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!