Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Do you have one of those “family” comfort food recipes that always seems to hit the spot? We have several, but this one is extra-special. My darling husband makes this one, and its one of our all-time favorite meals.

Make this on a really cold day, it will warm you up inside and out! Serve up a generous helping of gumbo with a big warm yeast or dinner roll to “sop” up the extras. You’ve just found a hug in a bowl. Enjoy the comfort!

{note: Kris is really generous with his seasonings! Everything is *mostly* to-taste}

Kris's Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

For the Roux

1. 1 cup flour
2. 2/3 cup vegetable oil

For the Gumbo

1. 1/2 cup chopped onion (half a large yellow onion)
2. 1/2 cup chopped green pepper (1 large green bell pepper)
3. 1 1/2 stalks celery, diced
4. 2 cloves garlic, minced
5. 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed
6. 10 cups water
7. 1 pkg. smoked sausage (we like Johnsonville’s New Orleans or Andouille)
8. 1 tsp salt
9. 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
10. 1/4 cup Creole seasoning (we use Tony Chacheres)
11. 1 tsp onion powder
12. 1 tsp chili powder
13. 1 tsp garlic powder
14. 1 tsp paprika
15. 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
16. Cooked White Rice

Directions

1. Start the roux first. In a large saucepan, combine the flour and oil and cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until mixture is caramel-colored and thick. Stir constantly to keep from burning.
2. Add onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic to the roux. Cook 5 minutes stirring to combine. Add chicken, sausage, water and seasonings to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer about one hour or until chicken is done and no longer pink. Stir occasionally to keep the gumbo from burning on the bottom. Ladle gumbo over rice and serve with a bakery roll.

We really enjoy this recipe in the autumn and winter months! You can easily substitute the sausage or chicken with some shrimp or even add some okra to change it up.

Hoppin' John

Happy New Year! Well, technically yesterday was New Years, but Happy New Years, anyway!

Did you eat your Black Eyed Peas for luck? We did! Every New Years Day, I make this version of Hoppin’ John. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure where the recipe sprung from. Some recipes in my binder have been lingering there forever without a place of origin!

Back to the Peas> I’m from Arkansas. You could say I’m kind of Southern. Just a little. Every New Years Day for as long as I was living at home, there would be fried hog jowl {not as nasty as it sounds! Think BACON. Everyone loves BACON!} and Black Eyed Peas {for luck!}.

Do you ever wonder WHY black eyed peas are claimed to be “lucky”? I was raised to believe it to be so, but I can’t remember the WHY of it. ..

So I did some Googling.

Its a mostly Southern superstition with several different versions. I won’t go through all of them and I don’t know which one my family might’ve believed, but my favorite version is from the Civil War.

It says that back then the peas were considered “animal food” and not good enough for Union troops to consume.  So when the Union troops would raid a Confederate camp, they’d take everything but leave the black eyed peas. The Confederate troops considered themselves “lucky” to have ANY food at all left to help them survive the winter. {history lessons are great, aren’t they?!}

Anyway, back to the recipe. I wanted to continue the tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Years Day, so I make this tasty {and EASY!} Hoppin’ John every year and we absolutely love it! I make my Skillet Cornbread to serve alongside.

Even if you don’t believe that black eyed peas will bring you luck in the New Year, you should definitely give this recipe a try anyway! I make it throughout the year. Comfort food at its best!

Hoppin' John

Ingredients

1. 1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2. 4 carrots, peeled and chopped small
3. 1 medium onion, diced
4. 2 stalks of celery, chopped small
5. 4 (15.5 oz) cans of black eyed peas, rinsed & drained
6. 2 cups water
7. 1 small package salted pork, or country ham, chopped
8. Salt & Pepper to taste
9. Cooked White Rice
10. Green Tabasco for garnish (if desired)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion and celery. Season with salt & pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the black eyed peas and 2 cups of water to the skillet. Bring to a boil.
2. Place your salted pork or ham into the bottom of your slow cooker. Pour the black eyed peas mixture over the ham, stir all to combine. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours. Serve helpings over white rice. Green tabasco sauce is a great optional topping.

source for Black Eyed Pea history lesson: http://littlerock.about.com/od/festivals/a/Black-Eyed-Peas-For-New-Years-Luck.htm

What traditions do you follow for the New Year?

Skillet Cornbread

I don’t make cornbread very often, but when I do, there is only ONE way {in my opinion} to go about it.  It is the reason I own a cast iron skillet.  Because cornbread….is cast iron skillet food.

If you don’t own a cast iron skillet… you should seriously think about investing in one! I store mine in my oven when not in use..and I use it ONLY for my cornbread. Why, you ask?

Because! #1- Skillet cornbread is oh so CRUSTY on one side! #2 – Skillet cornbread is round not square! #3- Did I mention the delicious crust??

If you love cornbread, you’ll thank me. This is the best way to eat it!

Skillet Cornbread

Ingredients

1. 1 cup plain yellow corn meal (not corn meal MIX)
2. 1 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1 tbsp. baking powder
4. 2 eggs
5. 1 tsp. salt
6. 1 1/4 cups milk
7. 2 tbsp. Crisco Shortening
8. 2 tbsp. chopped jarred jalapeno’s (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 Degrees F.
2. Place shortening in cast-iron skillet. Place skillet in pre-heating oven while you’re mixing up the batter.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt. Add eggs and milk. Mix thoroughly until everything is combined. Add jalapeno’s if desired.
4. Grab the skillet out of the oven (use a pot-holder, its HOT!) Tilt the skillet (carefully) back and forth until the {melted and hot} shortening is coating the bottom. Set it down on another pot-holder and pour cornbread batter into hot grease. (watch it bubble! YUM) The batter should spread out in the skillet on its own.
5. Stick the skillet back in the hot oven for 20 minutes or until its nice and golden on top.
6. When its done, flip the cornbread (carefully) out, upside down onto a plate. Cut into triangles and serve with butter!

This is my hands-down, absolute favorite way to eat cornbread. And I LOVE it with jalapeno’s! You can also change it up, throw 1/2 cup of shredded cheese or even 1/2 cup drained corn kernels. Any way you slice it, its yummy!

What do you think? Are you a cornbread fan?

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday was my birthday! I had a wonderful day, hubby took me out, we did coffee and an Antique Mall. He was marvelously patient while I browsed and nosed around for a good two hours. That place was huge and I had a ball!

Earlier in the day, while getting coffee at a local shop that we both love, I was adding cinnamon to my cup and that delicious cinnamon smell just hit me! I was instantly struck with the craving for one of my Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls.

These are the cinnamon rolls I grew up on, a delicious recipe handed down from my Great-Grandmother, to my Granny and then to my Mom! The base of the recipe is the Homemade Yeast Rolls, which I will post about later. In the cinnamon roll recipe, you’re just adding all the yummy cinnamon, butter & sugar!

So while we were drinking our coffee, I told my husband that before we went home we were stopping by the grocery store. I had some cinnamon rolls to make!

Mom's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Dough

1. 2 cups lukewarm (not hot, not cold) water
2. 2 envelopes or 4-1/2 tsp. rapid rise yeast (check your expiration dates!)
3. 1 tsp. salt
4. 4 tbsp. sugar
5. 4-1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
6. 8 tbsp. vegetable oil

Filling

1. 1/2 to 3/4 cup margarine (tub butter)
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup cinnamon

Frosting

1. 8 oz cream cheese, softened
2. 1 cup powdered sugar
3. 1/4 cup milk

Directions

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer: add water for the dough. Sprinkle yeast evenly over the top of the water and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes. Should look a bit foamy on top.
2. Using the hook attachment on low speed, start mixing the yeast & water, add the salt, sugar and vegetable oil. Gradually begin to add the flour until the dough is combined and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Turn the dough out into a glass or metal (not plastic) medium to large bowl that you’ve greased with oil or cooking spray. Rub vegetable oil over the top of the dough for flexibility, cover with a sheet of parchment or wax paper and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
4. Once the dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a wax paper covered surface that has been sprinkled liberally with flour. I use another piece of wax paper coated in cooking spray for the top too when I roll the dough out. (Just keeps it from sticking to the rolling pin) You can also just coat the rolling pin with flour before rolling out.
5. Roll dough out into a semi-circle or rectangle, there’s not a science to it, just whatever shape it forms is fine, about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Using a silicone spatula (or your fingers!) spread the butter evenly over the dough. Top with sugar and cinnamon and gently combine, rubbing circles around to mix all the cinnamon, sugar & butter.
7. Starting at one end of the dough, begin to roll it up, staying as even as possible all the way across. Using dental floss (yes, dental floss- take a string, slide it under the roll to your desired thickness, cross over the top and pull for a clean even slice) cut dough into round slices.
8. Place roll slices on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper with some space between each. Set cinnamon rolls aside for 1 hour to rise again.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
10. Bake cinnamon rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden on top. Generously spread cream cheese frosting over the top.
11. Frosting: whip together cream cheese, powdered sugar & milk until smooth.

These are good the next day too! Stick them in the microwave for about 15 seconds. You’ve got yummy breakfast!

Caramel Popcorn

There are some foods that are almost too dangerous to go near. This Christmas, I was introduced to one: Debbie’s Caramel Popcorn.

The one true thing about this stuff: its very hard to stop eating it once you’ve begun.

My Aunt Debbie sent along FIVE small bags of this popcorn to our home as a Christmas gift. Five bags that disappeared as quick as a snap as soon as the first taste was taken. Five bags that were hunted down, stolen, hoarded and gobbled down shamelessly. The stuff just disappears.

Really. Its just SO. GOOD.

I have decided that I just didn’t get enough of it to quite satisfy. Hence my phone call to Aunt Debbie for the recipe!

Debbie's Caramel Popcorn

Ingredients

1. About 10 cups plain or lightly salted popped popcorn (approx. 1 cup popcorn kernels)
2. 2 cups brown sugar
3. 1 cup unsalted butter
4. 1/2 cup corn syrup
5. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1/2 teaspoon salt
7. 1 cup peanuts or cashews (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare your popcorn.
2. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.
3. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, bring to a boil the brown sugar, butter and syrup.
4. Boil for 5 minutes, on medium-low heat. Slow boil, not rapid boil.
5. Meanwhile, divide your popcorn & peanuts into two separate mixing bowls and prepare 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
6. Remove sugar mixture from heat, then add baking soda & salt. Pour half over one bowl of popcorn, and the other half over the second bowl of popcorn. Use a wooden spoon to mix well.
7. Spread the popcorn over the cookie sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so.
8. Store in airtight containers or Ziploc bags.

Notes

1. Makes a WONDERFUL gift!

Adapted from Food.com

If you don’t have a popcorn maker and are stumped on how to pop 1 cup of popcorn at home, check out this POST from Recipe Girl. She’s got a really great tutorial on how to pop popcorn right on your stove!