GUMBO!

A couple of weekends ago,  I went home for my sister's volleyball regional tournament... Which they won! So I stayed the weekend and my parents and grandparents got together to watch the Baylor vs. KU game, Sic em bears, (not OU vs Texas) and I made gumbo with sausage and chicken. (I changed the ingredients and spiciness based on my families preferences).

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

I didn't add the shrimp because my grandmother is allergic, and I didn't add okra because I forgot to buy it (which my mother said was a sin against cajun food). So let me know how this recipe turns out with those added!

My family loved this gumbo and all went back for seconds! It's very hearty and is great during half time of a football game!

Tip: to save on time, I bought precooked sausage and chicken, I just didn't think it was worth all the extra work!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbl olive oil  (only is cooking chicken and sausage)
• 1 cup skinless, boneless chicken - chopped (I bought a de-boned a full rotisserie chicken (Sam's has the best))
• 1/2 pound pork sausage links, thinly sliced (I used a spicy sausage- precooked)
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbl minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 can or bottle beer (I used Miller Lite)
• 6 stalks celery, diced
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 sweet onion, sliced or diced
• 1 cup okra, sliced (you can use frozen and thaw, or fresh)
• 1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, with liquid (Rotel is great)
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh red chile peppers or any kind of pepper you prefer
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning (I used half Old Bay and half Tony Chachere's spicy seasonings, and it was still very spicy!)
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:

If cooking raw chicken and sausage: Heat oil over medium heat in a med-large skillet, add chicken until no longer pink. Add sausage and cook together until evenly brown. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, add the oil and flour and make your roux. Stir continuously or the roux will burn. Stir until brown and bubbly. (A roux, is used to thicken soups, sauces, etc its equal parts flour and fat (butter, oil, etc)). You want to roux to get brown and dark. Add in garlic and cooking for an additional minute.

Gradually add in the chicken stock and beer into the roux. Stirring frequently, bring to a boil. Add in celery, okra, onion, tomatoes, rotel tomatoes with chiles, parsley, and your choice of cajun seasoning. Turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir frequently.

Mix in the chicken, sausage, and shrimp and stir frequently for about 20 minutes. You can turn the gumbo on low for a while to keep it warm before you serve it.

This will serve about 10-12 people. And the total time is about 2 hours. It helps a lot to chop all the ingredients before hand.

Serve with white rice and crusty bread or cornbread for dipping. Enjoy!

Tips: I would not make this cornbread with the gumbo, just a plain cornbread is better. There is so much going on in the gumbo and the cornbread, that the cornbread takes away. I think buying the pre-packaged cornbread (ex: Jiffy or Marie Callender's) are both delicious and time saving!

 Here's our yummy breads!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

We're cooking up a storm in OKC! While tornadoes and hail storms circled Oklahoma City, my mom and I made tomato sauce and meatballs from scratch! We paired it with a great light herb salad and garlic bread.

Homemade Tomato Sauce and Spaghetti

My family has made this sauce several different times, each time tweaking it a bit to make it better. I love a nice kick to any dish, however my mother does not, so we half the spiciness so I don't miss it, and she doesn't start sweating in the middle of dinner.

My big tip for this recipe is to invest in the can tomatoes we used. They are only found at William-Sonoma, but they are filled with flavor and regular canned tomatoes just do not compare to these. The brand is Solonia, San Marzano Tomato and they are well worth the trip!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 4-6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 2 Tbl fresh thyme (or 1/2 Tbl dried)
• 2 Tbl fresh oregano (or 1/2 Tbl dried)
• 1 Tbl red pepper flakes (don't use this if you don't like spicy food, or half the amount for medium heat)
• 1 medium carrot, finely grated
• 2 bay leaves 
• 2 (28-oz) cans peeled whole San Marzano tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Spaghetti, cooked al dente
• Whole basil leaves for garnish
• Grated fresh Parmesan

Directions:

Have two bowls ready. In the first bowl, strain the tomato juice. Crush the remaining tomatoes by hand and strain the juice into the first bowl. Put the pulp into the second bowl. Set both aside.

 

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. add garlic and cook 3-5 more minutes, until soft and light golden brown.

Add the thyme, oregano, carrot, and red pepper (I put about 2 teaspoons into my sauce), and cooked 5 minutes more, until the carrot is soft.

Add the tomato juice and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the remaining pulp and cook another 30 minutes, until the consistency is like oatmeal.

Use an immersion blender to adjust the consistency to your preference. If you like a chunky sauce, skip this step like I did!

Season with salt and pepper. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves over pasta. You'll have so much of this sauce left over, so make sure to store it in your fridge for up to a week, or freeze it for up to 6 months.

Top the spaghetti with the sauce and meatballs (recipe below) and serve with garlic bread and a side salad. Enjoy!

Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 lb. pork sausage
• 3/4 lb. ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 large shallot, minced
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cloves
• Fresh oregano leaves, chopped, plus whole
    sprigs for garnish
•   1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• Olive oil, as needed 

Directions:

To make the meatballs, in a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs and milk and mix well. Add the sausage, beef, egg, ricotta, one-third of the Parmesan cheese, the shallot, nutmeg, cloves, a good sprinkling of marjoram and garlic clove. Mix briefly with your hands just until the ingredients are well distributed. Season well with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into small balls 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, pour in the olive oil to a depth of 1/4 inch. When it is hot, add the meatballs (in batches, if necessary) and brown well on all sides. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray to drain.

Herb Salad

Since our dinner had so much flavor, we went simple on the salad. I bought a package of fresh spring lettuce mix and mixed it with some herbs from our herb garden.I think its very important to always have an herb garden in your home. It's so easy to maintain, and doesn't take up a lot of space. Currently, we have basil, thyme, flat-leaved parsley, rosemary, lemon thyme, mint, sage, and oregano. It's really fun to use, and fresh herbs at the store are usually very expensive.

To make the dressing, I used an old glass jam jar. It's a good way to reuse a jar, it easy to mix all the ingredients together, and it keeps the dressing fresh and easy to store.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbl apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tbl honey
• 2 Tbl lemon juice
• 1 Tbl coarse-grained dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 walnut oil (or hazelnut oil)
• 1/2 cup evoo

Directions:

Mix all together and blend with the herb salad!

 

SAE: My last meeting

Tuesday was my last SAE meeting ever! I am so sad that it is over, this has been one of my favorite parts of my college career. Definitely my favorite part about senior year! We announced the new Sweetheart later that night, and Elizabeth will do a great job! She's one lucky girl!

For my last meeting :( I made jalapeno poppers (because the boys love them), a tip I have for those is to make sure you only wrap the bacon around the jalapeno once, otherwise the bacon gets too thick and won't cook evenly. I also made spicy Mexican mini quiches, dog-food queso, and this incredible pineapple cake!

Spicy Mexican Mini Quiches

 INGREDIENTS

1 lb hot Italian sausage 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz) 1/2 cup mozzerella cheese (2 oz) 1/2 cup choped jalapeno chiles, seeds removed 6 eggs 6 Tbl Salsa 1 box refrigerated pie crusts DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned and no longer pink; drain. Set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, mix both cheeses and chiles. Stir in cooled cooked sausage. In another medium bowl, beat eggs thoroughly with fork. Stir in salsa. Remove pie crusts from pouches; place flat on work surface. With rolling pin, roll each crust into 12-inch round. With a round cutter, cut around 40 mini rounds from the crusts, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Press each round into ungreased muffin cups or fluted tartlet pan. (I made this with a mini muffin tray, but you can make it with a regular sized muffin tin.) Spoon one heaping teaspoon (tablespoon for regular size) cheese mixture into each mini crusted-lined cup. Top each with about one teaspoon (tablespoon for regular) egg mixture, divide any remaining egg mixture between cups. Bake 14-18 minutes or until filling is set. If you want, garnish with fresh cilantro. Enjoy! Dog-Food Queso This is a little twist to regular queso. INGREDIENTS: 1 lb ground beef 1 (8 oz) packaged cream cheese, room temperature 1 (8 oz) jar prepared salsa 1 (1 lb) Velvetta cheese, sliced DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring to crumble, until no longer pink, I seasoned it lightly with a grill seasoning. Drain off grease. Spread the cream cheese in an even layer in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Spread a layer of salsa over the cream cheese, then cover with a layer of ground beef. Top with slices of processed cheese and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through. Serve hot. Pineapple-Vanilla Cake This cake is so delicious and moist. You can make your own cake from scratch if desired. But since I was cooking for 60 boys, I took short cuts to make cooking easier and quicker. INGREDIENTS: 1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple 1 1/3 cups sugar 1 (3.4-oz) box French vanilla pudding, plus ingredients to prepare 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or premade whipped cream) 1 cup flaked, sweetened toasted coconuts INGREDIENTS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare yellow cake mix as directed using a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. While cake is baking, combine the pineapple and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding over cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Whip heavy cream and remaining sugar until stiff. Cover top of cake with whipped cream and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.  To toast the coconuts, put the oven on broiler and lay the flakes on a cookie sheet. Put the coconut flakes in the oven and watch closely, take out when they start to brown. Enjoy! My last SAE meeting was so much fun, I will miss being sweetheart so much! I can't wait to come back to watch them in Sing, I heard it's going to be a good one this year!

Sausage Balls

This week for SAE meeting I decided to make sausage balls and orange slices. Something healthy with something not so healthy. The combination of the two smells, oddly, compliment each other. I had some requests for the recipe for my sausage balls (David), so I decided to post it!

They are really easy to make, and all the ingredients only cost me $20 and one batch makes 6 dozen sausage balls.

Sausage Balls

Ingredients:

• 2 packages (2 lbs) hot flavored Jimmy Dean pork sausage
• 1 1/2 cups baking mix (I use pancake mix)
• 16 oz. (4 cups) Sharp Cheddar or Jalapeno Jack Cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped jalapeno (about 3)
• 1/2 cup onion (about 1/2 of one onion)
• 2 tsp minced garlic (1 clove)
• 1 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients and roll into 1' inch balls. Line a baking sheet with foil (easier for clean up) and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and eat up! The boys demolished them in about 10 seconds.

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