Archive for the Category » Appetizers «
06
Jun 2014
Jun 2014
If you live in the south or have ever done any SEC tailgating, you’re probably familiar with Mississippi Sin or, as it’s called by some, Mississippi State Sin. It’s a devilishly delicious dip dotted with specs of ham and chopped green chiles that apparently originated in the kitchen of some big MS Bulldog fan. Up until a few months ago, I had only heard of this Southern college game-day tradition. Then, while flipping through a community cookbook my mom recently gave me (The 2nd Annual South Area Diversity Cookbook of the USPS), I came across the recipe [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Snacks
Tags: DIPS, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Snacks 2 Comments
05
May 2014
May 2014
Have I told you how much I love Mexican food? In my world, it comes in a strong second behind my hometown favorites. I love margaritas. “Big Texas Rocks Salt” is how I order mine at our favorite neighborhood Mexican joint which I affectionately call “The Ranch” (El Ranchero). I love chips and salsa. Thin chips. Smooth and spicy salsa. The Ranch does that right too. I also adore everything on their menu. And if you ask me for recommendations, I’ll usually suggest The Ranch’s Chicken Soup if you’re looking for [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Fruit, Main Dishes, Sauces, Seafood, Shrimp, Side Dishes
One Comment
02
May 2014
May 2014
A couple of weeks back, we made our annual pilgrimage to Pike’s, our local gardening center, for some colorful annuals to brighten up our patio, a wide assortment of herbs for warm-weather cooking and several vegetable and fruit plants for the kids’ garden. This springtime ritual is always an adventure. If we’d let them, the kids would spend hours and thousands of dollars filling our carts with everything edible. That sounds great, but their enthusiasm and lack of understanding of just how difficult it is for their mother–me–to successfully grow anything always leads to disappointment. One of many tough [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Beverages, Finger Food Fridays, Vegetables
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Vegetables 2 Comments
16
Jan 2014
Jan 2014
For Christmas, the hubby surprised me with a special gift–a Besh Box. I was reading up on this latest endeavor by Chef John Besh in the weeks preceding Christmas and was contemplating buying one myself. But I don’t recall ever mentioning that to Larry. I shouldn’t be surprised, though, by his perfect gift-giving abilities. After 20 years together, the man can pretty much read my mind. He also follows the New Orleans food scene almost as closely as I do and knows that any food-related or New Orleans-inspired gift rocks my world.
So this Besh Box is really cool. It’s basically [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Chicken, Christmas, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, Pasta, Seafood, Shrimp
Tags: Appetizers, Chicken, pasta, Seafood, Shrimp Creole 2 Comments
27
Dec 2013
Dec 2013
Every year I approach the holidays with what I believe to be a good balance of excitement and caution. Excitement over the magic of the season and making the most of all the food, fun, family and friends that come with it. Caution not to overdo it. This year, let’s just say I got overly excited and threw caution to the wind. Put another way, I ate and drank too much and stayed up past my bedtime more often than not. It’s left me tired, bloated and a tad cranky. And with New Year’s [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Fish, Seafood, Snacks
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Seafood 4 Comments
13
Dec 2013
Dec 2013
Jarred roasted red peppers, cream cheese, shredded mozzarella and chips (oh, and craft beer :-)) are refrigerator and pantry staples in my house. There’s a lot I can do with those ingredients. Plus, they all have a healthy shelf life. This time year, I find it especially important to have several flavorful and flexible items like those on hand. Alone or combined, they can spruce up chicken breasts, dress up pasta, flavor French bread (think French bread pizza), spiffy up salad greens or seafood and create inviting and impromptu appetizers. That’s basically how this finger food came to be. Last [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Snacks
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Snacks Comments off
04
Oct 2013
Oct 2013
Hello Finger Food Friday fans! My apologies to all for my lack of end-of-the-week, happy hour yummies. It’s just that lately there’s been no fun in our Fridays. The hubby and I have been working overtime and chauffeuring the kids here and there in between. Today, however, our plan is to chill. Hoping to hangout on the patio for a few hours and take in our beautiful weather (which is about to turn ugly thanks to that mean girl in the Gulf) and enjoy some much-needed downtime. I haven’t nailed down our menu as [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Snacks
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Snacks 2 Comments
24
Sep 2013
Sep 2013
Growing up, chili was never important to me and I don’t recall it ever being the center of attention with any of my family members or friends. I guess that’s because in New Orleans we’d all rather fill a pot with the likes of gumbo, beans or smothered something or other. Over the past few years, however, I’ve had this weird fixation with chili. My preoccupation stems from this fun-filled chili cook-off my girlfriend used to hold at her annual Super Bowl party. All her guests knew I loved to cook and they constantly bugged me [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Beef, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Side Dishes, Snacks, Vegetables
2 Comments
07
Sep 2013
Sep 2013
A couple of weeks back, I pulled out of the freezer what will probably be my last soft-shells of the season. Knowing full well I may not get anymore of these warm weather treasures until next spring, I debated how to prepare them. Should I go for broke and introduce them to some bright new flavors and a bold cooking method? Or, should I play it safe with a tried and true recipe that would not disappoint? Because this batch was frozen, I knew I could approach them a tad more aggressively than I could fresh [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Crab, Main Dishes, Seafood
One Comment
05
Aug 2013
Aug 2013
Oysters Rockefeller is one of those legendary New Orleans French-Creole dishes that has wowed locals and visitors alike since 1899. The dish was created back then by chef and restaurateur Jules Alciatore of Antoine’s Restaurant to replace and somewhat mimic the restaurant’s popular Escargots a la Bourguignonne due to a shortage of French snails. The dish was named after the affluent John D. Rockefeller because of its profoundly rich sauce.
Although Antoine’s has never divulged its secret recipe, fifth-generation proprietor Roy Guste, Jr. devised a variation of the same to include in his cookbook, The 100 [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Christmas, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Oysters, Seafood, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving
Tags: Appetizers, New Orleans Classics, Oysters, Seafood 3 Comments
