Cajun Food Where You Find It
Leftovers.
What does it mean to you? Some people we know will not touch leftovers; others make extra just to have leftovers. For us, leftovers are the beginning of another meal. Today we had a baked sweet potato, rice, and corn – what to do? There was also fresh shrimp. Creativity started and we ended with stuffed shrimp.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Sweet Potato Stuffed Shrimp with Pecans”
Potato Salad – picnics, family dinners, comfort food. That’s Potato Salad.
How about potato salad with a twist? Instead of using just white potatoes, include equal amounts of sweet potatoes for a flavor twist. This is a very fresh tasting salad that pops in your mouth.
We had boiled shrimp that we added to the plate and wow what a meal!
Mais C’est Bon!
Warm sweet potato right from the oven – what could be more Southern than that? Add grits and shrimp and your taste buds will be doing the Cajun Two Step.
Shrimp was on the menu for dinner and sweet potatoes were coming out of the oven; the fragrant aroma triggered the flow of creative juices. So began the journey that would be sweet potato grits with shrimp. Wanting to make it Cajun not just Southern, we added Tasso to the grits which gave it a pronounced smoky flavor.
We hope you have as much fun with this dish as we did…..
Mais C’est Bon!
Most of our recipes are made from “starch”, but sometimes we have prepared items that must be used. We do not like to throw out anything including prepared foods. In walks Pesto and we must use it somehow, somewhere, in something, etc. The pesto had already been used on pizza, but we still had half a bottle left. Shrimp was on the menu and the pesto became a marinade. The blending of flavors became a simple supper of shrimp with fresh plum and avocado. This is a great summer evening meal!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Pesto Shrimp”
A small bottle of Sweet Roasted Garlic Balsamic Dressing was hanging out in our pantry. We weren’t sure how we would use the dressing. Flash forward, on the table in our fruit bowl was oranges and avocados while in the fridge we had cooked shrimp, roasted corn and roasted garlic. It was coming together. We decided to build a citrus salad with shrimp.
Mais C’est Bon!
Pizza has the reputation of high fat, high calorie food. Because of this pizza is something we enjoy yet rarely indulge in. We had a whole wheat pizza crust and were trying to decide what to do with it. Grilling is a favorite way of cooking for us and so Grilled Pizza was on the menu. Not only grill the pizza but also grill the vegetables that would go on the pizza. This process is a labor of love and does take some time, yet the end product is worth every minute of preparation and cooking. We took what would have been high fat and calorie and made it healthy.
Mais C’est Bon!
Pasta? Yes, please.
Pasta is very versatile and can be a main dish, side dish or snack. This salad fits all three descriptions. The salad is a great lunch during the heat of the summer or an afternoon snack while enjoying the spring breezes. It is also one of the best potluck dishes for a crowd. Anytime, anywhere this is a great dish!
Mais C’est Bon!
“Have you tried pop up shrimp?” We were asked this question and had no idea what Letti was talking about. What she meant was dried shrimp and no we had never used them. We were familiar with the shrimp and knew many Cajuns used them in gumbos; yet we had not tried them. Never ones to let something go; we purchased a package of dried Louisiana shrimp and put it in the pantry. Last night that bag of shrimp was staring at us and so it was time to give them a try. They are different and not like any shrimp we have used before. In researching we found the dried shrimp are used in oriental cooking especially in soups and stews. We decided to go Italian with them and stuff pasta shells. The taste is definitely different and we will probably give them another try in some other cuisine. The saga continues….
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Pop Up Shrimp”
Cajun Caviar, Texas Caviar, Poor Man’s Caviar as many names as there are recipes. Ours was born out of necessity – friends called and invited us to dinner that night. We never go anywhere without bringing a dish, what to bring? After searching the pantry we decided on black eye peas with shrimp, then we saw the avocado on the counter and that sounded refreshing. So our version of Cajun Caviar was born.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Cajun Caviar”
Farmers markets not only offer fresh local items, they also offer local homemade items. Finding fresh homemade vegetarian tamales at the Red Stick Farmers Market made our mouth’s water. We purchased six warm tamales and knew lunch was ready. Very few times we can remember being disappointed with a farmers market purchase, yet the tamales are now on that list. The vegetables tasted like a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that was defrosted and added to the tamales – no taste except the mesa. What to do with the tamales? We are victims of the “starving children in China” generation – eat all your food. Deciding the tamales needed sauce and seasoning, a casserole was in the works blending Cajun with Mexican.
Mais C’est Bon!
