Gumbo Risotto.

I’m a fan of testing out recipes that are break from the usual.  Hybrid or fusion dishes that put a new spin on old flavors really appeal to me, so when I saw this recipe for a gumbo risotto on Pinterest, I had to try it out.

 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cups olive oil, divided
• 1 cup Okra, frozen Or fresh, sliced
• ½ whole Bell Pepper, chopped
• ½ pounds Raw Shrimp, peeled & tails removed
• ⅓ pounds smoked sausage, sliced into 1/2 pieces & then cut in half
• ½ whole chopped onion
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• ½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 cup Arborio Or Risotto Rice (NOTE: my local health food market sells this in a bulk bin, so you can buy only as much as you need—check your market for similar deals!)
• ½ cups white wine Or beer
• 1 Tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
• ½ cups Tomato Sauce Or Puree
• 5 cups Liquid (half Chicken Broth, Half Water To save $$$ And sodium)
• ½ pints Cherry Tomatoes, Quartered, Or 2 Roma Tomatoes, Diced
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• Hot Sauce, Optional
• Salt And Pepper

(Bulk bin rice—great because you can get only what you need & not have yet another random box cluttering your pantry!  And cheaper than buying a full bag of rice too!)

 

Directions:

In a large skillet (or wok) heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, and then add your okra.  Saute for about 3 minutes—the okra will get a wee bit slimy & you’ll see “strings” as you stir.  When it gets a bit brown, remove from the skillet & set aside in a bowl.  (we do this separately so that it everything else doesn’t get slimy.)

Then add a little more olive oil, if needed, and saute the bell pepper, shrimp, and sausage until the shrimp is pink & the pepper is somewhat softened.  Remove from skillet & set aside in the same bowl. (We have to cook all these pieces first, because the risotto rice takes so long to cook that everything else would be mush if you left it in.)

Now add your onions, crushed red pepper, & garlic & cook for about 3 minutes.  This will be the beginnings of the base for our rice.  When the garlic & onions are soft but not brown, add the dry rice & tomato sauce.  Stir until rice is coated.  Now add your wine or beer & stir until completely absorbed (no worries—the booze will cook out before it’s finished.)

Now would be a good time to tell you:  You’re going to be stirring a LOT.  So you should probably just pull a chair up to your stove.  Risotto rice needs to be stirred pretty well constantly to ensure that it doesn’t burn.  So just grab a book with your free hand & settle in.

(PS—please don’t judge our choice in beer—we went canoeing a couple weekends ago & therefore had “river beer” leftovers in our cooler.)

Using 2/3 cup at a time, start adding the chicken broth / water, alternating between the two.  Stir the rice until all the liquid is absorbed, then add more liquid and repeat. If the pan gets too hot (the liquid boils fully), reduce the heat.

After about 25 minutes, check the rice for doneness.  Continue to add liquid until the rice is tender but not mushy and does not have a crunch or stick to your teeth.

When the rice is cooked through, add the cherry tomatoes, okra, bell pepper, sausage, shrimp, butter and hot sauce. Stir for 2-3 minutes to heat through and taste for seasonings, adding more Cajun seasoning, salt, or hot sauce if you need.

Serve with a bit o’ garnish & a big spoon, and you’re ready to go!

Cook’s Notes: This recipe took a Loooooooong time to make, with all the prep and the separated cooking and the stirring, but I kid you not when I say it’s one of THE tastiest dishes I’ve had in a really long time.  The rice is amazingly creamy and delicious, and captures so many of the flavors of gumbo, with a hint of tomatoey goodness (not an ingredient in standard Cajun gumbo).  If it didn’t take forever to make, this might become a staple recipe in my kitchen.  But I think I’ll just save it for special occasions.

Overall, a great meal—a hearty serving but only 250 calories each!

Nutrifacts: (makes 6 servings)

Calories 251.4

  Total Fat 10.3 g

  Saturated Fat 1.7 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g

  Cholesterol 80.8 mg

  Sodium 876.1 mg

  Potassium 381.1 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 19.4 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.8 g

  Sugars 11.6 g

  Protein 17.1 g

Peach Bread Pudding.

I did it.  I finally did it.  I made a bread pudding!

But of course, because I’m ME, I couldn’t make a normal, plain-jane bread pudding.  Oh no.  That just wouldn’t be kosher.  (Not that anything’s kosher around this blog…I mean…have you SEEN the amount of bacon & bacon grease we have around here?)

We were having a potluck in honor of our company owner’s birthday this past week so I decided it was time. 

I should point out that I’m quite finnicky about bread pudding.  To enjoy it:

1. It must be served warm, through & through.  Cold bread pudding is disgusting, and I’ve come across FAR too many NOLA establishments that think it’s perfectly acceptable to serve cold bread pudding. *gags*

2. The sauce must also be warm, and not too boozy.  I’m eating dessert, not having a cocktail.

3. The predominant flavor should be cinnamon.  Not rum.

So when I stumbled upon a recipe for peach bread pudding, I thought—this is the dessert for me.  Peach cobbler is one of my favorites, and how seamlessly it should combine with a bread pudding!

I was SO right.

Ingredients:

4-6 cups bread, cubed into small pieces (about one average sized loaf)

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

3 large eggs

2.5 cups canned or fresh peaches (I used frozen unsweetened & they worked perfectly)

1/2 cup peach juice (if you use frozen, just defrost them in the microwave & it should produce a good amount of juice

1.25 c hot water

4 tbsp light butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup (NOTE: if you don’t have corn syrup, no problem!  Combine 2 tbsp of white sugar + 2 tsp warm water and stir.  Microwave for 20 seconds & crystals should mostly dissolve.  Then add to the pan.)

1 tbsp rum OR 2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Grease an 11x7 baking dish.

Cube up your bread.

In a separate large bowl, combine peaches, condensed milk, eggs (lightly beaten), hot water, butter, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg & stir well.

(Recipes on Nooks are mighty handy.)

Add your bread & stir until bread is moistened.

Transfer into your baking dish.

Note: You can also make little individual bread puddings in rammekins, like I did, so that my husband & I could taste test the dish without destroying the pan I was taking to the potluck.

Place in the middle of the oven & bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean.

In the last 10-20 minutes of your baking process, make the sauce for your pudding.

Combine the sauce ingredients over medium heat, bring to a boil, & let simmer for 3-4 minutes or until it starts to thicken.  It will thicken more as it cools.

Serve the bread pudding warm, with warm sauce.

I, my husband, and my coworkers absolutely fell in love with this dish.  I’m DEFINITELY making it again!

 

NutriFacts: (makes 16 servings)

Calories 234.0

  Total Fat 3.5 g

  Saturated Fat 1.0 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.1 g

  Cholesterol 37.8 mg

  Sodium 86.4 mg

  Potassium 89.4 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 47.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.3 g

  Sugars 26.2 g

  Protein 6.2 g

Spicy BBQ Chicken Lettuce Wraps–Crockpot Recipe!

 

If your Pinterest Friends’ Board looks anything like mine, you’ve seen the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps floating around.  Me, I’m not a huge fan of buffalo sauce, but I like me some spicy BBQ.  Anything that has a good mix of sweet, smoky, & a swift kick in the pants is a winner in my book.  And I love every opportunity I get to use my Crockpot, because it means I can throw things together before work, and when I get home, everything’s ready to go!  So I modified this recipe just a bit & was REALLY happy with the results.

 

Ingredients: (makes 8 wraps/4 servings)

1.5-2 lbs of skinless chicken (we used bone-in thighs because it’s what we had in the freezer, but boneless-skinless would have been much easier)

1 celery stalk

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

2 cups low sodium chicken broth + 1 cup water

1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

1/4 cup Tiger Sauce

8 large lettuce leaves

1 carrot, peeled

another celery stalk

8 oz fat free sour cream

1/2 packet ranch dip mix

 

Directions:

Add the chicken, celery, onion, garlic, & Cajun seasoning to the Crockpot, and then cover with the chicken broth / water.  Add enough to just cover the chicken (if you’re using bone-in, it might take a little bit more water).  Cover & cook on High for 4 hours, or Low for 6-8 hours.

When everything’s all cooked up, drain the fluids from the pot (reserving 1/2 cup of the broth) and then shred the chicken (make sure you capture all the bones, if you’re cooking bone-in).  Then add the shredded chicken back to the Crockpot.  Top with reserved chicken broth, BBQ sauce, & Tiger sauce.

If this is your first time cooking with Tiger Sauce…WHY????  OMG, it’s so amazing.  Buy some. NOW.  You will THANK me.  It’s my favorite “hot sauce”, though it’s SO much more than a hot sauce.  With 28 ingredients and a cayenne base, it’s spicy, smoky, sweet & slightly sour.  Dip your fries in it, dip your steak in it…bathe your baby in it…actually, that one’s probably a bad idea. 

It’s got a lot of kick, so if you’re not big on heat…WHY are you reading this blog?  Just kidding.  Start off with about 1/8 of a cup, mix it all together, and then if you want more heat, add more to your Scoville-y preference.

Mix the chicken & sauce all together, and turn your Crockpot to Warm or Low & cook for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash 4 large lettuce leaves & cut off the hard bottom edges. 

Now julienne one carrot & one stalk of celery.

And the original recipe calls for topping the wraps with a bleu cheese sauce…but we’re not much on bleu cheese in my house.  So instead, mix 8 oz of sour cream with half the contents of a ranch dip packet, and stir well.  Ranch goes better with BBQ, IMHO.

(Like classy folk, we just mix stuff right in the container.  Fewer dishes to wash!)

Once your chicken is heated through, scoop 1/2 cup of chicken into the center of each lettuce leaf, then top with veggies & a dollop (1 tbsp) of the ranch.  Roll up, and Devour.  Keep some napkins handy—these are messy.

NutriFacts: (2 wraps makes 1 serving)

Calories 283.7

  Total Fat 6.5 g

  Saturated Fat 2.9 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.8 g

  Cholesterol 110.3 mg

  Sodium 899.6 mg

  Potassium 928.4 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 11.0 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.0 g

  Sugars 2.7 g

  Protein 43.1 g