Hey, We Eat Anything

Proud to be a native of Louisiana. Louisana has many native cuisines. The French, the Acadians (the French who got kicked out of Canada - the "Cajuns", Africans, Italians, Germans, Scots-Irish, English- and we're all obsessed with food. It is part of who we are. I live to cook and eat, not doubt about it. Been busy of late, starting a new business. But still, I try new recipes, and celebrate old favorites. The following are some I have cooked up of late:

This is easy, but oh, so good. I modified for weight-watcher purposes. No need for heavy cream and heavy spice in the same recipe.

Note: A chipolte pepper is a dried, smoked jalapeno and is very hot. It is sold in cans in the Hispanic section of most any grocery store.

Chipolte Crawfish Pasta

8 to 10 sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
2 chipolte peppers (1 if you are timid with heat)
hot water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup tequila
1 10 oz. bag crawfish tails
1/2 cup evaporated skim milk
Your favorite pasta



Soak dried tomatoes and chipolte peppers in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat and add garlic. Do not brown. Drain tomatoes and peppers. Chop finely and add to skillet, sauteing a few minutes over medium heat. Add tequila and reduce mixture to about one third by cooking about 5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and cook until opaque and reddish, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat water for pasta. When water boils, add pasta and cook according to package directions.
Add evaporated skim to skillet, reduce heat and cook until the sauce is heated through. Do not boil. Season with salt and pepper. Drain pasta and top with crawfish sauce.


Just when you can't do anything else with chicken....

I had 1/2 can of artichoke hearts leftover and going through my recipe clippings came upon this:

Greeky Kind of Chicken in the Oven

Ever how many chicken thighs you need to feed your family, skin removed
1 1lb. small red potatoes, halved
4 minced garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 white wine
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 can artichoke hearts, drained
Greek olives, optional
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Heat oil in large oven-proof pot over high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. working in as many batches as necessary, cook the chicken in the pot until brown on all sides. Transfer chicken to plate. Add the potatoes to the pot and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add the wine and broth, oregano and thyme. Add olives if desired. Return chicken to pot and bring to a boil. Stir to combine.
Cover and bake in oven until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and heat until hot. Serve.

Craig and Charlaine

I learned to cook at 12 yrs with Betty Crocker and I still recommend it as a first book. But in 1990 I discovered Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook. Craig is my go-to man when faced with a new to me situation. His is my favorite Hot and Sour Soup and I cooked it this weekend, with lots of additions and ooga-booga that would not reproducible. I suggest you get his cookbook at the library. My favorite chinese soup is from his cookbook?  Yes, it is.  He has many "ethnic' recipes in his cookbook. It is where I go when cooking a brand-new to me item. Where I learned to cook lamb chops. What I would take to a desert island. Big words from a cook who owns over 125 cookbooks. Craig knew his stuff.

I have written once about Quorn before. Recently, Quorn was heavily discountly at the health food store and I bought a package of the "chicken" quorn patties. This weekend they were featured as "chicken' parmesan topped with Conrad's eggplant sauce that was put in the freezer from the garden. Yummy. With steamed spinach. Quorn patties were only 80 calories. And fiber, no cholesterol, little fat, etc., ect. I thinked we are hooked on this stuff.

Home Sweet Kitchen

Was away from home for 5 days at a convention. The hotel is one I have stayed in before and they do a fine job. But restaurant food is all about sugar, salt and/or fat, and the best choice was simply portion control. When I got home on Friday, I rummaged around in the freezer and decided on meat loaf. 3/4 lb. in-store ground beef, 1/2 lb. Laura's Lean ground round ( laurasleanbeef.com ) and 1/2 lb. ground pork, along with all the other meat loaf "stuff". I also made real mashed potatoes whipped with the mixer. Amazingly, I found two small green tomatoes in the garden and several jalapenos and "fried' the tomatoes and stuffed the peppers with cream cheese.
This time of year I gravitate toward comfort food. Saturday I worked but marinated a pork tenderloin that hubby cooked on the grill.
Sunday lunch was tilapia and supper was an extra thick real pork chop (not pumped up with salt water) that hubby grilled, along with Georgia corn on the cob and a Kentucky sweet potato.
Monday was old-fashioned salmon patties made with left-over mashed potatoes.
It will probably be awhile before I suggest eating out. I admit to having missed my own cooking.

Why Does This Taste So Good Revisted

This recipe is delicious. But I didn't figure up the weight watcher points ahead of time. In order to make it more friendly, use chicken breast  and low-fat peanut butter. Don't let the title put you off. This is really good. Tell your family it is chicken with red gravy and rice. Whatever. Don't go through life without trying this.

Senegalese Chicken With Peanuts

Chicken Thighs or legs 5 or as many as your family needs
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion chopped
 1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 can 6 oz. can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
 cayenne pepper to taste
 hot cooked rice
chopped hard cooked eggs
chopped peanuts


preheat oven to 375. In large dutch oven, heat oil. Add chicken and brown. In medium bowl, add chicken broth, peanut butter, broth, and tomato paste, pour over chicken. sprinkle with with salt, peprer, and red pepper. Bake, 45 minutes, to 1 hr. to  or until done. Serve over hot rice. Garnish with boiled eggs and peanuts.

Not Mom's Soup

Like a lot of folks in town, hubby has a cold or perhaps the ADRs (ain't doing right). I thought this recipe, with some heat in it, might open up the nasal passages. It called for red curry paste. I only had green, went with that, but cut back, because it is powerful stuff.

Spicy Coconut Soup with Spinach and Shrimp

1/2 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon green curry paste (from a can, found in Asian markets, sometimes found in Asian sections of your grocery, especially world section of Meijer)
2 cans fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
1 14 oz. can light coconut milk (not cream of coconut)
1/2 lb. raw shrimp, peeled, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 bag fresh spinach

Over medium heat, spray large saucepan with cooking spray. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic, saute until soft, do not brown onions. Add curry paste. Cook one minute. Stir in broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shrimp, cook until barely pink. Add spinach and cook till barely wilted.

We had steamed pork and vegetable dumplings and pork buns purchased from the Asian store along with the soup.

BACON!

Last time hubby visited the library, he picked up a Southern Living Cooking Light Cookbook for me. He got me one for Christmas last year, and not a lot appealed to me, but I have several little stickys in this one. (the 2006 edition) My take on:

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce

4 4 oz. chicken breasts, pounded thin between two sheets of wax paper
salt and pepper to taste
hot sauce if desired
2 bacon slices - I used reduced fat
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 apple cider
1/2 fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth

Place bacon in skillet. Fry till crisp and remove. I used 40% reduced fat and nitrite and nitrate free I bought at Whole Foods. The dog got the bacon. Use the tablespoon of bacon fat to brown the chicken breasts on both sides, cooking about 6 minutes per side. Remove chicken. Add chopped onion, cook until soft. Turn heat to high, adding cider and broth and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes, then return chicken to pan.

I served this with fresh green beans and coleslaw.
I prepared the green beans in a new favorite way. Can't remember where I picked up the tip. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in skillet on medium high, add one chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Add fresh green beans whose ends have been trimmed on top of onions and garlic. Do NOT stir. Turn heat down as low as possible and cover. Cook about 20 minutes, checking every now and then to make sure it is not burning. Salt and pepper before serving.
The coleslaw was kind of thrown together. I used my old Salad Shooter (anyone else still have one of those?) Fresh cabbage, 2 apples, 1 carrot, salt and pepper, and enough plain low-fat yogurt to desired consistency.

Monday Means Red Beans and Rice

Sifting through recipe clippings, I came across this Cuban Red Beans and Pork. Sounded worth a try. But based on my experience, I am going to modify it for you. Either cook the beans ahead of time in a slow cooker or use canned. Just took too long on top of the stove. No one has time for that nonsense and it added nothing to the finished product other than frustration!

Cuban Red Beans and Pork

4 servings

4 cups water
1/2 lbs. dry beans, cooked in slow cooker (with 1 chopped onion and 1 bay leaf and water), or 2 cans, undrained
2 Tbl. oil
1/2 -1 1lb pork meat - I used pork chops, trimmed of fat and cut up
salt and pepper to taste
1 chopped onion
1/2 can of tomato sauce
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, more to taste
1 fresh squeezed lemon
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 dried rosemary or several sprigs fresh
Hot cooked rice
hot sauce to taste

In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add pork that has been seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook until brown. Add onion until softened. Add tomato sauce, cilantro, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary. Stir. Add beans (remove bay leaf) and 1-2 cups liquid from either slow-cooked beans or water. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until meat is tender. Check often for sticking, adding more water if necessary. Serve with rice and hot sauce.

Comfort Food Can Be Comforting, But Not Always Comfortable

Saturday night I craved spaghetti. I had a half a tin of anchovies. I melted these in a skillet, with some additional olive oil and then 4 minced garlic cloves. I picked fresh swiss chard from the garden, washed, chopped and steamed in the microwave. I then mixed the chard in with the oil and garlic while hubby, expert pasta cooker, cooked some angel hair. We topped with Panko bread crumbs. Very tasty.
You could skip anchovies and also substitute spinach for chard.

Sunday we had an appointment to get our pictures taken and thought we would try a new to us nearby restaurant for brunch. Being from Louisiana I was curious to see their take on "Cajun". Well, it tasted really good, and my husband kept asking me "How do they get it to taste so good?" "Sausage, honey. Fat. Butter. Oil. Cream".
We came home and slept for nearly two hours by this food-induced coma. Once you get used to a lower fat diet, that high-fat kind of food is no longer fun. It was just too much of a good thing. And we didn't even have dessert. Supper was matzo ball soup, made with unsalted matzo meal so I could control the amount of salt and a nice green salad. Truly comforting.