Kitchen Inspiration

This set of dishes is the whole inspiration behind my kitchen decor. I LOVE these dishes and all the colors in them. This picture does not do them justice. The downside is that my little kitchen is running out of room for all my rooster and chicken paraphernalia.

Tomorrow I will be featuring Miss Bertha. She is my one surviving Light Brahma pullet of the Chicken Massacre of 2008. She had a twin sister but she fell to the evil rat terrier Sassy.

Kiss your cafeteria lady

Well, maybe not kiss her, unless you want to. lol But really, they should have Cafeteria Lady Appreciation Day. Those ladies work hard. And tell your kids to not be so messy!!! ;-)

Oh how I wish

I had something to post about. I'm so sorry I'm such a boring blogger.

Not a whole lot going on in my life to write about.

We're in kinda sorta negotiations on a house. Yeah, kinda sorta. It's complicated. IF we get the house, I'll post all about this mess. lol

I get to go to work in the cafeteria tomorrow. YAY! It's only for tomorrow but whatever, I get to get out of the house!

Crawfish (or Shrimp) Etouffee......

Today we're using shrimp. My grocery store was completely out of crawfish and I didn't have any in the freezer so I had to settle for shrimp. Poor me. ;-)

I've been meaning to post this for a while but as I've come to find, I'm a really lazy blogger. lol

Etouffee is a South Louisiana classic. You will find as many recipes as you will families. Everybodys got their own little touches. The recipe I'm posting today is pretty basic.

I wish I would have taken more detailed pictures but I hate my camera. It takes really crappy pictures.

You start with a light roux or as I call it the "peanut butter" stage.

This is 1 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of flour. Be careful with your roux. Please don't burn it. If you burn it, you have to start all over. I won't even admit to how many times I did that when I was learning to cook. It's a pain and it makes you want to throw the whole pot out the door and go to Burger King. Don't get discouraged. Practice makes perfect. OR, you could always use this:

Whatever works for you. This saves alot of time but I personally can't justify paying several dollars for something I can make for pennies. That being said, I have used it in the past. No big deal.

Now, I add water to my roux. About a pint. Mix it until it is all smooth. NO LUMPS. Then add the chopped veggies. It will be thick but there's a method to my madness. I promise.

Let this cook, stirring frequently for about 30 minutes. If you decide that your roux mixture just doesn't have enough color for you, you can add about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce. It enhances both color and flavor.

Next, I add the shrimp. With all the hurricane stuff going on down there, I haven't been able to get to Holly Beach for fresh shrimp *my shrimp guys home was washed away, again ;-( * so I had to settle for frozen from the store. Louisiana shrimp is best. Check the package. ;-)

I use the shrimp directly from the freezer. I just run it under water to make it seperate from the plastic cut it across the top and squeeze it into the pot. All the juices are frozen and I don't loose any of them.

This is going to melt down right into my roux. This is why I don't add all the water at first. It would get too runny. You don't want a runny etouffee. It's has to be thick and creamy. The shrimp and vegetables all make their own water as they cook down so don't be tempted to add too much water at first. You can always add more later but it's hard to take away.

Once it's all cooked and melded together, taste it and season it. I use Tony's of course but you can use whatever you like.

I forgot to get a picture of it finished in the pot but you can get an idea of how it's supposed to be from the plated picture.

Serve over white rice with a side of potato salad, green salad and/or crusty bread for dipping.

You can't get more Louisiana than this. Give it a try.

Crawfish Etouffee
1/2 cup flour
1 cup oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1/2 stalk of celery, chopped
1 1/2 pints of water
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 pounds crawfish or shrimp
1/2 cup green onion tops
1 tbps. dried parsley
Seasoning to taste

Make a light roux. Add water and tomato sauce and mix until smooth. Add chopped vegetables and cook about 30 minutes. Stirring frequently to prevent sticking or scorching. Add seafood and cook another 20 minutes or until seafood is done. (If you use frozen like I did, it will take a bit longer) Don't overcook. Add seasonings to taste. If it's too thick add a little water. If it's too thin you can add a bit of cornstarch to thicken.

I Must Confess

I've grown to really, REALLY like being home by myself during the day. Why does that make me feel guilty? Maybe confessing that will jinx me and the school will finally call me in to work? I kinda hope so, I kinda hope not. lol No really, I do hope so. While I like this alone time that I have to do things without any interruptions, I feel very unproductive. I guess I shouldn't because I do get an awful lot of things done. I know when I start work, I'll miss these quiet days.

I Guess I'm Not the Sharpest Crayon in the Box

So here's the deal. Since I haven't written a post in so long, I was going to do a whole tutorial on gumbo making. It's been nice and cool here the last few days and it just feels like gumbo weather.

I made a very yummy gumbo last night. I took pictures of the whole process, even the potato salad.

Today I went to get the pictures off my camera to write the post. My memory card wasn't in my camera!!! My usb cord has mysteriously disappeared so NO PICTURES! Ugh.....

I'll do it again another time, I promise.

It looks like we'll finally have a pretty weekend to go outside and get some work done so if we do anything interesting like, maybe build a chicken coop(I hope) I will take pictures to share.

So sad...........

One of my sweet little yellow babies was eaten by a mean old lab today. That's the second time this particular dog has ticked me off. The first time he jumped on and knocked down my baby. The human one. Now this!!! He doesn't know it yet, but we have a score to settle. I usually love dogs, especially labs but this one......... grrrrrr.........