Cajun Food Where You Find It
We have been preoccupied with water lately; namely the “Mighty Mississippi”. Living five houses from the levee in south Louisiana makes us quite aware of the rising water. None the less, life goes on and cooking continues.
Today at the Farmers Market, blueberries and strawberries abounded. We had pancakes on our mind as we headed home from the market. Once again, we used Bruce’s Sweet Potato Pancake mix and fresh berries.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
We have a group of friends who enjoy wine tastings. Every few months we gather at someone’s home to party and taste wine. Last week was
the annual event at Steve and Diane’s with Steve preparing the main dishes and everyone else bringing compliments.
We took our basic dressing and added to it and made a Salmon Spread for toast rounds.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
We had bananas that were getting over ripe and in our opinion are only good to use in cooking. Always wanting to experiment with whole wheat flour and baking, we decided to try Banana Nut Bread. Once again, we used honey and applesauce instead of sugar and oil. Instead of a bread loaf, muffins were baked. They are dense yet not real heavy nor very sweet.
The muffins are great for breakfast or as a dessert. As a dessert serve with fresh fruit.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
The farmer’s market was alive with color this Saturday. Nothing was more brilliant than the yellow squash. They were so yellow; it was as
if we were looking at the sun!
Squash is so versatile that it is hard to decide how to cook the squash.
The below recipe is a quick and easy meal or side dish. In fact, you can make two different entrees or side dishes with the basic recipe.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Sweet Potatoes are a staple for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Sweet Potatoes and Yams are abundant in south Louisiana and they are used in a variety of ways all year. Sweet potato hash browns, bake sweet potatoes, sweet potato salad, and sweet potato fries are just a few ways of using sweet potatoes or yams.
We have used left over baked sweet potatoes to make pancakes and biscuits. Now we have an easier way – Bruce’s Food in New Iberia, LA has a Sweet Potato Pancake and Waffle Mix available. The mix is complete meaning just water is added. Instead of water, we decided to add egg and milk. The below recipe is the result of our experimenting.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Louisiana’s favorite greens include Mustard, Collard, and Turnip. The more gourmet greens like Kale and Chard can be found at farmer’s markets yet not so much at the local grocery. We have had Kale and Chard in the past; yet, it was from a friend’s garden and the greens were mature and we now know, past their prime.
Because of our past experience, we would not give the young Kale or Chard at farmer’s markets a second glance. Finally we decided to give young Swiss Chard a chance and it was well worth the effort. Last week at the market, there was young Kale and we purchased some. The recipe below is the result of much experimenting. We like it and yes, we will purchase more young Kale.
In the south, we were used to cooking greens down with pot liquor and serving them with cornbread. We now realize that young greens are great just sautéed!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Dessert anyone?
It is always nice to have something sweet after a meal. Only eating whole grains and watching animal fat, interesting desserts are somewhat a challenge. We are experimenting with dessert ideas and ingredients. After trying various combinations of whole wheat cookies, we settled on this recipe.
The cookies are sweet. We like the sweetness because one small cookie satisfies the dessert craving.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Swiss Chard is a green that we were never too fond of. The only time we tried it, someone had given us fresh Chard that was large and old. So whenever it was available at the Farmer’s Market, we would always pass it by. Recently, a farmer had young Chard and it looked inviting. Always on the look for new vegetables, we decided to give it a try. It was delicious alone or as a side dish. Laurie enjoyed it cold and John preferred it hot. Either way, it is worth preparing and enjoying.
This young Chard was nothing like the one we had in the past. We will definitely seek out young Chard!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Squash blossoms have always been fascinating yet we never experimented with them. At this week’s Farmers Market the blossoms were in full bloom and were calling to us. Okay, more to Laurie than John, yet he was on
board to experiment. Of course, now that we are not eating animal fat, we had to develop a stuffing not using cheese or sausage. Cajun Jasmine Rice was to be the base of the stuffing, now we needed something to bind it with. The following recipe is the result of our thinking outside the box.
The process is time consuming although fun when done with another person.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Realizing we are eating too much animal fat, we decided to take action. Our reason is based on health concerns only. We are not becoming Vegans nor or we becoming total Vegetarians. We will continue to eat fish and seafood as well as eggs. This action is not set in concrete, so while we will post mostly meatless meals, you may find meat related products at times.
Use any beans you have available. I use whatever beans I cook for the week.
These burgers are great for any meal as well as snacks.
Mais C’est Bon! Enjoy!!
