Fat Tuesday

Even though I have only been to New Orleans once, and that was just this past December, I have always loved the city, the culture and of course, the cuisine, Mardis Gras has always been a fascination of mine & despite the fact that my husband half grew up in Louisiana, we have yet to go to Mardis Gras together!!

Every year though, I like to go all out for Fat Tuesday!  While traditionally Fat Tuesday symbolizes the last days before lent begins, I am not Catholic (although my husband sometimes is!), so I use the day as an excuse for making as many Cajun foods as possible!  It doesn't hurt that Cajun food is one of my favorites, or that my dad has been making it for as long as I can remember...

This year, I decided to make Gumbo using an Instant Roux mix we bought at the Winn Dixie in Destrehan.

While I would normally make my own roux (butter and flour), I was really excited to try out this new item!  

Quick Review on Tony Chachere's Creole Instant Roux Mix:

I thought it made a really nice, dark roux; darker normally than I use, so if you like thinner gumbo, I would use more water or less of everything all together...  The downside to the mix was that just for one pot of gumbo, I had to use almost half of the canister; so really the mix cost me about $4 and I used $2 for one meal.  Cost wise, it would be much cheaper to just use butter and flour, but the mix is quick and if you aren't comfortable with making a roux, the mix is definitely a good choice for you!  Another downside is that except for that Winn Dixie, I have never seen the Mix in any other stores.

Chicken, Sausage & Okra Gumbo

Ingredients:

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

1/2 white onion, sliced

10 cups cool water

1 cup Ton Chachere's Instant Roux

1 roterrise chicken (original)

1 lb smoked sausage

1 Tbsp garlic powder

Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Directions:

Saute bell peppers and onions until tender.

Make the roux: Whisk together 1 cup mix and 2 cups water.  Bring to boil.

Chop up the chicken and the sausage (our grocery store didn't have andouille, so I had to use a-not-as-good kind of sausage; this really does make a difference!)

Add the remaining 8 cups of water, the chicken, sausage and the okra.

 

 Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning (aka the best seasonings ever!)

Serve with steamed white rice.

For dessert, I did a take on a New Orleans classic, Bananas Foster (a personal favorite).

Sauteed Bananas in a Brown Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup of sugar

4 bananas

Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions:

Brown the butter.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add the sliced bananas to the butter and sugar mixture.

Spoon the hot mixture over a few scoops of vanilla ice cream!  So delicious!

When we were in New Orleans a few months back, we picked up some cheap Mardi Gras decorations, so we put them up!

Chef for a Day: My Husband's Turn to Cook

Is there anything better than a man who cooks?.. How about a man who cooks and bakes!

The other day, my husband, who up until this point in our marriage had only nailed down a small, but tasty number of meals, decided that he was going to make dinner for the whole family: my parents, my grandmother, my sister and her boyfriend and of course the two of us; quite a large gathering for a relative newbie in the kitchen.

But things went great and dinner was awesome!


He made a bowtie and chicken and broccoli pasta with a Italian Herb Cream Sauce, served with a Hawaiian Roll buttered the way he learned from Corky's BBQ in Lousiana.

For dessert we had a S'mores Pie: a from-scratch graham cracker crust, a chocolate filling, with a toasted marshmallow topping!  Incredibly rich but also very good and even though to burned our tongues (we ate it minutes after being pulled from the oven) it was so worth it to eat it hot!

No recipes or step-by-steps for this one, because afterall, I didn't make it!  I just wanted to brag about my culinary inclined husband!

Happy 100th Birthday, Oreo! (and 22nd to my brother)

On March 6^th of this year, milk’s (and my own) favorite cookie, Nabisco’s Oreo, will be turning 100!

In celebration of the milestone, Nabisco has released a limited edition flavor called “Birthday Cake” and I’m really excited about this, because I really do love Oreos, but I mean, who doesn’t?!

Source: www.anutinanutshell.com

While I unfortunately haven’t had a chance to try them yet (I haven’t even seen them in stores where I live), so far the feedback (of the lucky ones whose stores are actually carrying them) seems to be positive.

Until I get a chance to try them for myself however, I will just have to make do with the original... life is so hard sometimes.

Below is what I decided to make to celebrate both the Oreo’s birthday and my little (well younger, he’s been quite a bit taller than me for some time now) brother’s 22^nd birthday.

I decided on the mini Oreo cheesecakes for two reasons.  One, the whole two birds with one stone thing, meaning, I got something to blog about, while eating Oreos and made something for my brother’s birthday (so I guess that’s three birds..), and two he loves all things sweet, chocolate and cheesecake-y.

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

adapted from the recipe @kraftrecipes.com

32 Oreo cookies, divided

3 pkg. of 8oz cream cheese (I like Philadelphia)

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup of sour cream

1 tsp vanilla (wish my homemade extract was ready!)

3 eggs

Whipped cream topping (make it yourself if you have time)

Directions

Heat oven to 350

Place 1 cookie in each of the cupcake holders

Chop the remaining 8 cookies and set aside

Beat cream cheese and sugar until blended

Add sour cream and vanilla until mixed well

Add eggs, 1 at a time

Stir in chopped cookies

Scoop into baking cups

Bake 18 to 20 mins

Cool completely and refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours

Top with whipped cream.

Makes 24 mini cheesecakes

***Kraft Kitchen Tips:

If you are going to make ahead: Cheesecakes can be stored in refrigerator up to 3 days, or frozen up to 1 month, before topping with COOL WHIP and cookie half just before serving. If freezing cheesecakes, thaw overnight in refrigerator before garnishing.

Happy Birthday Oreo!

and to Stephen too!

Homemade Vanilla Extract: Days 1 & 2

Sites like http://www.thehappyhousewife.com/, http://www.diynatural.com/, and http://www.allrecipes.com/, all have recipes posted on how to make your own vanilla extract; when I saw how easy, and relatively cheap it was, I decided I had to try it!  

**Added bonus to this cool experiment, is that I will be able to stop buying the cheap imitation extract!!

 Day 1

I started out with just four items:

A bottle of vodka we had in our bar.

1 vanilla bean we bought at Whole Foods for $6.

2 bottle we found at Michael's for $1 each

Make sure you wash the bottles before you use them!

I cut the bean in half and put inside the bottles, then I filled up the bottle with vodka.

 

Make sure you leave enough room to put the cork back in, I made this mistake and had to end up pouring out some of the vodka.

 

Now you need to find a place to store your bottle (or bottles) because the process of the vodka becoming extract takes several months; about 2 to 3, but for a bottle this size, it might be less.  Sure this process requires patience, but soon you will have your very own homemade vanilla extract, and all for less than $10!

Oh and I read on a few of the websites, that you should be able to use each bean at least twice!

Day 2

By day 2, I could already see progress being made!

Update: at the end of Week 1

Make sure you shake  your bottles just a little bit about once a week; that way the vanilla can be distributed throughout!

Valentine's Day

For some people, Valentine's Day can be a painful day if they are single or are away from their significant others.  Then you have those who prefer to hate Valentine's Day and instead of just ignoring it, make it their goal to ruin it for everyone else.  If either is the case for you, you should probably stop ready this post right now....

For those of you who like Valentine's Day or are couldn't care either way, by all means, keep reading...

Last year, my husband was still stationed in Virginia and it was a little hard being away from him, especially since we had spent the previous six Valentine's Days together; but this year, he woke me up with a glass of sparkling grape juice (he said he had wanted to get wine, but decided against it, after all it was 9 o'clock in the morning), a long-stemmed rose, a box of chocolate, a card, a chick flick that I love (and he can't stand.. that's true love) and then when I went out to the front porch, a pot of tulips (my favorite flower) were sitting there waiting for me.

He deserves gifts also, so I got him five days of playing video games without my complaining (a great sacrifice on my part just so you know), chocolates, sunflower seeds (there are like cigarettes to him) and mini bottles of Jack Daniels (I thought he might like that more than flowers).

For our Valentine's date, we went to eat at Tokyo Steak House in San Antonio; it's this great Japanese cooking table restaurant that is in a terrible location.  The part of town isn't a bad one, but the restaurant is part of a huge building that houses at least one other place, and that is all hidden behind other shops.

Since we went sort of early, we were one of the only parties there and that meant we had the whole table and chef to ourselves.  While that made for less awkward small talk with strangers, it also meant more awkward
small talk with the chef (usually we prefer to appreciate the cooking process in silence, while the other people talk).

The salad was good, but different from the last time we had eaten there.  We like the dressing to have more ginger than it did this time.  The soup was also good, but different and the fried onion they put in it was almost too much.

The main meal was so good that I didn't even have to add soy sauce and if you know me at all, I add always add soy sauce.  But this time, the food was so flavorful I just didn't want to ruin it.  I also got a virgin strawberry daiquiri because the one with alcohol was too expensive and I'm cheap..  It was really good and sweet, with a sugar rim that make the whole thing taste like a strawberry pie!

We were so full halfway through it that we took plenty of leftovers to go..The meal was great, but at the same time, it also made us miss this place that we use to go to in Virginia.  It was called Sakura, and if Tokyo Steak was a cheeseburger, Sakura would be a filet mignon!

Afterwards, we went to see a sneak preview (out just for Valentine's Day) of the new movie, "This Means War", that comes out on Friday.  That movie is hilarious and it doesn't hurt that starring in it are two very pleasing-to-the-eye guys who like to kick butt!

Also in the spirit of Valentine's Day, my mom made these cute cupcakes 

 

and I made some Valentine's Day Marshmallows (which I will be posting about very soon!)

All in all, I had a great Valentine's Day, as I hope everyone else DID as well!..and if you didn't, remember, you have a whole year until the next one!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Pasta Puttanesca

One of my favorite recipes to make is puttanesca.  I'm not even a huge fan of tomatoes or tomato based sauces, but I really like puttanesca sauce, especially with penne pasta and shrimp!  So good!  I've even made it for dinner for the past few Christmas Eves.  Then a few days ago I realized that not only do I make it on Christmas Eve, it's the only day I make it all year!  That is just crazy.. It's super easy and one of my favorite pasta sauces.  So I decided it was time that an ordinary weeknight was going to become puttanesca night.

I should point out right now that puttanesca while an amazing sauce, is sort of an odd choice of Christmas Eve and has a somewhat "scandalous" background.  Although I couldn't find the exact translation on the internet, "puttanesca" basically means "in the style of the lady of the night" and according to one version of the story, it got this name because the ladies would put together the sauce and set it out their windows, letting it cook all day and attract the men.

Regardless of its origins, puttanesca is a great dish and while I've used various recipes, the one I made most recently was actually from Weight Watchers, however I changed so many things that the points are probably no longer accurate.

Pasta Puttanesca with Tilapia, Serves 8

1 lb Thin Spaghetti
4 tsp olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 28 oz can whole tomatoes in puree with basil
4 tbsp each black and green olives, chopped
3 tbsp nonpareil capers, drained
2 tsp dried oregano
To taste red pepper flakes, salt and pepper
8 pieces of tilapia

Directions:

Cook spaghetti

Heat oil.  Add the garlic, let it cook for about 30 seconds.

 

Add olives, capers (I left some of the juice from the jar)...

...tomatoes, oregano and pepper flakes, also salt and pepper.  Bring to boil.  

 

Reduce and simmer about 10 minutes; breaking up tomatoes whenever possible.  Let slightly thicken.

While the sauce is cooking, put tilapia in glass baking dishes and top with a little garlic butter.  Bake about 30-45 mins or until flaky.

Serve: pasta, fish and then sauce on top!  Enjoy!  You can substitute shrimp for fish.

This recipe was a pretty good one, but I didn't think it had as much flavor as some of the other puttanesca recipes I've had and I think that it's because there were no anchovies in this recipe.  Next time, I would add a few anchovy filets to the garlic instead of the oil and let them break up before adding the rest of the ingredients!

So whether you are looking to entice a "suitor" or just looking for a good dish for dinner, you should definitely try out this meal!