Good morning! What a great morning it is in Sea Side. The weather is beautiful and I am with great friends. The weather is perfect. There is a nice breeze coming off of the Gulf and the sun is shining. I have so much to be grateful for.
I had too much Community Coffee this morning and am feeling a little jacked up. I really need some breakfast to take the edge off. The girls and I are about to get dressed and go find some yummy breakfast. Then we are off to the farmers market in Sea Side. I can’t wait to see what all they have. My friend Griff and I are going to get a bunch of seafood and other goodies to cook up for our friends.
When Griff and I were planning the trip we talked about the things we were going to bring with us. We are not your ordinary girls that talk about bringing our hot bikini and our new strapless dress? No, we discussed bringing the deep fat fryer, fondue pot and all of my new products I got from Slap Ya Mama. Too funny! I am excited about cooking and breaking bread with the girls. I will defiantly take pics and post some of the recipes we come up with today. I hope all of you have a great day!
It’s a fine day to be a grocery lover, cause you know how us sisters love our groceries! Amy is at the beach with her girlfriends and they all will be cooking up some savory dishes. You know if Amy packs a deep fryer it’s going to be a good weekend! As for me it is Game day and LSU plays the Florida Gators. So, with that being said I think I will serve deep fried gator tail over a bed of rice and Gator Gumbo! Not really, but it sounds good!
Today I am making it a trouble-free Saturday cooking day. Caleb and Allison, my beautiful children, have both gone away for the weekend and Rick will be playing golf. So, I am going to cook just for me and watching the game and do just what I want to do! Since I am just cooking for me I am making some dirty rice, I have a little boudain and I will put together a little salad. Got to have some Slap Ya Mama cheese biscuits to. Today I am using a box mix of dirty rice and that is OK! I use Zatarain’s. I put a little twist on it so it will have that savory flavor!
Dirty Rice
Don’t worry; it’s only a name. Dirty rice isn’t actually dirty—it’s called that because the chicken gizzards and livers it’s traditionally made with give it a brown or “dirty” color. Most common in regions of Southern Louisiana and Mississippi, it’s similar to pilaf in its use of the holy trinity of New Orleans cooking—green bell pepper, celery and onion. Then meat is added, and the whole thing is garnished with green onions and parsley.
An insider tip: If you’re not into chicken livers and gizzards, try it with ground beef or sausage for a delicious alternative.
Today I will be using ground pork and ground beef.
What You Need
1 12-oz package Zatarain’s Dirty Rice Mix
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
2 tablespoons oil
1 ½ tablespoons flour
½ cup minced onion
1 rib celery, minced
¼ cup minced bell pepper
½ tablespoon minced garlic
2 ¼ cups chicken broth
½ cup chopped green onion
½ tablespoon Slap Ya Mama
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Louisiana Hot Sauce to taste
Lightly brown ground pork and ground beef and drain, set aside.
Make a dark roux by mixing oil and flour in heavy bottomed 6 to 8-quart saucepot over low heat. Stir constantly using wooden spoon.
When roux is finished, stir in onion and allow to brown, leaving heat on low. Next, add celery, bell pepper and garlic. Add Rice Mix and stir for 5 minutes to toast rice. Then add your ground beef and pork and stir for an additional 4 minutes
Stir in broth; allow mixture to come to a boil. Cover with lid and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes.
Sprinkle with green onion and parsley just before serving!
Geaux Tigers!
Last fall I fell in love with Star Bucks pumpkin bread. I never knew that I loved pumpkin so much. I started experimenting in the kitchen and came up with my own recipe for pumpkin bread. I made so much pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheese cake, ooey gooey pumpkin cake and muffins that it was ridiculous. Now that fall is here again I wanted to try some new pumpkin desserts. Sister and I have been on a pound cake kick for a while now and I thought about a pumpkin pound cake. unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed with the recipe I came up with. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. I will not be posting that recipe. If you should have a good recipe for a pumpkin pound cake or any other pumpkin dessert please share it with us.
I also made a vegetable Quiche that was out of this world. It was fluffy,cheesy and so yummy. It was very easy and I had everything I needed in the fridge. You can use all different kinds and combinations of vegetables. I had mushrooms, asparagus, spinach and onions in my fridge but you could use artichokes, tomatoes, squash, etc. I hope you will enjoy it as much as Andy and I did. I served mine with toast and mayhaw jelly.
Vegetable Quiche
- 1 frozen pie shell, deep dish
- 1 ½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- ¾ cup chopped asparagus
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Let pie crust stand at room temperature for 10 minutes
- Line pie crust with heavy-duty foil. Bake at 400° for 4 minutes. Remove foil; bake 4 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce heat to 350°.
- In a large skillet, sauté mushrooms and asparagus in butter until tender
- Add spinach, garlic and spring onion; cook 1 minute longer
- Spoon into crust; top with cheese.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, salt and pepper until blended; pour over cheese.
- Cover edges of crust loosely with foil
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean
- Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting
And what a good morning it is! As I took the dogs out this morning and felt the cool breeze and looked up at all the stars, I began to feel so blessed. Sometimes I forget all the blessing I have to be thankful for. I came inside and poured that first cup of coffee (Community Coffee) that is, allowing myself a few extra minutes before I wake the troops up and get ready for the wild day ahead. I was thinking how wonderful this blog and writing our cookbook has been for Amy and I. Yesterday we were both so tired and really did not want to work on anything, much less recipes or cooking. But, Amy reminded me that is doesn’t matter how tired we are, we need to get some things done. “Nobody is going to do it for us”, she said. She is right, we worked with our friend Marla and got a few other things accomplished and it was all worth it. Even though we were both dog tired. I know all our hard work is going to pay off in the long run and become something we will be very proud of.
Hope everyone has a beautiful day!
Oh! Thanks to Community Coffee for getting me where I need to be this morning!
This recipe is easy, inexpensive and very tasty. You can purchase a jar of pesto next to the pasta in the grocery store. I serve this with rice and a salad or over angel hair pasta. The fish is also good in a sandwich. I hope you enjoy!
Pesto Topped Tilapia
4 Tilapia fillets
½ Teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of white pepper
½ cup of pesto (I use jar of pesto)
½ cup of freshly grated parmesan
Fresh Basil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line baking pan with aluminum foil
Season fish with salt and pepper
Spread pesto evenly on both sides of the fish
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until flaky
Top with parmesan cheese; bake for an additional 2 minutes
Top with fresh basil
It is getting to be that time of year where we are planning for the holiday parties. Here are some tips to help with your next party.
Calorie free club soda adds sparkle to iced fruit juices, makes them go further, and reduces calories per portion.
When possible, float ice in punch rather than ice cubes. This is not only more decorative, buts also inhibits melting and diluting (you can also freeze fruit juice to make an ice ring).
When serving hors…d’oeuvres on a silver tray, you may want to protect it from acids by covering it with leafy green lettuce.
Cheese should be served at room temperature.
Traditionally I use heavy cream and no chicken. I wanted to try something in the crock pot and thought the cream of shrimp would be good and it was pretty darn good. We did a recipe last week with cream of shrimp and it was really yummy. My boss Beth does a fish dish with cream of shrimp and it is great . I had some chicken so I added it to the pot too. I couldn’t think of another name so….. Shrimp and grits it was. It was very creamy and delicious.
½ stick of butter
½ cup of Green bell pepper
½ cup of Red bell pepper
¾ cup of celery
1 cup of onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 ½ pounds of chicken breast tenders
8 ounces of Andouille Sausage, cut up
2 cans of cream of shrimp soup
Slap ya Mama (Cajun Seasoning) to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound of Shrimp
2 heaping tablespoons of savory garlic cream cheese finishing sauce
Directions-
Turn crock pot on high
Add butter to crock pot
Dice onions, garlic, bell pepper and celery and add to pot.
Add chicken sausage, cream of shrimp, salt and pepper and Slap Ya Mama.
Turn heat down to low and cook for a couple of hours (until chicken is done)
Increase heat to high and add shrimp and finishing sauce, continue cooking until shrimp are pink (approximately 15 minutes)
Serve over grits
Our Braised Short Ribs are so delicious, full of flavor. It makes such a succulent meal. These ribs are the kind of food that will have you licking your lips in anticipation.
Ingredients
- 3 ½ pounds of short ribs, bone in
- ½ cup of all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon of Slap Ya Mama seasoning (Cajun Seasoning)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
- 2 cups of baby carrots
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 cups of beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs of thyme
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F
Season ribs to taste with the Slap Ya Mama, salt and pepper
Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed ovenproof pan over medium high heat
Dredge ribs in flour, shaking excess flour off
Add ribs and brown on all sides
Work in batches if you need to so that the ribs don’t get crowded (this will help with browning).
Transfer ribs to a plate
Add the onions and carrots to the pan and sauté, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 8 minutes
Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes
Add Garlic and cook for about 1 minute
Remove vegetables, set aside
Increase the heat to medium high heat
Then add the beef stock to the pan, deglazing the pan, scraping off any browned bits from the bottom of the pan
Reduce liquid until thick and slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes.
Return the ribs to the pan; add enough water or more beef stock to cover the ribs
Add thyme and bay leaf
Bring to a boil, cover with foil, and place in the oven
Braise, cooking in the oven, until the meat is fork-tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours
During the last 1/2 hour of cooking, add back in the vegetables
Skim grease off the top before serving. Serve over a bed of rice.
Asparagus Stalks should be tender and firm, tips should be close and compact. Choose the stalks with very little white, they are more tender. Use the asparagus soon – it toughens rapidly.
Cabbage and lettuce – Choose heads that are heavy for size. Avoid cabbage with worm holes, or lettuce with discoloration or soft rot.
Sass! 