pink and opaque.  So...I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish...and I also serve this over whole wheat spaghetti or linguine...with a salad and whole wheat bread.  

I did remember to take photos of the table setting - 

While I usually use cloth napkins, I found these napkins years ago in a kitchen store and thought they would be perfect for this meal.

My centerpiece was a cute, early Spring arrangement I found while shopping with my friends in nearby Lititz, PA.

It was a simple setting with my plain white dishes, monogrammed water glasses that were a wedding gift, and wine glasses I found at a thrift sale.

It was a great dinner and a lovely evening !  Here is the complete recipe:

Shrimp Scamp Bake

2/3 cup of butter ( I use Smart Balance )

1 heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons of chopped garlic

2 teaspoons of chopped parsley...fresh if you have it

1 1/4 pounds of medium raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined.

Tomatoes and Panko bread crumbs, optional

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2.  In a small saucepan, over medium heat, combine butter, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley.  When butter has melted, remove from heat.

3.  Arrange shrimp in a shallow baking dish.  Top with tomatoes if desired.  Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp. Top with Panko crumbs if desired.

4.  Bake in pre-heated oven for 15-18 minutes until shrimp are pink and opaque.   

Serve over pasta and enjoy !

Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista!  Please leave a comment below and let me know if you have any easy but special recipes for company.  Stay safe, be healthy - and thanks for checking in!

Patriotic Dinner Table

 

Patriotic Dinner Table

Had a fun time this past weekend catching up with old friends with dinner at our home.  Since we are so close to the 4th I went with a patriotic theme.

Placemats are several years old.  I used blue glass chargers that I found in Ross a long time ago...along with the patriotic polka dot flatware.  Used my everyday white dinner plates, red napkins, and square red salad plates from Target. The blue water glasses are from Dollar Tree.

I used this little bowl for parmesan cheese for our shrimp scampi. You can find the recipe for the scampi here - 

Shrimp Scampi

I found these little star dishes at Wegmans last year after the holiday on a great sale...and grabbed them in red and blue. Used this one for my butter dish.

Used a blue napkin to hold the warm bread and places a red polka dot trivet below to protect the table.

Used a patriotic dish from Ross as a base for the container for salad dressing.

This is the dish that came with the trivet under the bread.  I have some Temptations cookware and I love it.  I found this dish with it's cute holder, the trivet, and a plastic lid for storage at our local thrift shop last week.  It was marked at $5.00 and I grabbed it - a bargain.  When I got to the checkout I was told it was 50% off everything if you were over 55 !!!   Score!!! I love it with this table, but I can see using it all year round.

Dessert was a fresh strawberry pie, but I always like to have something extra.  I love the way I can get seasonal M&Ms and put them in an oversized martini glass...it looks so cute.  One of the red stars for some peanut balls, and a little blue dish for mints.

Here is the look of my server....the candle filler and beads from Dollar Tree.

Used the little star plates for appetizers...nuts, popcorn, and the flag dish from Christmas Tree Shops is waiting for my cheesy crab bites.   I will post the recipe for that soon....

Once I had the table all set my wonderful husband reminded me that we had Tervis Tumblers with a flag motif, so I switched out the blue goblets for these.

The center piece was a simple silver charger, a pitcher filled with silk hydrangeas from JoAnn Fabrics, some wicker stars ( forget where I got them, have them for years) and another bead strand from

 Dollar Tree.

It was a great evening - and we had lots of fun and way too much food.   I really enjoyed doing this table!  I loved "playing house" as a little girl and so enjoy playing house in real life now!  Soon it will be time to pack away the red/white/blue items and move to sunflowers. 

Do you do a themed table for the 4th of July or other patriotic holiday?   Would love to hear about yours - you make my day when you leave a comment below.

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista - wishing you a wonderful and safe 4th of July ! 

 

Panama Canal and Central America

Belated Happy New Year !  Hope that 2026 has been treating you well!

We started the new year on a Viking Ocean Cruise to the Panama Canal and Central America - and it was fabulous!

For the past few years we have been traveling over the holidays - this year we were home for Christmas but left soon after to spend the New Year and our anniversary on a cruise.

We started with a two night pre-trip in Fort Lauderdale

Included in our package was an airboat ride through the everglades!

It was a lot of fun...we did not see many alligators, but that was okay with me!

The next day we boarded the Viking Mars and had a sea day to enjoy the ship before we celebrated New Year's Eve.  We were upgraded to a two room suite and it was amazing.  Small world - we met people at the airport who live in the same retirement community we do, just in another building.   Since we had a bottle of champagne in our room we invited them for an early New Year's toast!

Then off to dinner and a great New Year's Eve celebration!

New Year's Day the ship had a huge brunch with lots of different foods and a fabulous Bloody Mary for me.

Our first port was supposed to be Montego Bay in Jamaica, but since that port is still suffering from hurricane damage we docked in

Ocho Rios - we had a rum and coffee tasting tour...and enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we sailed away.

Next up was the trip through the Panama Canal - and it was amazing!

Viking had coffee and pastry in the front of the ship Explorer Lounge and a historian on board that started commentary at 6 AM as we waited to enter the canal.

She was full of information about the canal, the ships going through the locks, and the wildlife along the shore.  

We ate lunch on the Pool Deck and the ship camera kept us up to date as we sailed into the lake and then back out of the canal.

One of the things we love about Viking is the on board historians who give wonderful lectures.  Later that day we attended a great presentation about the building of the canal.

Next day was a trip into Panama City.

Beautiful architecture and Panama Hats...

Next day on to Costa Rica and a great boat tour

and here we saw a crocodile...and some sloths, too.

and could not resist this fun photo!

Then another sea day...and we LOVE sea days as there is so much to do on the ship.  We enjoyed the spa pool with the warm whirlpool, and many cozy places to read and nap.

The head chef and the pastry chef did demonstrations of dishes that were being served that day...

We enjoyed the warm weather and just sailing along...

Lunch at the pool

and my traditional dessert each day...gelato - the flavors change each day - pictured here with red velvet cake and chardonnay. 

Food was amazing...here is a grilled beet and pineapple salad...

then scallops and shrimp for dinner...and more chardonnay!  It was  not a dry January for us...unless you figure that chardonnay is dry!!! 

That was our first week on the Mars...and we had another week and our anniversary to look forward to!

Do you like to travel at the holidays?  Thanks for coming along on our adventure and stop back to see the rest of our journey next time.  Please leave a comment below and let me know how the New Year is treating you.  I love hearing from you!

Thanks for stopping by Our New Vista!