Mardi Gras!

Bon Temps Rouler!

In honor of Mardi Gras, Jami and I (well, mostly Jami) cooked up a big Cajun/Creole feast! Josh and I came over to play with Harlee while Jami cooked up a big pot of jambalaya.  It was pretty darn spicy, but pretty darn good.

My cooking tastes so good because of the faces I make...

She also made muffuletta.  I’d never had muffuletta, but these sandwiches were quite tasty, too.  I’m not a huge fan of olives, but I’ll eat this any day.

Of course, a meal wouldn’t have been complete without our “world famous” cornbread!  Also delicious.  Granny and Debbie stopped by, but they didn’t eat (they had already eaten liver and onions at Mary’s….), but Debbie sampled the jambalaya and cornbread.  The jambalaya had quite a kick to it, but it was still tasty. 

The best part was after dinner…. Beignets!  (Pronounced Ben-Yays, not Bay-uh-nets…. Jami.)  This was our first time ever making beignets, but they turned out delicious!  Granny tried one and said they tasted  just like Café du Monde.  I hope she was being honest!  Even if she wasn’t, they were still really good, especially with powdered sugar piled on top.  Yum Yum.  Justin fixed a pot of coffee, and it was the perfect complement to our puffy little pastries. 

 

Jambalaya, muffuletta, beignets and zydeco music made for the perfect Mardi Gras feast.  Oh and Harlee, well, he was just dandy, too.

Jambalaya

   adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/Chicken-and-Shrimp-Jambalaya/Detail.aspx?prop31=7

1 pound fully cooked smoked sausage link, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Small yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped jalapeno pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 15oz can diced stewed tomatoes
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
2 bay leaves
2 cups sliced okra
1 pound fresh or frozen raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
Hot pepper sauce to taste

 In a pan oven over medium heat, cook sausage, onion, celery, peppers, and garlic until tender. Add remaining ingredients except okra, shrimp and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender. Add okra, shrimp, and hot pepper sauce. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turns pink. Remove bay leaves. Serve!


Muffuletta
    adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/muffuletta-sandwich/detail.aspx

1 loaf fresh Italian bread or sourdough bread
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
8 oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped
8 pitted green olives, chopped
salami, thinly sliced
ham, thinly sliced
provolone cheese, sliced

In a small bowl combine olive oil, olives, spices, and Parmesan cheese.
Slice bread in half lengthwise and divide into sandwich-size portions.  Spread olive mixture on both halves.  Layer with salami, ham, and provolone cheese.  If desired, place in oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is crispy.  Enjoy!

Check back here for that delicious cornbread we can't get enough of...


And let's not forget those bayonets or beignets or whatever they are ;-).  Just a note - we made the dough first so it could refrigerate while we cooked dinner and ate it.  It was ready to go for the next step when we were finished!

Beignets
   from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/costas-french-market-doughnuts-beignets/detail.aspx

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
7 1/2 cups flour
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Pour 1/2 cup room temperature water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand for about 5 minutes to dissolve.
Combine the shortening, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over the shortening mixture and then stir in the evaporated milk. Wait for the mixture to cool down until it is lukewarm. Then, add the yeast and water mixture and beaten eggs.
Slowly mix in the flour until the dough forms a ball. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Working with a small portion (a little larger than a baseball) at a time, roll out the dough 1/8-inch thick. Cut the rolled out dough into strips 2 to 3-inches wide, then cut again in the opposite direction and at an angle, making diamond shapes.
Heat your oil for frying in a deep and wide, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat to 360 degree F (180 degrees C).
Slide dough slowly into the oil to avoid splattering and deep fry until they puff up and are golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully remove onto a rack with paper towels underneath and allow to cool until you can handle them. Place in a clean paper bag with confectioners' sugar and shake gently until covered generously or, use a sifter to dust the beignets with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

 

Penne with Tomato-Cream Sauce

Jenna isn’t feeling entirely inspired tonight so she passed the blogging to me this time.  She reported that she got some knitting done while he napped, but he was rather fussy while he was awake.  Sounds like they spent a lot of time in the sunroom watching traffic drive by – Harlee is definitely entertained by that, as I’ve found on many occasions!  My guess is he’s working on some teeth… But then I feel like he’s kinda been doing that for months, with all the drooling and chewing on things he’s been doing.  Still haven’t detected any nubbins breaking through those gums yet though!  We’ve been trying different homemade purees of sweet potatoes, bananas, and squash so far.  He’s not too sure about it, and it sure is funny watching his faces (as you could see from his sweet potato experience from the last blog!).  I’m not in any hurry though – he’s just experimenting right now and from what I understand (and been told by his pediatrician), teeth are a sign that the digestive system is developed enough to handle solids, and since there are no teeth, well, no hurry!  He’s still getting the good stuff from his momma, which is important!

Speaking of good stuff, Jenna was in a pasta mood tonight so that’s the route we took.  It was interesting, since anything that required water had to be done in the bathroom sink.  Our kitchen faucet sprung a leak last night, so it’s out of commission until we fix it.  Anyway, I came up with this recipe about two years ago and I’ve been coming back to it quite a bit because it’s pretty tasty!  Add some easy homemade garlic bread and a salad and we’ve got a great meal!

Penne with Tomato-Cream Sauce

1 16oz box of penne pasta, cooked al dente

1 lb ground beef (or your choice of ground meat - venison in our case!)

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 small yellow onion, chopped

½ cup sliced mushrooms

2 15oz cans tomato sauce

1 cup half & half or heavy cream

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown the beef with spices.  Drain grease (if you have any – venison doesn’t create any) and add peppers, onions, and mushrooms.  Add tomato sauce and cream, and stir while adding cheeses.  Stir until heated through and cheese is melted.  Combine with cooked and drained noodles, and serve!

Homemade Garlic Bread

½ loaf (or 8 slices) French bread

~4 tbsp Butter spread

1-2 tsp garlic powder

1-2 tsp Italian seasoning

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread butter on both sides of bread slices.  Arrange on a baking sheet and sprinkle with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and cheese.  Bake for 8 minutes, until cheese is melted and bread is toasted.

Hawaiian BBQ Sandwiches

Harlee was super easy today.  He slept for two hours, and then Jami came home just in time to feed him.  Our dinner was, in theory, easy.  Hawaiian BBQ sandwiches with sweet potato fries and homemade potato chips.  Sounds like a meal that should be super easy, but I think it was the prep time that took the longest.  Slicing potatoes took a long time, and the whole time Harlee was kind of fussy.  So I held him while Jami sliced pineapple and potatoes.

Anyway, our meal was tasty when it was all done… two hours later.  The sandwich was based off a sandwich I ate at The Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney in Florida.  BBQ sauce, pineapple, ham and swiss cheese.  Yum!  And the potato chips turned out surprisingly crispy, for being done in the microwave.  And the sweet potato friends also turned out yummy.

Harlee’s started on solids now, and he joined us in eating sweet potatoes.  Just in different form.  He’s not too sure about them at the moment, though, and I think more got on his face than in his mouth.

Looks like he's liking it here!

Well... maybe not so much...

 **Jami's side note: we made both potato chips and sweet potato fries because Jenna said she didn't like sweet potatoes.  She changed her mind after trying these though :)

Sweet Potato Fries

4 sweet potatoes, cut into large french fries
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp lemon pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Toss sweet potatoes with Italian seasoning, lemon pepper, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Arrange fries on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 30 minutes, turning once after 15 minutes, or until fries are crispy on the outside. 

Sweet Potatoes for Baby

2 sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

Place potatoes in a steamer basket and place in a pan with about a half inch of water.  Steam on stove, covered, on medium-high heat until potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork (of course I didn't keep track of the time - one of these days I'll learn to do that!).


Place steamed potatoes in a blender with about 1 tbsp of the water from steaming and blend to a fine puree, adding more of the water as needed.


Let cool and serve to baby!  If you can resist eating it all yourself, that is...  Store the rest in clean ice cube trays in the freezer.  Once frozen, pop them out and keep in a freezer safe bag, thawing one cube at a time as needed.




Microwave Potato Chips
    (from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/potato-chips/Detail.aspx)


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 potato, sliced paper thin (peel optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Pour the vegetable oil into a plastic bag (a produce bag works well). Add the potato slices, and shake to coat.
Coat a large dinner plate lightly with oil or cooking spray. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on the dish.
Cook in the microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (if not browned, they will not become crisp). Times will vary depending on the power of your microwave. Remove chips from plate, and toss with salt (or other seasonings). Let cool. Repeat process with the remaining potato slices. You will not need to keep oiling the plate. 

Hawaiian BBQ Sandwiches

~ 1 lb of ham, sliced 1/8th inch thick (or desired thickness)
4 slices of pineapple
4 slices Swiss cheese
French bread cut into 8ths for 4 sandwiches (you can use whatever bread you like, but French bread seems to be sturdy and crusty and holds onto the juices well)
~ 4 tbsp honey barbeque sauce


Lightly toast the bread.  Spread bbq sauce on one side, pile on as much ham as you'd like, and top with Swiss cheese.  Place a pineapple slice on the other side.  Repeat for the other 3 sandwiches.  Toast in oven at 400 degrees at about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  (We used 400 degrees since that's what it was set to for the sweet potato fries - 350 may work just fine too but might need a longer cook time).  Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

Jenna had a meeting to run off to for her job at the newspaper, so I get the honors of blogging this time.  She watched Harlee while I had two clients and she reported he pretty much slept the whole time, allowing her to keep working on her knitting.  She's getting really good at it too!  Wish Harlee would sleep that much for me when I need to get stuff done... haha :-)  It's okay - Harlee is an adorable little bundle of fun and a whopping six months old as of Monday, and I'm loving every minute of it!  He just figured out how to sit unsupported and life is a lot easier on me now!

Taken by Be Lovely Photography

Look out, he'll be starting solids just around the corner, and then cooking is going to really get fun!  Not that it isn't already, though.  Tonight we made chicken and dumplings - perfect for this cold weather and it was super quick and easy which was great for Jenna to get to her meeting on time.  We were going to make the dumplings out of prepackaged biscuit dough to save on time, but luckily we found a simple homemade dumpling recipe instead.  Quality should not be sacrificed for convenience!

Here's the recipe:

Dumplings (we made these while the chicken was boiling for the soup)
     (from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dumplings/detail.aspx)

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp parsley (optional)
1 tablespoon margarine
1/2 cup milk
 
Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and parsley in medium size bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk to make a soft dough.
Drop by spoonfuls into boiling stew. Cover and simmer 15 minutes without lifting lid. Serve. 

Chicken and Dumplings

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
2 cups water
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups chopped celery
Small white onion, chopped
2 cans condensed cream of celery soup
Salt & Pepper to taste


Combine chicken with broth and water, boil until chicken is no longer pink in the middle, about 15-20 minutes.
Drain the liquid, reserving 3 cups
Remove the chicken and shred.  Return to remainder of liquid in the pot.
Reduce to medium heat, add cans of soup, vegetables, and season with salt & pepper.  Add dumplings and simmer until dumplings reach desired consistency (I think ours took about 10 minutes).  Serve!

Orange Walnut Sour Cream Muffins

Hello, Jami here again.  I just made breakfast and I'm pretty pleased with the turnout!  So I decided to post, even though Jenna's in Chicago doing fun things like shopping at IKEA (*insert jealous grumbling here -again-*).

I made lemon sour cream muffins while I was at the end of my pregnancy - supposedly they were supposed to start labor, but they were SO GOOD that I decided they could start pregnancy instead...  But I decided sour cream is a wonderful ingredient for muffins.  This morning I confirmed that again!

Orange Sour Cream Muffins
  (originally from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/orange-sour-cream-muffins/detail.aspx)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used walnuts)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate (but I didn't have that so I juiced three tangelos my brother-in-law had given me and that came out to be about 2/3 cup)

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, nuts, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, butter and orange juice concentrate. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to a wire rack. Serve warm.

Chicken Stir-Fry

After a long hiatus, I wish I could say that we made the best meal ever!  However, this was not the case.  Harlee was mostly good while I was babysitting… he slept the whole time.  But he’s been a fussy butt the rest of the evening.  We discovered, however, that singing “Pop Goes the Weasel” to him when he started to fuss seemed to calm him down.  Interesting.

We decided to see how Harlee likes whiskey... haha just kidding!  He at least likes the bottle!

Harlee "enjoying" our Pop Goes the Weasel serenade...

Our dinner was chicken stir fry with egg rolls.  The stir fry was easy.  The egg rolls…… Well, maybe it was just me, since I was making them.  Turns out our oil was too hot, so they immediately burned when I dropped them in.  Oops!  What’s worse is I dropped three of them in at once, so three precious egg rolls burned.  We turned the heat down and waited a few minutes.  The next one turned out okay.  We waited a little longer then dropped some more in.  Those turned out alright, too.  The only problem was the lack of drainage.  My egg roll turned out pretty greasy on the inside.  Not too tasty, but if you could get past the burnt taste of the other ones, they were great!

Stir fry was pretty good, too.  At least something turned out okay!  I wish I could say this was a stellar meal, but I think the poor egg rolls just dampened my mood.  When it came time to eat, we stepped away from the stove and realized we’d smoked up the entire house.  Another oops!  20 minutes later, I think it’s all cleared out.

I guess we had to start the New Year off with a bang.  Too bad it wasn’t a good bang!

Chicken Stir-Fry

    (Jami's note:  I made this up as we went along so my measurements and cook times are, as usual, just estimates...)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

~2 tbsp olive oil

~1 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup sweet & sour sauce

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 green bell pepper, cut into small squares
1 small yellow onion, cut into small squares
1 cup snow peas
1 can sliced water chestnuts

Cook chicken breasts in olive oil until almost cooked through, add vegetables, soy sauce, and sweet & sour sauce.  Cook until veggies are tender and chicken is no longer pink.


Egg Rolls
   (from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-egg-rolls/detail.aspx.  On AllRecipes it's called the "Best" egg rolls, but we had to omit the "best" part... we changed it up a bit anyway from the original recipe.)

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2-3 tsp soy sauce
1 quart peanut oil for frying
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
3-4 cups cole slaw mix (cabbage & carrots)
8 (7 inch square) egg roll wrappers

In a large skillet heat oil to about 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) or medium high heat (obviously we were lacking a thermometer...). While oil is heating, combine flour and water in a bowl until they form a paste. In a separate bowl combine cabbage mix with soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder. Mix all together.
Lay out one egg roll skin with a corner pointed toward you. Place about a 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the cabbage mixture on egg roll paper and fold corner up over the mixture. Fold left and right corners toward the center and continue to roll. Brush a bit of the flour paste on the final corner to help seal the egg roll.
Place egg rolls into heated oil and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or rack. Serve!

Baked Potato Soup

It wasn’t really a babysitting day.  Josh is in town, so we wanted to come eat with Jami.  He held Harlee while we cooked.  Baked Potato Soup and… you guessed it…. Cornbread!

Harlee fell asleep in Uncle Josh's arms

Jami was in charge of frying up bacon to put in the soup; however, she didn’t watch it well enough and she burned the bacon. 

This turned out to be a great way to test the smoke detectors!  Had to open the window too... whoops...

That wasn’t good, but Josh and I nibbled on it anyway.  So it was up to me to cook bacon, and boy did it turn out good.  Sometimes, nothing beats a greasy, crispy piece of bacon.  MmmmMM!

After the bacon was done, I finished stirring up cornbread and Jami finished the soup.  Just for fun, I sprinkled some bacon pieces into the cornbread.  Didn’t turn out too bad!

Cornbread muffin with bacon drizzled with maple syrup

Dinner was overall terrific and the perfect meal for a chilly winter night.  Harlee fell asleep during preparation and watched Blues Clues during dinner.  What a great boy!

We enjoyed some beer after dinner and Harlee seemed to want to join in on it...

He's happy hanging out with Uncle Josh!

Baked Potato Soup
     (taken from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-potato-soup/detail.aspx)

3 bacon strips, diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp, and watch it so it doesn't burn, haha. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside.
Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. 

Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the potatoes (we used Yukon Gold potatoes because we had them on hand), cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil.  Mash the potatoes and stir until soup reaches desired thickness.

Serve into bowls and garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Cornbread (we've made this quite a bit - it's irresistible!)