Family Time and Too Many Presents

     Sorry I have been away, but I've been visiting my Army son and his family for the last couple of weeks.  I did surprise the grandchildren with my trip.  They had no idea that I was coming until I walked into their house.  They were ecstatic...I love surprises! 

 While I was there, I was able to go to their school Christmas Concerts, and the girls dance recitals.  They did a great job!  

Now, we are all back in Louisiana for the holidays.  My Navy son and husband are here too.  It's not every holiday that we all get to be together, so we enjoy family time when we can.  I cherish these memories that we are making! 

It has been a flurry of activity around here with cooking, baking and wrapping presents.  My daughter-in-law and I were looking at the tree with all of the presents under it and decided we had overdone it again..... (sound familiar?)  Which brings me to this point- Christmas presents have gotten out of hand!  Does each grandchild REALLY need 15-20 presents (from mom and dad, grandparents and Santa????)  I think not! 

I have come to a decision....next year they get 1 nice gift from me.  I am not trying to be a scrooge, but this has to be put in perspective.   They get so overwhelmed by all of the gifts,  that they pick their favorite ones and the others get pushed aside.   Their toy boxes are full already...where's the new stuff going to go?  Anyone else in this situation?   Let's see if I can stick to my decision.....

For me, Christmas is about spending time with the people you love.  Not the gifts you get.  Just being with my sons, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and husband is the best Christmas present I could ask for! 

I hope you also get to spend time with the people you care about...


  Merry Christmas from Cajun Country!!!

Wild Hog Boudin

     This is our first attempt at making boudin....it actually turned out pretty good!  It's not hard to do, just a little time consuming.  We will do this again, but with a real sausage maker and not a meat grinder. 

     I got the original recipe from the Louisiana Sportsman October Magazine.  We tweaked it a little and came up with this easier version.  

Wild Hog Boudin

10 lbs. ground wild hog pork (regular will do too)
2 lbs.  liver (I used beef liver)
2 24 oz. bags seasoning blend
1 cup minced garlic
8 cups chicken broth
1 T. cayenne pepper
3 T. salt
1 T. black pepper
4 bunches chopped green onion
1 bunch chopped parsley
2 T. Tobasco hot sauce
2 packages sausage casings
3 lbs.  uncooked rice

In very large pot add ground pork, liver, seasoning blend, salt and pepper.  Add enough chicken broth to cover meat completely.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook until pork is done.  Give it approximately one hour.  Stir often to break down meat into small pieces.

Remove meat and vegetables with slotted spoon- reserve one gallon of broth.  Bring the liquid to a boil and add rice, reduce heat and cook until rice is done.

In a large bowl, add meat mixture, green onions, parsley, hot sauce and cooked rice.  Blend well.  Taste and add more seasoning if necessary. 

Rinse sausage casings with warm water.   Place over sausage stuffer, tie knot on one end.   Put boudin mixture in top of stuffer and start pushing the stuffing through the casing.  Don't overfill or it will explode.  Twist as you go.  We made about four links at a time and then cut it to start another one.  Repeat until all stuffing is gone. 

This recipe made about 15 lbs. boudin.  At this stage, the boudin is cooked and can be eaten immediately.  It can be frozen in Ziploc bags (a few links in each), grilled, smoked, or reheated by simmering in water or steaming. 

Boudin can be eaten alone, or on French bread (like a sandwich).  Drizzle Steen's Syrup over the boudin...it is DELICIOUS!


What can I say, we Cajuns LOVE our boudin!!!




This is our meat grinder. It has a sausage attachment.  Sorry, didn't get a pic of that.

 After mixing all ingredients - ready to stuff the casings.  Looks like rice dressing!

You can find the original recipe at www.louisianasportsman.com.

Dinner in a Foil Packet

     I love this recipe because it is so easy and there are no dishes to wash when you are done!  My kids always enjoyed making these because they could use the ingredients they liked, so they could personalized each one.  I find children are more likely to eat something they help prepare!

     I usually use ground beef, but you can use chicken breast also.  The possible toppings include potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, or any other vegetables you like.  They can be different every time you make them.  Experiment and see which one you like best!

Dinner in a Foil Packet

Ground beef or chicken breast
Potatoes-sliced
Onions-sliced
Carrots-sliced
Any other vegetables you like

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Season beef in mixing bowl and make into patties.   Tear foil sheet and put on baking pan.  Put one ground beef patty in center of foil.  Start piling on the potatoes, onions, carrots or other vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper.  Close foil.  Bake for about 1 hour.  (Chicken takes about 45 minutes.)

 

 

A pretty healthy meal for everyone-  I hope you enjoy these too! 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies

     Sometimes, you just need a quick cookie recipe!  As much as I LOVE to bake, I don't always feel like getting out all of the ingredients like sugar, flour, soda, baking powder, etc. to make them completely from scratch.  So, on days like today, I use this recipe instead.  

     I got this recipe when I was in school.  Does anyone remember home economics class?  Okay, I am giving away my age with that one!

    Today, I was hungry for chocolate and peanut butter, so here goes...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies

1 box chocolate cake mix *
1 cup chunky peanut butter*
1/2  cup cooking oil
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Combine all ingredients and mix well with mixer.  Drop by teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Move cookies to wire rack to cool.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

**You could use white or yellow cake mix and creamy peanut butter if you'd like a different version.


Start with these:

Mix all ingredients with mixer

Drop by teaspoons and bake

These cookies are chewy and almost cake-like.  I wish you could smell them!

Veteran's Day

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE SERVED AND ARE STILL SERVING TODAY!!!!

MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND KEEP YOU SAFE!

Christmas Cards for the Military

        
  

           I saw a Red Cross website on face book that talked about sending Christmas Cards to our military and thought it would be a wonderful way to spread some Christmas cheer!  Many of our service men and women have no mail or packages delivered to them.  I cannot imagine standing in line for mail call and not getting anything!  How sad is that?

    So, with that in mind, I will be sending some cards.  Below is a link to the Red Cross website with instructions.  If you are like me, you have plenty of Christmas cards that you've bought over the years and didn't send out.  This is a way to use them and bring some holiday cheer to our service members! 

    Get the kids involved in this!


http://www.redcross.org/support/get-involved/holiday-mail-for-heroes


 It's so easy- here are a few of the instructions in a nutshell:

1-    sign all cards
2-   Address it to "Dear Service Member"
3-   only cards, no letters
4-   no email or home address
5-   no photos, etc.
6-   no cards with glitter
7-   no envelope required for each card

*Deadline is December 6th

The best part is that you can send all of the cards in one large envelope or flat rate postal shipping box!

Here's the address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

I hope you will consider this a way to get into the holiday spirit... As a mom of two in the military, I Thank You!!!

http://www.redcross.org/support/get-involved/holiday-mail-for-heroes

Cake Bites



     My sister-in-law and I recently went to a cake decorating class for petit fours and had a great time.   One thing we both realized was how time consuming the real petit fours are to make! 

 

     Petit fours are really delicious, but you can only eat a couple at a time because they are SO sweet!   I didn't know why until the class.  The instructor's recipe said to put butter cream icing on the bottom of the petit fours, THEN add fondant to the top of them!  After they were dry, she then decorated the tops of them...more sugar!  Oh my goodness....can anyone say sugar coma?

 

     So, with that in mind, I came up with an easier solution.  I am calling them CAKE BITES.   They still have some of the sweetness, but not as much as hers.  One thing I want to warn you about is- these take a couple of days before they are ready to eat!  By the time you bake the cake, let it cool, freeze it overnight, cut it into squares, make fondant and  pour over each square and let dry all day, it's a long process!  Not hard, just takes awhile before you can eat them....

 

So, lets get started!

 

 

Cake

 

1 box chocolate cake mix

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs 

 

 

Blend all ingredients together at medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Pour into greased pan that is 11 x 15 inches.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool completely.  Cover well and freeze cake overnight.  In morning, cut into approximately 1 inch squares while still frozen.  Makes about 80.

 

**Note:  You can make these with just about any cake mix.  Leave out the cocoa in the fondant if you don't want chocolate.



 

Fondant

1 cup half and half
dash salt
1/4 cup cocoa
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon butter
2 Tablespoons shortening

In double boiler, mix shortening, milk and salt.   Heat until shortening melts.  Remove from heat and add vanilla, butter, cocoa and powdered sugar.  Mix well with mixer.   I put three bite size pieces of cake on a spatula and pour the fondant on them with a spoon.  (See below.)

Put them on a wire rack with a cookie sheet under it to catch the dripping fondant.  Let air dry approx. 18-24 hours until set.

The hard part is trying NOT to eat them while they are drying!


These just melt in your mouth!  The great thing is, this recipe makes quite a bit and can last on the counter for 5-7 days.  They probably won't, because you can't eat just 1 or 2.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Beignets - The Cajun Donut

     This morning I was hungry for donuts, so I decided to make beignets.  They are what I like to call the Cajun donut.  I'll admit that they aren't exactly like Cafe Du Monde's in New Orleans.

     I do have a couple of recipes for beignets.  This one was in my moms recipe box, so I thought I'd make these first.  I'll make the other recipe another time.  You can help me decide which one is best!

Mom's Beignets

1 cup flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar for coating

Mix first 5 ingredients together and drop by spoonfuls into hot grease.  Batter will be a little thick.  Fry on each side 2-3 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.  Let cool a few minutes.  Put 1 cup powdered sugar in Ziploc bag.  Drop beignets in and shake well to coat.  Makes about 12 beignets.

***You could even make little ones like donut holes- the kids would love them! Putting them in the bag and shaking it up is something they can do to help-just make sure they are cool first.




           Mix all ingredients together except powdered sugar

 

 

 

                                             Fry 2-3 minutes on each side

      Put powdered sugar in Ziploc bag - add beignets and shake

 

 

 

These beignets are a good substitute for the donuts you buy at the bakery.  Especially if you don't want to leave home to pick them up...

 

Let me know what you think!

Easy Buttery Biscuits

     These are my go to biscuits when I need something in a hurry,  because they are so easy!  I am sure some of you have seen some version of this recipe.  They are a lot like Popeye's biscuits...buttery!

Easy Buttery Biscuits

2 cups Pioneer Biscuit Mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7up or sprite
3/4 stick of melted butter


Mix biscuit mix, sour cream and 7up in large bowl.  Stir until combined.  Batter will be sticky.  Sprinkle extra biscuit mix on counter or chopping block.  Cover batter in biscuit mix on floured surface.   Roll out into large rectangle.  Cut into biscuits and put on baking pan that is sprayed with cooking spray.  Brush biscuit tops with melted butter.  Whatever butter is left, pour it over the biscuits.  It will end up on the bottom of the baking pan.  Cook at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.   Makes 15-20 depending on size and thickness.


I love these with blackberry jelly, but you could use whatever you have on hand. They also make a good side to go with dinner.  Delicious!


                            Start with these three ingredients

Mix them all together in large bowl

 

Batter is sticky!

Roll into biscuits.....

Brush tops with butter - pour rest of it over them!

 

 

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.

 

Done!

Southern People

 

 

 

I saw this posted on facebook and had to share it.  I hope it makes you smile!

 

 

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

    I know it's really early to even be thinking of Christmas, but I've been looking at easy recipes to give as simple gifts for family and friends.  Here's one that's a favorite of mine.

    Buy some small cellophane bags, tie with ribbon and you have a little something to give away.  Homemade items are always a big hit no matter how easy or complicated they are!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

1 package almond bark - 1-1/4 pound
1 -12 ounce bag mini pretzels

Melt chocolate in double boiler until completely melted.  Put about 3/4 bag of pretzels into melted chocolate.  Stir to completely coat pretzels.  Pour over wax paper. (Try to separate the pretzels a little.) Let cool. 

 

I would recommend giving most of these away- otherwise you may be tempted to eat the whole batch in a couple of days!

 

 

S'mores in a Minute

     Do you ever get so hungry that you need a snack NOW????   You know, like when your blood sugar is dropping or it's that time of the month...That's how I felt recently and just had to have something chocolate!  So I started digging through the snack drawer and figured out a shortcut to make s'mores.  The whole process took about a minute.  What could be simpler?

This is all you need:

2 graham crackers
mini marshmallows
hazelnut spread

 

 

 

Put marshmallows on one side of a graham cracker.

 

 

                           Melt the marshmallows in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.

Remove plate from microwave and spread the hazelnut spread on the 2nd graham cracker.  Put that cracker over the melted marshmallows.  It's okay if you break the graham cracker like I did...

 

 

You end up with a gooey, delicious s'more...  This is a great after school snack the kids can make for themselves! 

Crab Stew

    
What to do with leftover boiled crabs?  Make crab stew!  It's basically a tomato gravy.  Of course, it wouldn't be Cajun without a little roux in it. 

 

Onions and bell peppers

Rest of ingredients

 

3 Tablespoon roux
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 can tomato sauce
8-12 ounces frozen tomatoes
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped onion
2 cups water
boiled crabs
season to taste

To prepare crabs: Take everything off of bodies like legs, shell, etc.

Brown bell pepper and onion in a little oil on medium fire.  Add can of tomato sauce and sugar.  Let cook about 15 minutes.  Add roux, water, and frozen tomatoes.  Let cook 30 minutes.  Add crabs.  Don't season until after you add crabs and taste. Gravy will be thin. 

I heat the crabs just until warm.  If you cook them too long in the gravy, the crabmeat will be mushy inside.  I prefer it to be firm meat, but either way is okay depending on your taste.  Serve over cooked rice.

Words of wisdom- there are NO neat ways to eat these crabs...  Just be prepared with PLENTY of paper towels!

Bread Pudding

     This is a wonderful way to use the extra bread you have hanging around your house.  I have used hamburger and hot dog buns, sliced bread, etc.  Of course, it is delicious with French bread.   Give it a try and see if you like it.  We even eat this for breakfast sometimes!



Bread Pudding


8-9 cups bread, cut into 1" cubes
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups milk (I used whole)
5 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)


Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon


Put cubed bread in large bowl.  Mix all ingredients together in different bowl until blended.  Pour liquid over bread as shown.  Stir until bread is covered in liquid. You can let the mix soak for about 5 minutes, but I prefer to put it right into a baking pan.  This recipe will make a 13 x 9 pan (spray with cooking spray).  Sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar topping and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  I like the top to be a little crunchy!

 

 

 

 

Bread pudding can be eaten like this or on the side  add vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or top it with a caramel sauce. 

Enjoy!

Shrimp Season

    Shrimp season recently opened here...looks like it's going to be a good one!

Husband went shrimping with friend- came home with

 three ice chests full of beautiful Louisiana shrimp!

 

 

 

 First, we rinsed them while they were in the ice chest and let the water drain out. Next we had to take the heads off of ALL of this shrimp before we packaged them for the freezer.

 

My mother-in-law told me how to package them like this.  After taking the heads off of the shrimp, use a four cup measuring cup, fill with shrimp and pour that into a one quart Ziploc bag.  Seal it and then put that bag into another quart size bag.  (It's called double-bagging.)

Now that my freezer is full, I can start thinking of how I will cook them.  There are so many possibilities!  I will be sharing recipes soon....

Louisiana Boiled Crabs

     It's that time of year again...boiled crabs from Louisiana!  My husband went with a friend to the Vermilion Bay in south Louisiana the other day and came home with about three dozen crabs. That's enough for about three people....what can I say, we LOVE our seafood!

 

Don't they look delicious?

 

Here's the recipe:

3 dozen crabs
1/4 jar of Zatarain's Crab Boil
1 box salt
whole potatoes and onions - optional

Put water in a LARGE pot (fill about 1/2 way) and add seasoning.  I would add the potatoes and onions now.  How much depends on how many people you are serving.  I put three potatoes and three onions (one potato and one onion for each person).   Cover pot with lid.  On high heat, bring to boil.  When steam is coming out of the top, add crabs. Once the water comes to a boil again, cook the crabs for a full twenty minutes.  Drain the water or take the crabs out with tongs.    That's it!

 

I call these the necessities!  Oops, forgot the potatoes...

Another necessity down here: This boiling pot has a basket inside - fuel is a bottle of propane.

 

Note: If you only have a dozen to boil, you can boil them in a large pot on the stove.  That works too!

 

 

 

All things considered, this is a pretty healthy dinner...Enjoy!

Vacation Over

     My vacation has come to and end, so it's back to work.  I have been very blessed to have the opportunity to spend three weeks with my son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren on the east coast!  My son is active military (Army), still stateside. 

     My husband and I flew there, he stayed a week and had to fly back.  I decided to stay an extra two weeks while the kids were on summer break from school.  We did quite a bit while we were all together....the aquarium, the zoo, the beach.  My son and my husband got to do some fishing, caught a few fish too.  The Carolina's are beautiful!

The Aquarium

 

 

The Zoo

 

 

The Beach

 

     After my husband flew home, our big project was to get the youngest grandchild potty trained!  By the time I left, she was doing pretty well during the day.  Night training will come a little later.

     My oldest granddaughter had a list of things she wanted to do while I was there....  It included baking (she has been baking with me since she was able to sit on the counter next to me), she wanted to show me how to crochet, how to make friendship bracelets, etc. 

     We all played games, had a tea party, planted flowers, went to the park and the library.  Played in the sprinkler outside, watched movies, rode bikes.  How much fun can we cram into these three weeks!  These are the things we used to always do when they lived nearby. 

     My grandson is interested in the Avengers (and any other superhero) and Lego's.   I am so glad there are movies like that available to him.  All children need heroes to look up to!

     Saying goodbye is always hard.  My granddaughter held my hand on the way to the airport.  Don't cry.....

     I am so used to them living in the same town.  It's been an adjustment the past couple of years to have them far away.  Skype has been a godsend.  That and the fact that my Navy son is stationed here in Louisiana-  He couldn't come with us on  this trip. I do get to see him about every other weekend though!  It seems like my sons take turns living here...LOL. One moves away, the other comes back.

     The life of a military family.....