Crawfish Stuffed Pasta Shells

Niki's getting ready to head on a family vacation and was telling me about a dish her mom wanted her to make. Unfortunately, she lost the recipe. But crawfish stuffed pasta shells sounded simple enough to me to recreate, so we decided to give it a whirl. Let me be clear, I had no recipe here- we winged it. So this will give you some insight into my cooking style, which is basically: throw it all in a pot and hope it works.

Cook, drain and separate 2 boxes of jumbo pasta shells

Any good Louisiana based recipe starts with the Cajun Trinity: onion, bell pepper and celery. Please don't try to get around this, you will fail miserably.

I used one really big onion, two bell peppers and 3 stalks of celery. For this recipe, I cooked it down fairly well because it's going into a stuffing-type mix. After they warmed in the pan I added a stick of butter, three cloves of garlic (minced) and about 3 tablespoons of shrimp boil for flavor (You could use Old Bay as well). When the trinity was the consistency I wanted I added two bags of (thawed) frozen crawfish tails and let it all mix together well in the pan and warm through. (You could use shrimp here is you like, but you may need more butter or oil. Frozen crawfish have a lot of juices with them)

When it is well blended, put it all into a mixing bowl. Add plain bread crumbs (I used one container of Progresso) and 2 eggs. (My crawfish mix had plenty of flavor going on, but shrimp are milder, so you could add some cheese if you like.) Mix well.

Fill your pasta shells and lay them out in a pan (or in this case, foil pans because they'll be traveling). 

The next step is to make your sauce. We went with a white parmesan cream sauce. 

I knew I would need some flour to thicken my sauce, so I went with a roux-like base. This is not how it should look. You should have a nice paste. I over-killed on my flour. I was able to save it, but your roux should be equal parts butter or oil and flour and should be like a thin paste. It will thicken more than you think. 

Add half and half and milk until you have as much sauce as you need (I made 3/4 of this pot) and let it simmer and bubble until it begins to thicken, whisking every few minutes. If your flour is clumping some you can pour out some of the milk/cream and use a hand mixer to blend the flour and some of the milk until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, 2 or 3 cloves of grated garlic and parmesan cheese (don't use the kind in the shaker, it won't melt well. Use shaved pieces or grate it yourself.) Let that simmer until the cheese is well melted. Pour over your shells and voila! 

Anytime you are cooking something with these type of ingredients, you need to let it sit at least overnight. It will be good right away, but it will be much, much better if you let it sit so the flavors can meld. I am always disappointed if I don't. After letting these sit, bake at 350 until they are warmed through. You can top with more bread crumbs and cheese if you like before baking. 

Ingredients (as close as I can get you):

Shells:

2 boxes of jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained

2 bags frozen crawfish tails, thawed

1 very large or 2 medium onions

2 bell peppers

3 stalks celery

2 to 3 cloves garlic

1 stick butter

3 to 4 tablespoons shrimp boil or seafood seasoning

1 container plain bread crumbs

2 eggs

Sauce:

1 stick butter

4 to 5 tablespoons flour

1 pint half and half

About 4 cups milk

2 to 3 cloves garlic

Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cheater Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

I swiped this recipe from Cooking Light, then changed it a bit. I can not follow recipes. It's a bad habit. Their recipe is called Chicken and Sausage Stew, but says it's gumbo inspired. It does start with a roux. Personally, I do not put tomatoes in my gumbo. But some people do and I've had it great both ways. At any rate, a really good gumbo takes at least a day to make. This is much, much faster and a good substitute for a quicker fix.So give it a whirl if you like.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Flour
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 large onion
1 large bell pepper
3 celery stalks
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano (more if you're me)
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
12+ ounces chickens thighs
1 package sausage (turkey if you want to keep it light)
1 can of corn
1 can stewed tomatoes (diced works well)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce OR can 1/2 tomato paste plus 1 cup water or broth
Cooked rice

Process:
To make your roux put the olive oil and flour in a pot over medium heat and stir until browned and the color of a cafe au lait. Add chopped onions, bell pepper and celery and cook until soft. Sprinkle with herbs, red pepper and garlic. (side note: I like to put my herbs and spices in a soup or stew onto the sauteed veggies. They stick to them and then cook into the stew better) Add chicken and sausage and cook until chicken is white on the outside and the sausage is beginning to brown. Add cans of tomatoes and corn, then broth and marinara or tomato paste. Simmer at least half an hour. Serve over rice.

As will all soups and stews (and any self respecting gumbo) it's best if it sits overnight.

Original Recipe
How you make REAL gumbo

In other news, Niki and I took Lorelei for ice cream last night and she proceeded to COVER herself in it by eating it with her fingers rather than her spoon. Good times. In a good faith effort to keep her child seat and the car clean, I just took all her clothes off. She proceeded to yell, "Naked TIME!" in front of TCBY. Love her.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Whiskey Filling

When Sharon called to ask me to come hang with Wellman Farms at a horse show this past weekend, she mentioned that it was Sean's (the barn husband) birthday and we probably needed some cake. I took the hint, but went with cupcakes instead because they're easier to transport. I perused around for a fun recipe to try and when I came across beer cupcakes with whiskey filling and frosting I was in! Sean's my drinking buddy, so it was a perfect choice. I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen (an excellent recipe source) and modified it a bit because I have an inability to NOT mess with a recipe. These are also called Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, but I skipped the Bailey's Frosting and made some up because I just didn't feel like going to the store again.

The first thing you need is some Guinness. Walk to the gas station across the street from your apartment, they will only have a liter bottle so you will look like a lush. Great fun amongst the interstate gas station patrons.

You'll only need a cup (sans fizz), so you can proceed to take a very awkward photo of yourself drinking the rest. Honestly- it's too strong/bitter for me. I couldn't finish it all. 

Put beer and butter into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Add your cocoa and stir until it's dissolved (so far, this recipe is going well, right?) 

While the beer mixture cools, blend the eggs and sour cream. Mix together remaining dry ingredients in another bowl. Add the beer mix to the egg mix and blend well. Slowly stir into the dry ingredients until completely blended. Bake. The cupcakes will need to be completely cool to hollow them out. I used the freezer for this- much faster. 

While your cupcakes are cooking/cooling you make your filling. I ended up having to melt chocolate in the end, but these packets are amazing for that job. Because melting chocolate is kinda tricky at times (see below). Now, I followed her recipe and the filling was awful! 

Not sure what I did wrong, but either buy the packets that are sweetened or melt chocolate chips like I did, OR sweeten with powdered sugar. Because adding granulated sugar to melted chocolate gets you this:

Disgusting. 

OK, back on track... use pre-melted and sweetened chocolate or slowly melt some semi sweet or milk chocolate chocolate chips in a pan with heavy cream and more butter. Whisk it together until melted and blended and add remaining ingredients.

This is what happens when you let your one-year-old niece play with your whisk:

Let the filling cool and hollow out your cupcakes. She used a one-inch piping tip. Personally, I finally found a use for my melon baller and it worked like a charm. Fill cupcakes. 

After that, all that's left if frosting! If you want to go for the Bailey's icing read the Smitten Kitchen Recipe. I did whiskey cream cheese and it rocked. 

If your kitchen looks like an Irish Car Bomb exploded in it, you did it right! :)

FULL RECIPE:

Cupcakes:

1 cup Guinness (or any stout beer)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup unsweetend cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 12/ teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Bring the beer and butter to a simmer and stir in the cocoa until mixed. Cool slightly. Beat eggs and sour cream until well blended. Mix remaining dry ingredients. Add the beer mix to your egg mix, then slowly fold that into your dry ingredients until blended well. Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven) and cool completely. 

Makes about 20 cupcakes. 

Ganache Filling:

8oz semi sweet or milk chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons of butter at room temp

2 tablespoons Irish Whiskey

Powdered Sugar to thicken. 

The original recipe did not call for powdered sugar, but I found that my finished product was a bit thin and probably would have seeped into the cupcakes too much, so I thickened with powdered sugar. 

Heat the cream until just simmering and add your chocolate. If it needs to melt, reduce your heat and stir regularly until the chocolate is melted and blended. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar in small amounts until the mixture is thick enough to stay in the cupcakes. 

Hole-out your cupcakes and fill with ganache.

Whiskey Frosting:

3 to 4 cups of powdered sugar

3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

1/2 stick of butter, softened

3 to 4 tablespoons Irish Whiskey

Mix the cream cheese, butter and whiskey until blended. Add powdered sugar until you have a good spreading consistency. Ice cupcakes. 

Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs

I am in LOVE with eggs. I really, really adore them. When I lived on the farm they were always so fresh and delicious that I got addicted. So when I flew back last weekend I carried some home on the plane. :) That's right- in my carry on.

Last night I had been busy all day and not really sat down to eat. And I was starving!! But I had little to no groceries, so I decided to make a dinner out of this:

OK, fine- out of this plus sage and two eggs. 

I got a recipe like this out of Cooking Light a year or so ago and I vary it with whatever I have around. It's also excellent with sausage and half sweet potato, half red potato. 

It's SO easy- chop half the onion (the whole one if you're using 2 potatoes) and cube the potato. Put a little olive oil in the pan and cover with sage (I like a lot, so I used about 2 tablespoons. Vary to your taste). 

Cook until potatoes are soft (20 to 25 mins over medium heat. It also helps if you put a little water in and cover for a bit so they steam. But be sure to let the water cook off.)

It also helps if you add some wine- as in add it to your glass.

Finished potatoes

OK, after that I poach/fry my eggs. I learned this method from Miss Sally at the farm and it's much easier than frying. Less breakage! Basically, you just put about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water in a hot skillet and add a little vinegar to keep the eggs together. Cook until done.

Put your eggs directly on top of your potatoes. The yolk mixes with the sage and it's absolutely perfect.

TO  DIE  FOR!!

I like meals like this where it's one pot and easy, but you feel like you've really made yourself something nice. 

File Gumbo

Our weekend plans went a bit awry when Niki woke up sick Saturday. So I took the opportunity to make some of my Daddy's famous File Gumbo. I guess it's only famous in our circle of family and friends. But he makes amazing gumbo and I am pretty darn good at copying.

There are about a million different ways to make gumbo and also combos of meats and veggies. use what you like. Read different recipes. The main key: time, time, time and more time!

I use a dry roux and I make my own. It's just flour, folks. I use about a cup in my gumbo (yes, that's a lot- no, I don't care if you think so).

Note: it freezes fine so make a bunch and freeze it. It's great for soups too.

Turn your burner on medium-low (resist the urge to do it faster) and slooowly let it brown. it will take an hour or more. Stir every few minutes. This is almost done- I like it a bit darker.

I use about a 6 onions and 3 bell peppers- give or take. Also use celery. Satee until they're super soft and then add what herbs and spices you use. Sprinkle the roux on about 1/4 cup at a time and stir to coat the veggies. Add water or broth to just cover it and let simmer at least half an hour, preferable longer.

It'll get very thick. Add a bit more water and okra. Simmer another half hour or so.

After that you add your meats in stages and simmer all day. Seriously. Do not plan on eating the Gumbo the day you start it. Nuh-uh, big no no.

This is how mine looked at the end of day 1. I let it simmer from Noon until about 7pm.

We did this while it cooled :)

After it cools enough sprinkle with File put it in the fridge over night. It's KEY to let it sit at least one night. More is even better. The flavors meld in gumbo.

The next morning I pull it out and scrape the oil off the top, then heat it back up. It's good to let it simmer again about an hour or so before you serve.

Don't freak out if it looks like this (above). It always looks kinda iffy in the pot. :)

Serve over rice- DELISH!

If you want more on what I put in it and my steps leave me a comment and I'll send you my "outline." No recipe, gumbo is personal!

Veggies, Recipe Hit & Miss + Egg Salad

I did more cooking over the long weekend. I love me some Kickel, but that fam is not into my normal veggie-heavy diet. Jade threatened to revolt if Niki and I tried a vegetarian meal. :) I'm a vegetarian by no means- I had a nice steak at Saltgrass Friday night! But I am certainly happy eating just veggies, or mostly veggies, a lot of the time. So, while my Kickel clan was out of town for Easter I veggied it up.

Thursday Night I tried out the Cooking Light Pappardelle with Baby Spinach, Herbs and Ricotta. Do yourself a favor and don't try it. It's so, so bland! And I love light pastas, so that's saying a lot. I even added extra herbs to no avail.

Saturday I went to a farmer's market and got fresh green beans, local goat cheese and some teeny potatoes. I did the green beans in a cast iron skillet with a little sausage, roasted the potatoes and made the Fusilli with Carmelized Spring Onions and White Wine and it was great. Cooking Light saved itself here. Now, I'll warn you that it's not a huge kick of flavor. And I sprinkled a little fresh shredded Parmesan cheese to it. No much, but who has ever heard of pasta without cheese? It was a great side for a meal with flavor and I really enjoyed it. Warning: it does not reheat well. So eat it the first time around.

Sunday I was up for some baking. I was catching up on cleaning (mostly the kitchen I destroyed over the weekend) and laundry and I like to have something baking while I'm putzing. So I whipped out my all-time fave Banana Bread recipes (old post about that here). This list of recipes for Banana Breads are amazing- they are all delish! I went for the peanut butter ones yesterday. Better for you than old-school banana bread and more moist. Don't leave out the flax seed!

About egg salad, you probably have a ton of Easter Eggs around. This is great for me because I am a lover of egg salad. Pinch My Salt put up a great basic recipe today and I tend to agree with her comment: the simpler the better. The only think I do different here is add a little fresh chopped onion. But go without of you don't like them.

That about covers it. Van and I spent the majority of our time relaxing, enjoying the weather and sleeping!

Using my fave black mud peel off mask. No clue why I thought it would be a good idea to take a pic, but here ya go. 

Van resting after a swim and a bath. I love the face!!

Cooking Light Misses & Wins

I love Cooking Light. Really, really love it. Most of the time their recipes are huge wins. The Chicken Parmesan Burger in the April issue was a miss, though. But only a near miss. The recipe (see it here) calls for ground chicken. Niki and I thought this was interesting and so we went for it. It was totally bland and a weird texture. Not recommending ground chicken for any recipe ever. The recipe called for mixing in marinara and herbs for flavor- and that helped. Just not enough. They don't come out looking a thing like the picture- it's more like a wobbly, white patty.

What the recipe is SUPPOSED to look like. Not at all how it actually turns out.

That being said, the herb flavor and the ciabatta rolls were awesome. And for me- the fresh basil. Adore it! And it's still a much better choice than a restaurant Chicken Parmesan. We plan on trying it again with thin sliced chicken breast. I'm going to chop the herbs well and coat the breast, the sear and bake. We'll get the same benefit of a great Italian chicken flavor on the lighter side. So try this- just not with ground chicken. So weird. 

I also tried the chocolate chocolate-chip muffins. OK, these were great!! Definitely up to the Cooking Light standards. YUM!! I admit up front, I added another 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. So shoot me. I was nervous because the batter texture is really strange- but they turned out delish! Still 190 calories, but for a muffin lover that's cool. Usually when you pick up a blueberry muffin somewhere it's around 400 and 12 grams of fat. Plan on eating these with a glass of milk- they're dense. And they dry out kind of quick- so eat them in the first few days after making.

Great evening snack when you're having a craving. 

What I love about Cooking Light is that their recipes aren't 0 fat. Let's be honest- that's never going to taste good. They do a great job of making things into better choices. 

Pork Chops & Spring & Lorelei

I made Mexican Pork Chops Tuesday night for Niki to take over to her friend Tommie, who just had a baby. It's one of Niki's favorite meals. I don't really have a recipe. I just made it up one day and throw it together a little differently every time. It's YUM, though! And fairly light if you go easy n the cheese. So here's my method- you can try it and improvise for yourself.

Jar Salsa (any flavor is good- I used lime this time and it came out great)
Can stewed tomatoes (Mexican flavored if you can)
Small can green chillies
Can corn
Can black beans
Taco or fajitas seasoning
1-2 onions
1 bell pepper
tequila
Pork Chops
Rice (I like brown)
Cheese
Any other spices you want/like in Mexican. I use cilantro, but Niki hates it so I left it out this time.
(This is what I used for 8 pork chops. You can vary as needed)

- Cook rice & drain
- Season chops with taco seasoning and sear in a hot pan. Add some olive oil to coat the pan and tequila until it covers the bottom of the pan. Cook chops through.
- Add half of the salsa and all the green chilies to the rice & mix well.
- Saute onions and peppers in olive oil and tequila.
- Mix remaining salsa, tomatoes, corn, and beans with onion and bell pepper and heat through

To serve: Put rice on a plate, add chop(s) and cover in black bean mixture. Top with cheese and cilantro. Serve with corn chips for the extra salsa/rice.
OR
This is a great make-ahead. Put the rice in a baking dish, add chops, put a little of the black bean mixture on top and some cheese and set aside. Reheat in the oven at 350 for about 45 mins. Also reheat black bean mixture for more topping.

The state of my kitchen with everything going at once. I am a messy cook.

Finished chops (for reheating). Like I said- it's light if you go easy on the cheese... I didn't here. :)

Also, it's FREAKING BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE! I had lunch at this park today. Ahhh...

And, finally, check out my cutest EVER niece and what she's learned.

Smoked Salmon and Egg Sandwich = YUMMY!!

I love Cooking Light. I have tried so many new things because of them. And I respect that they still use butter, sour cream, etc in their dishes. They just use them wisely.

Sally has some salmon her brother sent her from Alaska, and we eat a lot of eggs because they are so fresh and delish here. So this recipe jumped out at me. It sounded a little odd... but it ended up being completely outstanding! Very unique, but very good. And it was so quick and easy to make. It was like having a gourmet cafe meal on a budget, and fast. And we got to eat it while watching the Packers, so it was good all around.

I highly recommended this- give it a shot!

• 4  cups  water
• 1  tablespoon  white vinegar
• 4  large eggs
• 1/4  cup  (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 2  tablespoons  minced red onion
• 1  tablespoon  chopped dill
• 3/8  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 4  (1-ounce) slices whole-grain bread, toasted
• 1  cup  fresh arugula
• 4  ounces  smoked wild salmon
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper

Preparation

1. Bring water and vinegar to a simmer in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add eggs, 1 at a time; simmer 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.

2. Combine cheese, onion, dill, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture over each bread slice. Top each serving with 1/4 cup arugula and 1 ounce salmon. Remove eggs from pan with a slotted spoon; top each sandwich with 1 egg. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

219

Fat:

10.7g (sat 3.9g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g)

Protein:

0.0g

Carbohydrate:

0.0g

Fiber:

0.0g

Cholesterol:

0.0mg

Iron:

0.0mg

Sodium:

640mg

Calcium:

0.0mg

What Brings Me Peace

I was listening to a sermon on my way to work this morning and the pastor (Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands) was explaining that the song Silent Night and the phrase "Peace on Earth" were both rather misleading, although they are some of our favorite holiday phrases.

At first I was thinking, now wait- don't be trying to debunk Christmas!But I listened, and he was correct. Think about it harder, Mary was between the ages of 13 and 17, pregnant out of wedlock, and in an arranged marriage to a man 30 or older that she didn't know. The story placed into the historical context it requires revealed that she had most likely been disowned by her family. She was nine months pregnant riding on a donkey for miles and miles to pay taxes. When she got there she gave birth in a barn. Now I like barns- but it wasn't the picturesque scene we create it to be. She was alone with a man who knew nothing about women or birth, probably bearing it all to him and in an extremely dirty place. And she had to put her baby into a feed trough- I promise you, they are not tidy locations!

All of this was explained to remind us that while we love to make Christmas picturesque, the first Christmas really was not. He went on to explain that the phrase "Peace on Earth" appears in the Bible only once, when Jesus was stating that he did not come to bring Peace on Earth. The verse in Luke says that the angels claimed God would bring peace to those, "On whom his favor rests," meaning those who believe in him. We shouldn't expect peace to come in this word. What we should expect is that God sends us peace when we believe and trust in him, despite a tumultuous world. So I began thinking of the things that truly bring me peace and here is what I came up with:

Family & Friends
    

It seems like regardless of the day's events and emotions I always have someone near to give me a hug, say something sweet, give me the right Bible verse, talk me through something. I will never be able to understand the amazing gift of my family and friends and how much peace and joy they bring to me.

Animals 

I'm sure you all know by now that my Van Geaux is one of the major loves of my life! She is so comforting for me to have around. And I just worshiped my horse when I had him. The same goes for most animals with me. I just love to hug and cuddle them like a big nerd! There is something about that unfaltering love they give. 

Nature

I just love to be outside (when the weather is cooperating). I always have my breath taken away by the majesty of this world.

Books

I'm like Rory in The Gilmore Girls, I feel insecure if I don't always have a book with me. I pack one every morning even though I rarely read it until I get home at night.

Food & Drink

This is probably my most frivolous peace-bringer! But it's so true. I even love cooking and mixing my food and drinks. There's just something about that great flavor that brings comfort.

What brings you peace? Let's learn to focus on our peace-bringers. Because we live in a crazy world!