I
have been trying to go through a bunch of stuff from my mom's house
and sort through it. One of the problems with that is I keep getting
sidetracked. This recipe for example, I found this recipe on a recipe
card tucked into one of mom's cookbooks. As soon as I read it I was
not only craving it but I was remembering all those pot luck dinners
that mom took this dessert to.
For
a couple of years of my childhood and into my teen years whenever mom
was called upon to bring a dessert to a potluck this was what she
made. I think mainly because it was easy to make and carried well to
these functions.
I
really don't know what the real name of it was because she had just
titled the card “refrigerator dessert” I don't know where she got
the recipe from either. I just know that when I took a bite of it I
was right back there at one of those potlucks surrounded by friends
and celebrating whatever event the potluck was for.
I
know that mom changed up the cake component depending on what was on
hand. Sometimes she used angel food cake and sometimes she used a
plain white cake or whatever she had handy I think. Feel free to use
whatever your favorite plain light cake is.
I
was really at a loss for what to call this dish, I know what it is
not (a jambalaya) but stew comes the closest to what it really is. I
came up with this one all because of some sausage I tasted at a demo
table at a grocery store several months ago. I needed to just pick up
a couple of things and the parking lot at the store I normally go to
was a zoo so I went to the store down the street that I don't go to
very often. As I was walking through there was a very nice lady
offering up samples of a smoked sausage from a company that I was not
familiar with. I tried all the varieties and decided to take a
package of the cajun spiced one home with me. Now I needed to figure
out how to serve. I thought about it a couple of days and decided I
wanted to play around with it a bit.
Since
I live a ways from the nearest grocery store I always have stuff on
hand in the freezer and pantry. When you live out here you don't run
to the store at the last minute to pick up something for dinner.
There is also no delivery any where near here. I started to think
about what I had on hand. I knew there was some chicken breasts in
the freezer (these are always in my freezer) and I had picked up
some frozen shrimp a few days before. Hummmm.....
I
mulled the choices over for a few days and decided to combine the
sausages with both of the above meats. I knew I wanted to go cajun
style so that meant onion, celery and green pepper. I had all of
these on hand so now dinner was coming together. I wanted the chicken
and shrimp to stand up to the sausage so I decided to coat these two
items with some of my homemade cajun seasoning blend (I'll add that
recipe at the end of this post). I knew it wouldn't take much of the
seasoning, a little goes along way but it is so good on almost all
meats. I had just picked up a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes and I
like a tomato base to this kind of dish so that went on my mental
list of ingredients. My fresh thyme was doing well at that time too
and since there's dry thyme in my seasoning blend I thought that
would be a good addition too (I like to add some fresh herbs in
wherever I can)
The
rest of the ingredients came about as I tasted the dish as I made it
the first time.
Now
all that being said the day I recorded this I couldn't get the cajun
sausage and used some smoked sausage that was labeled Spicy Italian.
It worked just as well. If you want to cut back on the spiciness of
the dish use a smoked Polish type sausage. Really any variety of
pre-cooked (smoked) sausage will work just fine.
We
really love this one and it is really easy to make in a larger batch
to feed a crowd. Since the different elements are cooked separately
and come together at the end just increase it to fill up your crew.
The recipe as written is plenty to fill up my son and myself and have
plenty of leftovers for lunch.
On
the subject of servings and more importantly how many servings my
recipes make. That is a really tough question since I am trying to
fill up a growing teenage boy. I swear at this age (14) they can eat
enough for an army and still pop up for a snack 5 minutes later. He
is currently 6' tall and still growing. So how many normal people
will this feed?? You will have to be the judge of that one.
Cajun
Stew
½
lb large shrimp (peeled, deveined and thawed if frozen)
1
boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
1
Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning blend
½
lb spicy sausage Cajun style or spicy Italian smoked sausage
I
discovered this little gem just a couple of years ago. It seemed like
every time I picked up a cooking magazine or tuned into the Food
Network I saw someone making/serving pickled onions. I tried a couple
of recipes and we fell in love with this one. I think it is a
combination of several I found in different places but I am not
really sure. All I have is the recipe scribbled on a partial piece of
yellow legal paper. I keep it tacked to my kitchen bulletin board so
I can make these regularly. Truth be told at this point I could
probably make them in my sleep though.
There
is pretty much always a jar with some of these in our fridge. We use
them all the time. They are great on sandwiches of all kinds and just
as fantastic in a green salad. I have thrown them into almost every
recipe that calls for pickles or pickle relish and so far they have
been a huge hit every time. I know that both my son and I have on
occasion just grabbed a few to eat on their own too. They really are
that good.
I
like to store ours in a quart size canning jar. I do this for several
reasons first off I have a bunch of them around from the canning that
my mom, my grandma and that I have done over the years. The jars are
easy to clean and can withstand the hot brine solution going in with
the onions. Also the lids give a nice seal so the pickly awesomeness
doesn't invade the rest of the contents of the fridge.
I
like to heat the brine up in the microwave for about 2 minutes. I
tried doing them without heating the liquid up and we just prefer the
results this way. The brine doesn't need to come to a boil, just get
it hot enough to steam a bit and to dissolve the salt and sugar. I
use Tabasco in ours but use your favorite hot sauce, after a batch or
two you will know how much to use. I use about 3 or 4 good splashes
of it and we find it to be perfect.
These
really are best after a day or so, the onions need some time to get
friendly with the brine and begin to break down a bit. I really don't
know how long they will keep because they have never lasted long
enough to find out. The brine is a wonderful addition to salad
dressings and just about anywhere else you would use vinegar. It
turns a very pretty magenta color from the onions and takes on the
flavor of the onions very quickly.
This
is the very first cookie recipe I remember making as a young girl and
I have made them on a regular basis ever since. I love how easy they
are, no mixer required, and they still taste wonderful. I can have
fresh from the oven cookies ready to serve in a matter of minutes.
They have a wonderful hint of lemon but if you don't like lemon just
leave the extract out, they will still be wonderful. The recipe makes
a small number of cookies, I usually get between 24 and 30 per batch.
The only down side I see to them is they do get stale a bit quicker
than some of the other cookies I make but since they are so good they
seldom hang around long enough for that to be a problem.
If
you have never made cookies before these are a fantastic recipe to
try as your first exploration of baking. Also if you have a young
child that wants to bake cookies this is a good place to start. Adult
supervision is necessary for getting the cookies in and out of the
hot oven but other than that these are very kid friendly.
If
you want to really make them special substitute some decorator sugar
in a festive color for the sugar that you dip the glass in to flatten
your cookies before putting them in the oven.
