Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Monday, January 28, 2008
Blueberries 98cents!
Fresh Market in Mandeville has blueberries for 98cents! That is cheap and they are nice size! Get them while you can! Just got a few boxes last night.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas in New Orleans
Well, the family is all here and we have been busy to say the least! When my parents arrived on Tuesday we headed straight from the airport to The Galley (2535 Metairie Rd) - my dad's favorite restaurant. I had the crab cakes with crawfish sauce and have to say they are my second favorite New Orleans dish next to Drago's crawfish ravioli!
Hubby and I planned a lot of meals and prepared some in advance to make meal time easier. We didn't want to spend so much time going out to eat and deciding where to eat. We made turkey/sausage gumbo, crawfish pies, hungarian soup and pulled pork sandwiches.
On Saturday morning we had a family photo taken by Katherine Bentz. It is rare we are all together and my mom has wanted us to get a family photo done so that was our Christmas gift to her.
On Saturday night we got to involve my family in a tradition we have participated in since we moved here in 2004. Our neighbor Patty and her husband Frank always invite us over for a Spaghetti dinner which is immediately followed by the decorating of Gingerbread Houses. Now, this is not your typical gingerbread house decorating. In fact, I will bet money you have never seen anything like it before! Patty prepares a homemade house and constructs it for each person. Then, she lays out the candy to decorate it. Imagine 10 -12 cookie sheets filled with those single serving pie plates each filled with a different kind of candy. Her table probably seats 12 people or more and we all sit around it with candy covering the table and barely leaving room for us to decorate our houses. We each get our own loot of icing in icing bags with tips to adhere our candy to our houses. It is amazing and gets bigger each year! My family just couldn't believe it and loved it. Here are our works of art!
On Sunday we finished our christmas shopping, wrapping, preparations. We cooked some steaks and boiled up some shrimp for dinner. My brother couldn't get over the size of the shrimp we have here!
Today we headed into New Orleans to take my brother for his first tour of the French Quarter. We had lunch at the Bourbon House which was a good choice for all. It was chilly outside, but we walked all over the quarter and took in the street artists. This gentleman below could really play a mean harmonica and had a pretty good voice!
After our visit to the quarter we returned home to set up the neighborhood's traditional luminaries. Many houses buy them from a neighbor and set them along the road in front of our houses to light the way for Santa.
Hubby and I planned a lot of meals and prepared some in advance to make meal time easier. We didn't want to spend so much time going out to eat and deciding where to eat. We made turkey/sausage gumbo, crawfish pies, hungarian soup and pulled pork sandwiches.
On Saturday morning we had a family photo taken by Katherine Bentz. It is rare we are all together and my mom has wanted us to get a family photo done so that was our Christmas gift to her.
On Saturday night we got to involve my family in a tradition we have participated in since we moved here in 2004. Our neighbor Patty and her husband Frank always invite us over for a Spaghetti dinner which is immediately followed by the decorating of Gingerbread Houses. Now, this is not your typical gingerbread house decorating. In fact, I will bet money you have never seen anything like it before! Patty prepares a homemade house and constructs it for each person. Then, she lays out the candy to decorate it. Imagine 10 -12 cookie sheets filled with those single serving pie plates each filled with a different kind of candy. Her table probably seats 12 people or more and we all sit around it with candy covering the table and barely leaving room for us to decorate our houses. We each get our own loot of icing in icing bags with tips to adhere our candy to our houses. It is amazing and gets bigger each year! My family just couldn't believe it and loved it. Here are our works of art!
On Sunday we finished our christmas shopping, wrapping, preparations. We cooked some steaks and boiled up some shrimp for dinner. My brother couldn't get over the size of the shrimp we have here!
Today we headed into New Orleans to take my brother for his first tour of the French Quarter. We had lunch at the Bourbon House which was a good choice for all. It was chilly outside, but we walked all over the quarter and took in the street artists. This gentleman below could really play a mean harmonica and had a pretty good voice!
After our visit to the quarter we returned home to set up the neighborhood's traditional luminaries. Many houses buy them from a neighbor and set them along the road in front of our houses to light the way for Santa.
After some fun with fireworks we read "The Night Before Christmas", set our cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and rudolph and then put the kiddies to bed. Once in bed my mom and I prepared our breakfast casserole for the morning. We put the gifts under the tree, stuffed the stockings and now at 12:07 pm I better put out that fire in the fireplace so Santa doesn't burn his bottom and get to bed! I leave you with this very sweet photo of what my daughter put together for Santa tonight.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Crawfish Pie Recipe
My good friend Monica gave me her chicken pot pie recipe that I have made over and over again. I am not much of a cook and am not good a straying from recipes. (Hubby takes care of that area!) So for me to alter a recipe my self, well, that is like getting a wild hair up your ass. So here is the chicken pot pie recipe altered to be a Crawfish Pie. If you are not from the south, down here, we eat A LOT of crawfish. I never had it before moving here. And it is good!
AMY'S CRAWFISH PIE
1 box of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts - softened if frozen
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup of each - onion, greenpepper, celery chopped (The Holy Trinity)
1/2 cup of mushrooms chopped
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepperTony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (Season to your liking - I just sprinkled a bit across the top of the pie mixture and stirred in.)
1 (14oz.) can of chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of crawfish tails (or one bag of the frozen tails)
Preheat 425. In saucepan (2qt. or larger) melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook 2 minutes until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper. Stir until well blended. Gradually stir in green peppers, broth and milk. Cook and stir until bubbly. In a different pan, add a tab of butter and saute/heat crawfish tails until warm. Remove from heat. Spoon crawfish tails into mixture in saucepan trying not to get all the liquid with it. Add mushrooms to mixture in saucepan and stir. Prepare glass pie pan according to directions on crust box. Spoon crawfish mixture into crust-lined pie pan. Top with second crust. Seal edges by pinching. Cut slits in top of crust to let air release. (I like to draw my kid's initials) Bake 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. If edges of crust start to burn, cover with foil. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving. I suggest slicing it so it will thicken quicker while cooling. It will be runny when served.
There it is! It was the yummiest throw together recipe I've ever made. It really doesn't take a lot of time to prepare. Enjoy!
AMY'S CRAWFISH PIE
1 box of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts - softened if frozen
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup of each - onion, greenpepper, celery chopped (The Holy Trinity)
1/2 cup of mushrooms chopped
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepperTony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (Season to your liking - I just sprinkled a bit across the top of the pie mixture and stirred in.)
1 (14oz.) can of chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of crawfish tails (or one bag of the frozen tails)
Preheat 425. In saucepan (2qt. or larger) melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook 2 minutes until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper. Stir until well blended. Gradually stir in green peppers, broth and milk. Cook and stir until bubbly. In a different pan, add a tab of butter and saute/heat crawfish tails until warm. Remove from heat. Spoon crawfish tails into mixture in saucepan trying not to get all the liquid with it. Add mushrooms to mixture in saucepan and stir. Prepare glass pie pan according to directions on crust box. Spoon crawfish mixture into crust-lined pie pan. Top with second crust. Seal edges by pinching. Cut slits in top of crust to let air release. (I like to draw my kid's initials) Bake 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. If edges of crust start to burn, cover with foil. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving. I suggest slicing it so it will thicken quicker while cooling. It will be runny when served.
There it is! It was the yummiest throw together recipe I've ever made. It really doesn't take a lot of time to prepare. Enjoy!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Lo-Down on McDonald's
We stopped one hot day for an ice cream at McDonald's and found out that during August it is by one dessert get one free. So it was 59 cents for two cones!
Also in August (not sure if all locations are participating) is $1.00 large soft drinks and sweet tea. And from 4-9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays happy meals are $1.49.
I am not a frequenter of ole' Mickey's, but I thought those sounded like good deals.
Also, while there I noticed the nutrition chart on the back of the tray liners.
Healthiest Sandwich = Tie between a plain hamburger and the chipotle snack wrap (grilled) - 9 and 8 grams of fat respectively.
Healthiest Salad = Premium Ceasar Salad with Grilled Chicken - 6 grams of fat
Healthiest Dressing = Newman's lowfat balsamic vinaigrette - 3 grams of fat
Healthiest breakfast item = Plain egg mcmuffin - 12 grams of fat
Healthiest dessert = Apple dippers- 0 gram of fat add caramel dip .5 grams of fat.
BTW, the ice cream cones are reduced fat and 3.5 grams of fat each.
Now that you are in the know, try not to go too often!
Also in August (not sure if all locations are participating) is $1.00 large soft drinks and sweet tea. And from 4-9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays happy meals are $1.49.
I am not a frequenter of ole' Mickey's, but I thought those sounded like good deals.
Also, while there I noticed the nutrition chart on the back of the tray liners.
Healthiest Sandwich = Tie between a plain hamburger and the chipotle snack wrap (grilled) - 9 and 8 grams of fat respectively.
Healthiest Salad = Premium Ceasar Salad with Grilled Chicken - 6 grams of fat
Healthiest Dressing = Newman's lowfat balsamic vinaigrette - 3 grams of fat
Healthiest breakfast item = Plain egg mcmuffin - 12 grams of fat
Healthiest dessert = Apple dippers- 0 gram of fat add caramel dip .5 grams of fat.
BTW, the ice cream cones are reduced fat and 3.5 grams of fat each.
Now that you are in the know, try not to go too often!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Southshore businesses head north
For those of you who don't know New Orleans geography allow me to explain something real quick. There is a Southshore and a Northshore in the Greater New Orleans area. The southshore is what the rest of the world knows New Orleans to be and is basically south of Lake Pontchatrain. The Northshore is a bedroom community located (you guessed it!) north of Lake Pontchatrain. There is a very nice 25 mile bridge that connects the southshore to the northsore. Pre-Katrina, the southies (as I like to call 'em) thought the people on the northshore lived in another country. Of course they thought the northies to be crazy to commute across that dang bridge everyday!
HOWEVER!
Post-Katrina, many a southie has made the northshore their home and they seem to enjoy life over here in this other country and don't think us so crazy anymore. Ok. Well, maybe a little crazy . . .
Anyway, my point. . . .
With our new residents, I am happy to welcome all the new businesses that have found their way north too! Like the new Cafe Du Monde with a drive thru window! My friends Laura and Shannon want everyone to support their old favorite that just arrived R&O out on 190 in Covington. Can't forget Randazzo's bakery and Vic & Natly's both in Covington. I am sure there are many more. I am sorta a newcomer so these businesses are all new to me even if they did move north. Welcome!
HOWEVER!
Post-Katrina, many a southie has made the northshore their home and they seem to enjoy life over here in this other country and don't think us so crazy anymore. Ok. Well, maybe a little crazy . . .
Anyway, my point. . . .
With our new residents, I am happy to welcome all the new businesses that have found their way north too! Like the new Cafe Du Monde with a drive thru window! My friends Laura and Shannon want everyone to support their old favorite that just arrived R&O out on 190 in Covington. Can't forget Randazzo's bakery and Vic & Natly's both in Covington. I am sure there are many more. I am sorta a newcomer so these businesses are all new to me even if they did move north. Welcome!
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