Dinner Tonight... Celebrate Fat Tuesday with New Orleans Creole Jambalaya

Fat Tuesday is a great day each year to celebrate one of the things I love most--FOOD!  It's the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  From Ash Wednesday to Easter, many people "fast" or abstain from certain foods or physical pleasures, for 40 days. This is done by many Christians to imitate Jesus' 40-day fast in the wilderness.

Regardless of religion, many use Fat Tuesday as an excuse to eat great food and celebrate Mardi Gras.  So in honor of any food-related holiday, I like to celebrate with an appropriate recipe.  New Orleans is the home to one of the biggest Mardi Gras celebrations in the world - so what better to do than to enjoy a New Orleans style Jambalaya??


Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence.  It's like a spicy surf-and-turf if you make it with sausage and shrimp like I do.  And here's a tip -- save time by buying frozen shrimp already peeled, deveined, and tail-off; then thaw it in the refrigerator or under cold, running water when you're ready to cook!


I know the ingredients list is going to look long and intimidating - but the majority are the added spices for the New Orleans kick!  Otherwise, it's simply rice, sausage, shrimp, red bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, and chicken broth.  And I put the ingredients in order of which you add them... it's not that hard -- I promise!

New Orleans Jambalaya 

with Shrimp and Andouille Sausage

(from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
6 oz andouille sausage (sliced)
1 cup uncooked long-gran wild rice
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 bay leaf
2 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup water
1tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 can (about 15oz) no salt-added diced tomatoes (don't drain!)
1/2 lb shrimp
2 tbsp chopped, fresh parsley


Preparation:
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and sausage; saute 5 minutes (or until veggies are tender).
- Add rice and next 7 ingredients (paprika through bay leaf) and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add next 5 ingredients (chicken broth through the can of tomatoes), and bring to a boil.
- Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add shrimp and cook an additional 5 minutes (make sure the shrimp are pink).
- Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Discard the bay leaf (it's only added for the flavor) and stir in some parsley.


AND VOILE!

Beads, Creole food, and lot's of fun... 

It will be a party second to none!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Vegetables? Dessert? I Don't Care Which, Because It's Delish... Yam & Banana Casserole

Banana and Yam Casserole... warm & golden & perfection

Miss A and I actually made this for the first time the week before Thanksgiving, but it's a delicious vegetable/dessert for any time or any holiday.  On a chilly Saturday, I woke up and didn't hear Miss A stirring--so I turned on my TV and went straight to The Food Network and discovered some new recipes to try.  I was watching a show I'd never seen before (it turned out to be "Mexican Made Easy" with Marcela Valladolid) and this recipe was on.  I'm not quite sure how this is Mexican, but I didn't care and I knew Miss A wouldn't either.  As I was squealing my way into her room, bursting with excitement, I had already started planning how we were going to make it that day!  We both got way too excited when we found this recipe online, so I think it's a must-share.  

Plus, we had sweet potatoes last night (from Boston Market, not my favorite) and my Grandma LOVED them; she must have said it 4 times over the course of dinner how delicious they were.  Ding ding ding... that way my cue to make MY sweet potato and banana casserole to get EXTRA brownie points with Helen!  And even if I don't, I can show her FAFK and attempt to explain what a blog is; I have a feeling that she wouldn't understand it anyway.

YAM and BANANA CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, for greasing the baking dish
1 1/2 pounds yams, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1-inch thick slices*
5 ounces (about 32) sweetened round crackers (recommended: Maria Crackers),** or graham crackers
3/4 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
4 large ripe (but firm) bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
1 (10.5-ounce) bag of mini marshmallows
*I used sweet potatoes.
**I settled for the graham crackers because I couldn't find the Maria crackers at our local Teeter, but I bet if you checked out The Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, or World Market they'd probably have them.


PREPARATION:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat the bottom of a 13"x9"x2" glass baking dish with 2 tablespoons butter.  Set the dish aside for later.

If you're using fresh yams (I used sweet potatoes): add the yams to a heavy medium pot and cover with cold water.  Bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Then reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes (the color of the yams will turn brighter).  FYI: When I made it in November, it took the sweet potatoes A LOT longer than 10 minutes (more like 18 minutes) for them to be tender, probably because they were on the big side.  You can check to see if they're done by using a fork to test them (if the fork goes in fairly easily, they're done).

After 1 layer of  bananas, yams, streusel, and marshmallows, then repeat. 

While the yams are simmering, put the crackers, almonds, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine until coarse but not fully ground.  Add 6 tablespoons butter and pulse until the mixture forms lumps slightly larger than peas.  Another FYI: I don't have a food processor and thought I could use a blender and it'd be just fine--WRONG.  It wasn't terrible, but was definitely a fail.  The almonds kept jamming the blade and the butter retained most of its shape and never mixed well.  I ended up using a spoon like a mortar and pestle to crush/blend/mix the streusel.  ANYWHO... Refrigerate the streusel topping until you're ready to use it.

My attempt at the streusel

Spread half of the bananas and yams in 1 layer in the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half of the streusel and half of the marshmallows. Repeat to make 1 more layer. Bake until the marshmallows are golden, about 25 minutes and SERVE WARM!

Starting layer 2...

This was utterly delicious and certainly sweet--a great dish to make if you have a sweet tooth craving, but be wary if you don't.  Look at those golden brown marshmallows... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

The finished deliciousness

Happy Christmas Eve from Florida!

Not Quite a White Christmas, but a Florida Christmas Will Do

I know I've been a little M.I.A. and I'm sorry... apparently the Holidays are CRAZY and stressful once you're a big girl!  


But I've left chilly NC for a warmer climate; now I'm in Naples, Florida visiting my Grandma Helen (my mom's mom).  I like to call her "Pocket Grandma" because she's so little--she's probably 4'8"ish with all the the shrinking that comes along with being a grandma!  

Christmas a few years ago - that's Helen in the middle making us look tall!

Tonight we decorated the little area outside her door this evening and went on a little Christmas lights tour for Grandma to see them.  Everything's a little more magical with Helen around, because she's so appreciative of everything since she doesn't get out much anymore.


My grandma is absolutely A-DOR-A-BLE!  I've been searching for the perfect tacky Christmas sweater for a long time and have been a little down that neither of my grandmothers ever had true tacky sweaters.  BUT today I found a tacky Christmas sweatshirt in her closet and 3 things happened: 1) she didn't even know she had it and asked if it was mine, 2) she thought it looked so darling on me, and 3) she told me I should have it, although it might be a little outdated!  Gotta love her.

My new tacky sweatshirt! And yes, those are sand dollars
on the bottom, not snowflakes!  SO Florida!

The food around the Holidays are always DE-lish; we have a Christmas Eve swordfish dinner planned (one of Helen's favorites) and then dinner in the "Dining Room" (the retirement community's dining room) on Christmas Day -- and it's a buffet!  Swordfish is certainly one of my dad's specialties and I will absolutely have to share some recipes from tomorrow and photos.  My mouth is already watering thinking about the BJBC I get to make tomorrow (for all of you that don't think in acronyms 24/7 because of your job like I do, that is a Baby Jesus Birthday Cake) to celebrate the real reason for Christmas!  It is a Southern tradition, similar to the New Orleans Mardi Gras King Cake, with a little twist from us.  I'm thinking an angel food layer cake with raspberry preserve center layer and fresh whipped cream for frosting, with a few fresh raspberries on top too!

The ORIGINAL BJBC (2 years ago)

Can't wait to share all of the holiday feasts (and failures) with you!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!

Twinnies PAR-TAY: Perfect Party Appetizers

The birthday twins plus some other Davidson soccer girls - all reunite to celebrate!

So we had a little party last weekend for my two favorite twinnies, Miss A and Miss L!  It being their 24th birthday, we decided to go all out!  We had every type of liquor needed for any drink we could possibly want (including Woo Woos... which were A-Mazing!), plenty of cheese and appetizers to entertain our 25 guests!

We got three cheeses for a cheese plate, including our favorite English cheese, Sturminster, which is cheddar-like with chive in it---delicious!!  We also got a yummy aged blue cheese from Wisconsin and a goat cheese that we dressed-up with a little cranberry and pomegranate chutney (by Stonewall Kitchen). Everything was wonderful!  We had Carr's cracked black pepper crackers and some whole grain crackers too (I like the Carr's better).  

The best thing we did for this party was make little tiny signs on toothpicks so our guests could know what cheese their trying--plus it was an adorable personal touch!

In addition to our cheese plate, Miss L herself made a baked brie amazingness--and it's just about the easiest thing to make!  It's a wedge of brie cheese, a jar of tomatillo sauce and paprika on top (we did it in a seasonal mitten shape)!  It's simple and somehow irresistible!  One of our friends practically ate the whole thing himself it was so delicious!

To balance out our cheese feast, we made a crudité (which is simply a french appetizer of raw vegetables with a vinaigrette or other dressing to dip into).  We simply got a Hidden Valley Ranch powder mix (in the salad dressing aisle) that's especially for mixing with sour cream for veggie dip.  The veggies are also great with a Greek tzatziki dip (we had both options).  Crudités are also great because they can bring some much needed color to an otherwise bland appetizer display.

And our final appetizer offered for finger food is one of my absolute favorite recipes that I learned while catering with Missy Fink, Inc. throughout high school and into early college.  Missy is just about the coolest boss and friend I could ever have and she's a darn good cook too!  I asked for her famous shrimp and cilantro recipes and recreated it to the best of my ability.  It wasn't as perfect as it would have been if Missy had made it, but they were all eaten by the end of the party! 

Shrimp can be understandably daunting, but this recipe is really easy (notice a theme for our appetizer selections?).  I bought 2 bags of frozen shrimp, but I chose the pre-cooked, tail-off, and de-veined kind to simplify the process even more.  These puppies were simply skewered with short wooden skewers and placed on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil.  Drizzle them (fairly generously) with a good olive oil, and add freshly ground salt and pepper.  Put them in the oven (pre-heated to 350 degrees) for 6 minutes (or until pink) and voile!  Done and done!  There's a great cilantro salad dressing dip you can get at Trader Joe's that I simply spruced up with some extra sour cream (on Missy's recommendation of course) and a simple, yet ready-to-impress appetizer was ready!

Our final display was festive with a Christmas tree on the table and Christmas lights wrapped around the base of it.  Nearly all of the food was eaten (thankfully), so I guess we did something right!

Parties are my favorite excuse to find new recipes and foods to share with friends and this party was no different.  Don't get overwhelmed with thinking anything impressive will be hard to prepare -- I did all of this (with a little help from my girls) in just over 1 hour!

Happy Sunday!  I'm flying to NYC for work on Tuesday, so I have a feeling my week's schedule is going to be quite disrupted.  I do get to see my mom on her birthday though (yay), so no matter how much I'm slacking with posts, I'll still be a happy camper this week!

Excited for Mac Monday tomorrow...

The Best Part of Thanksgiving--DESSERT! (and a Pumpkin Pie recipe)

My parents' kitchen... PRE-Thanksgiving madness!  Check out those pies cooling though... yum!

My parents' oven - that made Thanksgiving possible!  Thank goodness for double ovens!

My mom crimping the pie edges like I taught her!

And I crimped the one in front!

My mom's magical mixer that I am SO ENVIOUS OF!

PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh pumpkin, cooked and mashed

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust 

...frozen or homemade, whichever you have time for!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk and eggs. Season with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix together with a wire whisk until thoroughly blended. Pour filling into pie crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake another 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.


Top it off with a few chopped pecans and dust it with cinnamon for a Holiday-worth presentation!

Filled with pumpkin filling.

One of the finished, perfectly-golden Pumpkin Pies... Look at that crust! 

Another pie my mom made at my Uncle Mark's request: Lemon Meringue Pie
--complete with little mountains on top! 

That's 5 pies and 2 cakes plus cookies people! 2 Pumpkin Pies, Coffee Cake on top 
of a box of Homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Cake,  
Apple Pie, and Pecan Pie in back!

More Thanksgiving pictures and recipes to come...

So Many Delicious Treats, So Little Time!!

Yes, I know, it's hard to imagine that Thanksgiving is one of my FAVORITE holidays!  (It's second only to Christmas because when I was little I'd break into a frenzied-sweat at the excitement of the morning!)


Anywho.... I have so many things I want to share!  I am home in chilly NY and we're preparing Thanksgiving for over 20 people!!!!  I'm not even sure of the final count just yet... it seems to keep creeping up!  There are pies to be baked, pecans to be toasted, turkeys (emphasis on the plural... plus a duck!) to be roasted, potatoes to be smashed, stuffing to be stuffed, meringue to be whipped, some veggies to be mixed in somewhere, cranberry to be sliced, and post-Thanksgiving dinner food-coma naps to be had!


I love the holidays!  There are plenty of McCormick Family photos to come and cooking successes and failures, plus photos and recipes!

And that's only SOME of the McCormick's....

I'm tired just thinking about it!!  And make sure to wear the pants with the elastic waistband -- there's a lot of eating ahead of us all!

A few more girls added in... maybe this year we'll all be looking!

Gobble Up These Adorable Godiva Chocolates Quickly!!!

How adorable is this little chocolate turkey from Godiva?  Everyone loves the classics on Thanksgiving... I'm partial to the cranberry, mashed potatoes, and ALL of the desserts.  

What could be a better hostess gift than to bring a handful of these turkeys with you??

And at 3 for $15.00, they're sure to be a hit!  So gobble them up quickly!!!

Click here to buy them on the Godiva website, 

or click here to locate your local Godiva boutique!