Honestly, I have always eaten shrimp creole and it is mostly shrimp creole that is found on menus around New Orleans. Sometimes when shrimp season is closed and our stash of Louisiana shrimp from the freezer is depleted, I substitute chicken for shrimp. It’s a very easy and flavorful dish to put together and will appeal to your entire family. Try it with chicken or shrimp and serve with long grain, jasmine or brown rice.

For almost 100 years, Luxury Pasta has been bringing families around the dinner table for pasta filled meals. Pasta is such a versatile ingredient and can be made into a dish that fits your family and now through the Luxury Pasta Moments Photo Contest, Luxury Pasta wants to know what home means to you.

Through the Luxury Pasta Facebook Page they are hosting a Pasta Moments Photo Contest!
The grand prize is a Kindle Fire!
The contest ends March 4, 2012 and will also have weekly giveaways!

Go to the Luxury Pasta Facebook Page and enter a photo containing pasta
and the completed caption,

“Somewhere in America, home is…”. 

“Somewhere in America, home is preparing dinner with my son!”

Ever since my son attended cooking school for kids he loves to help me in the kitchen.
He’s a pretty good mini-chef and last week we made Baked Ziti for the first time.

Since he is becoming more selective (that is a nice way of saying PICKY!)  about what he eats,
I have tried including him more in the cooking process
because he’s more open to eating what he cooks!

Here is our recipe for Baked Ziti:

Disclosure: Sponsored post by Luxury Pasta. As always, all opinions are 100% my own!
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The Times-Picayune, New Orleans’ newspaper, began compiling recipes soon after the storm and eventually this cookbook came to be. I am recommending this cookbook because the 250 recipes are delicious and because each recipe tells a story. It is hard to describe how New Orleans cuisine is so intertwined in the city’s culture. No matter the occasion, there is food and not just any food, really good food. Food with flavor, spice, and stories!

 Cooking Up a Storm includes the very best of classic and contemporary New Orleans cuisine, from seafood and meat to desserts and cocktails. But it also tells the story, recipe by recipe, of one of the great food cities in the world, and the determination of its citizens to preserve and safeguard their culinary legacy.

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These cookies are a unique twist on king cakes and take the flavor of a king cake and put them into a cookie! I drizzled the frosting on and sprinkled them with traditional purple, green and gold sprinkles. This morning I had one with my cup of coffee and it was delicious!

A while back I shared a tie-dyed theme for LSU cupcakes. It involved dying the batter purple and gold and swirling to two together prior to baking. Here is another idea for really cute LSU themed cupcakes! I used a Wilton grass tip #233 to pipe the top of the cupcake with green icing. I used a standard butter cream recipe and added Wilton’s green gel food coloring. Before dying it green, I put a little white icing on the side to pipe the yard lines on the cupcakes. For the LSU on top I took white chocolate chips and melted them for 15 second intervals until they melted and placed the melted chocolate in a piping bag. Then I barely cut off a piece of the tip and piped the LSU out onto wax paper. Sprinkled them with purple and gold sprinkles before they dried. I free handed the LSU but if you wanted to you could write or print LSU on a sheet of paper and lay your wax paper on top. That way all you had to do was trace. Place them in fridge to cool and the pop right off the wax paper. For my game day cupcakes I am going to pipe some white chocolate LSU’s and some milk chocolate footballs with white chocolate laces. I’ll share some pics after the big game.

GEAUX TIGERS!

If you need a tasty meal while enjoying these games or while supporting your favorite team this chili recipe is delicious and screams tailgating food. It’s hearty with some veggies mixed in and add a little flair on top such as sour cream, scallions, avocado, cheddar cheese, red onion, or toasted pumpkin seeds. Serve it with hot dogs and you’ve got yourself a football watching meal!

I hope you enjoy and GEAUX SAINTS & GEAUX TIGERS!

Here are some other great choices for tailgating food:

Jessica from Cajunlicious’ Andouille Dirty Rice Recipe
Cajun Jambalaya
LSU Cupcakes 

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Place them in a cute can and they make a perfect gift for a friend, co-worker, or just because!

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

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I am not sure who gave me this recipe because I have been making it for a few years, but it  is supposed to be the same recipe served in Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse’s. I have had both and they are very, very similar. I actually prefer these.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Thanks to Zatarain’s, I had the opportunity to meet Chef John Besh and find out a little more about him, his outlook on food (especially New Orleans cuisine), tailgating, and even Saints football. We discussed Hurricane Katrina and how it has changed his outlook on many things. I have to agree, there is something about watching your hometown destruct in front of your eyes and living through such uncertainty that makes you look at things differently. He spoke about finding ways in which he could contribute to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Six years later, he is the owner of six restaurants (August, Besh Steak, Lüke, La Provence, American Sector, and Domenica) and each uniquely celebrate the region. In cooperation with Zatarain’s, he is sharing New Orleans cuisine with families everywhere! Many who have never had the opportunity to try meals such as jambalaya, red beans and rice, and gumbo. Not everyone can master the tedious process of making a roux, but anyone can open a box of Zatarain’s and incorporate it in a wonderful, healthy meal for their entire family. Also, as a former Marine, he has worked to create high quality ready-to-eat meals for distribution to thousands of emergency response teams and sustained strategic operations in the U.S. and around the world. Through this project he shares the tastes of the Gulf Coast including Louisiana while benefitting the local economy. Being a dad to all boys he mentioned ways he uses to get his sons to try new foods. For example, when creating a pasta dish, put out various ingredients and let your kids add what they like.

Chef Besh has a passion for sharing local, fresh, home-made meals that bring families around the dinner table. He was extremely kind and heartfelt about his passion for food, family, and for our city! Coming this November, his latest cookbook, My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking will be hitting bookshelves everywhere. It provides ways in which families can put fresh, healthy meals on the table. We also talked about how, in general, everyone’s lives are busy and children’s schedules can be very hectic.  Unfortunately, time spent around the table is being sacrificed for quick, on the run processed food. I had the opportunity to flip through My Family Table and I can’t wait for its release. I plan to use recipes from it to prepare a Sunday afternoon dinner with my family. Growing up, every Sunday it was mandatory to go to Grandma’s for dinner and everyone sat at the table. We talked, laughed, and did it all again the following week. I hope to use recipes from Chef Besh’s latest cookbook to rekindle that tradition.

You can learn more about Zatarain’s on the web at:

Learn more about Chef John Besh, his restaraunts, and cookbooks on the web at:

Disclosure: Thank you to Zatarain’s for giving myself and other Mom Bloggers the opportunity to meet and interview Chef Besh. I was not compensated for my time and as always all opinions are 100% my own!