It's Thanksgiving in July!

(I'm in the process of migrating some blog entries from an old blog into this one. I'd like to have all my recipes in one place. Please excuse the dust while I remodel a little bit. The good news is that I'm adding labels to each post, even the old ones, so we can all find what we are looking for much easier!)

From November of '07

Cajun Cornbread Dressing

3 T. butter

1 c. each chopped onion and celery

1/2 c. each red, yellow, and green bell pepper

2 c. chopped smoked sausage (I used Savoie's brand beef sausage. You could use andouille.)

2 c. chopped raw shrimp

1 stick butter

1 32 oz. box chicken broth

1 16 oz. bag cornbread dressing mix (I used HEB brand)

2 t. Tony Chachere's creole seasoning

In a large pot or skillet melt the 3 T. butter and saute the vegetables until soft. Add the sausage and continue cooking until browned. Add the shrimp and cook through. Add the remaining butter and cook until melted. Add broth and turn off heat. Stir in dressing mix and seasoning. Bake in 9 x 13 casserole dish at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy your leftovers!

Purple Pantry Puzzle

It’s 5:00, I had no idea what to fix for dinner, and Ijust came home from an impromptu trip to Whole Foods. (I know, I know…shopping without a list is dangerous, especially there!) What I thought was in the freezer…wasn’t, so I faced this assortment of ingredients:

Here we have a red onion, red pepper, lemon infused olive oil, jalapeno-cilantro pesto, shrimp, zucchini, and purple potatoes! That’s right, purple as in “this is a lovely match to my cardigan” purple. How did it all come together?

I sauteed the shrimp with the bell pepper, zucchini, and onion. At the end I added the cilantro pesto for a little kick. On the side we have the lovely purple potatoes, sprinkled with lemon olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper. I added the cilantro because, well, it needed something green on top.
The verdict? The family, bless their adventurous souls, liked it! We all agreed that the potatoes wouldn’t have worked with the standard butter and milk treatment (Play-doh anyone?) but the snazzy lemon oil was just the right touch.
Who says grownups can’t play with their food?