An example of chaos...

I wish I could keep up with certain things (like a blog), but when you are a parent, time is usually not devoted to you.

I would like to just give a brief example of my chaos that happened this morning. It demonstrates that the simplest task takes 3x longer.

Today's example: making a cup of coffee.

Empty out the old coffee grinds. 2 year old needs more chocolate milk in her cup. NOW.
Put new coffee grinds in machine. 2 year old happens to find the mouse trap (no mouse in it).
Start the machine for coffee. 4 year old needs chocolate milk.
Heat up milk for my coffee in microwave. 2 year old throws football in 4 year old's face.
Combine my coffee and hot milk with vanilla syrup. 1 year old found goldfish in the diaper bag and is now all over the living room floor.

For a process which should only take about 2 minutes turns into a much more complicated ordeal. Maybe I should switch to the Starbucks double shot in the can.

My brief example of chaos. What's yours?

What can I bring?

Summer time. Time for get togethers and backyard BBQs. Set up the slip n' slide and let the kids play. And and time for the infamous question that lurks in your head: "What can I bring?".

Whether your the guest or the host of the gathering, it's always good to have a few go to recipes that you can rely on to pull out on such occasions.

Here are a few of my salad favorites:

Corn and Black Bean Salad
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole corn, drained
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1/3 cup Italian dressing (sounds strange but is great in this)
2 tbsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp salt
juice of 1 lime

Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Mix the rest of ingredients, then add the dressing and stir until blended. Allow at least 1 hour to chill in fridge prior to serving, but better if left to chill longer. Can be made a day in advance.


Pasta Salad
3 or 4 garlic cloves
1 box of small shell pasta
1 box of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper (your choice of color), diced
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1 small can of sliced black olives, drained

Dressing:
mashed garlic (see directions below)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp basil (I used dried but you can use fresh too)

Boil water for the pasta. Add the garlic cloves to the boiling water and well as pasta (cook this as directed on the box).

In the meantime, add all of the vegetables and black olives together and mix well.

When pasta is done, drain and remove garlic cloves. Mash garlic with the back of a spoon. Then mix mashed garlic and rest of dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Add pasta to vegetables and mix well. Add dressing and stir.

For both of these recipes it is my best gestimate of seasonings. Always taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

I have a new favorite salad that I wish to share, but I'm going to do another blog for that, as my 2 year old is starting to lose her mind.

The Trinity: Not just for Sunday morning

The Trinity. Not the holy one, and not a college. You'll hear Cajuns talk about adding the Trinity to their roux (see previous post) as the next step of making staple dishes, such as gumbo. But what the heck are they talking about?

Simply, the Trinity of Cajun cooking is onion, bell pepper, and celery. What's funny to me is that I always add garlic to these ingredients. So what does that make it? A quartet?

Typical Trinity:
1 onion
1/2 green bell pepper
2-3 celery stalks

And I also add about 2-3 cloves of garlic. All ingredients should be finely chopped. This is the time to break out your food processor (or whopper-chopper as my mom calls it). I usually do this in batches. Chop the onion and garlic together, then place in a bowl. Chop bell pepper and celery, and then add to the same bowl. Now your trinity + garlic will be ready to use when the recipe calls for it.

TIME SAVING TIP:

For the busy person, the trinity + garlic can be chopped ahead of time. No early than the night before. I typically do prep work for dinner during my toddler's afternoon nap. Keep chopped veggies in an airtight container in the fridge. Then once your roux is the perfect color, you're ready to add the trinity right away.

First you have to make a roux.

As any good Cajun will tell you, most recipes begin with a proper roux. It adds depth of flavor and thinkens the sauce. And it's pretty simple: fat and flour. Traditional French cooking often uses clarified butter as the form of fat. That's way too fancy for the Cajun. We are back woods and down the bayou people. Clarified butter? Really?

Personally, my roux will always be vegetable/canola oil and plain old basic all purpose flour. This is how my mama taught me how to make a roux.

Disclaimer:
If you have ever read a true Cajun cookbook (and I mean the church cookbooks, Junior League, etc.), you will understand how we share recipes. Often there is no precise measurements or instructions. I will do the best I can to overcome this, but I fear that I unfortunately still carry this trait.

First you need a flat bottomed pot. I find this will give you the most even cooking for the roux. It's also a bonus if you have a large enough one that you can keep adding more ingredients for your recipe without changing cookware.

Basically a roux is 1/2 fat (vegetable/canola oil) and 1/2 flour. Here is where the precise measurements for me end, because this is how I was taught. It all depends on how much roux you want to make. Let's just say 3/4 cup of oil to 3/4 cup of flour if you need a measurement.
Otherwise:

Over medium heat, cover the bottom of your pot with oil. Cover, not coat. Add a little depth to your oil (1/8 of an inch or so). Add flour, one tablespoon at a time. Mix each tablespoon into the oil completely with a wooden spoon (I have one spoon I only use for roux - a long handle for big pots and darkened from use). Continue to add flour until the spoon can be dragged along the bottom of the pot and leave a brief line before the mixture comes together again.

Now here is the tedious part. Continue to cook the roux. For gumbo, you want a nice dark roux, about the color of an old penny. It takes about 1/2 hour to acheive this. Cocktail time! Might as well have a little nip while you stir.

The roux needs to be stirred often and MUST not be left alone. Once you burn a roux, you won't do it again. Most importantly are the final stages when it really begins to brown, because the potential to burn is high...so STIR, STIR, STIR!!

Once you have achieved your target roux color, you can proceed with the recipe of your choice.

Thus is the basic guideline for most Cajun cuisine. Discussion on the next fundamental of Cajun cooking to follow: The Trinity.

In the beginning...

I am a Cajun. Really. I come from south Louisiana, where it is said that anyone who lives north of I-10 is a Yankee. I have French heritage from both sides of the family. I grew up with the Mississippi River directly at the end of my street. I bleed purple and gold, know how to correctly pronounce muffuletta and Tchoupitoulas, and believe that Mardi Gras is a holiday.

I have travelled the world, lived in many places, and no longer reside in the Who Dat Nation. I have found, as many others will attest to, that food will always bring you comfort, memories, and a brief feeling of home. So ever since I graduated from college I have tried to cook. Sometimes prevailing, sometimes failing. Always referring to my mother's advice and church cook books (which, in my opinion, are the best). Then marriage and children came into the picture, and cooking took on a whole new meaning. If I could manage to make pasta with butter on it, dinner was a success.

So what's with the blog?

One day I happened to mention making gumbo on facebook, and a friend of mine asked for the recipe. Thus began the idea for this blog. It's for me to post favorite recipes, cajun and non-cajun. I can also give a few tips on time managing meal prep for the busy person. Being a stay at home mom of 3 young children,, it is a requirement if you want to make anything more involved than buttered pasta. I also encourage anyone who reads this to add their own favorite recipes, advice, and ideas. Food and conversation is much better when shared with others.