Enjoying the Holidays

I LOVE the Holidays! It's my favorite time of year. I have some great recipes to make and share with family and friends! 

Crab and Corn Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 stick of butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups half and half

1 can cream style corn

1 cup frozen corn

1 pound lump crab meat, shells removed

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup sherry

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Sauté onion and celery in the butter in a saucepan for 3 minutes or until tender. Add flour and mix well. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the broth gradually, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. (just keep stirring!) Stir in half and half and corn.

Cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fold in the crab meat and green onion. Stir in the sherry, salt and cayenne pepper. Simmer just until heated through and ladle into soup bowls.

Serves 8

Serve with French bread

For my favorite to go containers, shop www.maryandmartha.com

Merry Christmas! Enjoy trimming your tree and singing carols with your loved ones! 

Tropical Summer Day

We're spending the day swimming and enjoying the sunshine. Ethan is practing strokes for swim team practice and Emma is getting braver and paddling around in her floaties!
To keep with the mood of the day we're having fruit salad as a snack and "Hawaiian BBQ Chicken" for dinner.

Tropical fruit Salad
This one is very simple
1 can mandarin oranges drained
1 sliced banana
1 can pineapple chunks ( I found one with coconut in the syrup!)

Pour in bowl and mix together!

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken
4-6 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle BBQ sauce
1 can pineapple chunks drained

Add all the ingredients to crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours.
Serve over rice.

Enjoy& Aloha!!

Sweet Summer Time!

Ahh summer time. A sigh of relief after a long busy year. I have some delicious recipes to celebrate. Time to bring out the shorts, flip flops and sunglasses.

Mint Julep
2 cups Sugar
2 cups Water
6 sprigs fresh mint, plus some for garnish
2 cups bourbon whiskey

Make a simple syrup by dissolving sugar in water and bring to a low boil. Once sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is piping hot, remove from heat .
Pluck mint leaves from stems and add to syrup.
Cool completely.
Pour syrup into a serving pitcher and add bourbon. Stir to mix well.
Fill a high-ball glass with ice and a sprig if mint.
Cover ice with bourbon mixture and serve!



Mango-avocado Salsa
2 ripe Mangoes, peeled and diced
3/4 cup finely chopped red onions
3/4 cup finely chopped red bell peppers
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives
1 large ripe avocado, peeled pitted and diced
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, combine mangoes, red onions, all bell peppers, olive oil, cilantro and chives.
Toss avocado with lime juice.
Gently add avocado with juice to mango mixture, stirring to combine flavors.
Season with salt and pepper.


Grilled Asparagus

2 bunches asparagus, trimmed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Drizzle olive oil over asparagus with salt and pepper
Place across hot grill. Grill about 2 minutes. Roll them over and grill another 2 minutes.
Remove and serve immediately.

Grilled Shrimp

1 pound large headless shrimp peeled
1 table spoon olive oil
Creole Seasoning

Toss shrimp with olive oil and creole seasoning.
Skewer kabob style onto metal or wooden skewers.
Place grill on high heat and cook about 2 minutes on each side.

Happy Mardi gras!

It's Fat Tuesday here in Louisiana. That means good food. I'm starting with "king cake" cinnamon rolls. This one is super easy. I'm using store bought cinnamon rolls. You going to unroll them and reshape them into a twisty wreath shape. Bake according to directions. Warm up the icing and drizzle over warm cinnamon rings.  Now while the rings bake, make the colored sugar. Just use a small container and mix food coloring with regular granulated sugar (purple, green and yellow. Separate containers for each color). Sprinkle on iced cakes while still warm. Serve!

Next is lunch. Poboys. These are simple to make. I'm going with shrimp. First, peel and devein your shrimp and dry them on a paper towel. I'm using a simple batter. In a large bowl crack open 2 eggs and whisk them. In another bowl, add 1 cup of flour and season with Cajun seasoning. On the stove heat your vegetable oil to 375 degrees.  Dip your shrimp in the egg then in the flour mixture. Fry for about 2-3 minutes until golden. Dry on paper towels. You'll want to fry them in batches.
   Next get your spread ready. 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce. Mix together. You can add more of the Cajun seasoning also.
   Now the French bread. Cut the loaf into thirds. Slice to open. Spread on mayo mixture generously. Add shrimp. Enjoy with some Zapp's potato chips and a Barq's root beer!

Last I'm making boiled shrimp. It's cold today, so we're staying inside. Start with a large stock pot. Fill it 3/4 full of water. Add 1 cup of seafood boil (I use Zatarans) 2 lemons (cut in 1/2)  a few garlic cloves and 1/2 stick of butter. Go ahead and add about 6 new potatoes, they take longer to cook. And a few ears of corn. Bring to boil. Then let's prep our shrimp. I bought mine, with the heads off and deveined. Tail shells still on. They just have to be defrosted. If you get yours straight off the boat (lucky!) you will want to take the heads off and devein them.  I'm making 4 lbs of shrimp. Add them about 2 lbs  batches to boiling water and boil about 4-6 minutes until pink and curled. Remove shrimp, potatoes and corn and serve with the mayo mixture used with the poboys and some French bread.

We're watching Princess and the Frog today, reading Gaston Goes to Mardi Gras, and listening to Johnette Downing. Enjoy your Mardi Gras! Freezing rain here..