Blackened Seasoning

I got this recipe on my bachelorette trip. We took a cajun cooking class at the Viking Cooking School, needless to say…it was wonderful. Whitney Roberson, Amy Claire Smith, Payton Davis, Brittany Heinsz and myself made a meal fit for a cajun queen. One recipe that I consistently use is the Blackened Seasoning recipe. I make it in large quantities and store it in a mason jar.

Blackened Seasoning  (Makes about 1/2 cup)

In recipes for blackened food the fish or meat is rubbed with this spic mixture before it is cooked in an extremely hot skillet. This forms a black, crispy crust over a tender, moist interior. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon fine salt, or to taste

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Directions:

1. Stir together all ingredients with love.

2. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

I will post more of the recipes from our class tomorrow. I am calling it a night! Nighty night folks. Sweet dreams and don’t let the bed bugs bite. 

Creole Mustard Sauce

This is the mustard that goes with the Blackened pork tenderloin….but you can use it for anything I would think.

Creole Mustard Sauce

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup of grainy Dijon Mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (I used plain rice vinegar still tasted good)

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Tabasco), or to taste

1/2 teaspoon of Creole seasoning (such as Tony Chachere’s), or to taste

2 green onions, green tops only, very thinly sliced ( I never do this…but feel free)

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together ingredients and place in refrigerator for at least one hour to allow the flavors to develop

Blackened Pork Tenderloin

Make sure you have a good ventihood for this one because it can get pretty smokey when you sear the tenderloin if you use anything other than clarified butter. The clarified butter doesn't smoke as bad. I got this recipe when I took the Viking Cooking School on my bachelorette trip. Below is verbatim from the book given to us in class. 

Blackening is not a traditional Cajun technique, but it has become synonymous with contemporary Cajun cuisine. Invented by Chef Paul Prudhomme at the world famous Commander’s Palace restaurant in New Orleans, the technique has been widely imitated, expanding from his original blackened redfish dish to a variety of meats and seafood. The traditional preparation calls for using whole butter and extremely high heat, which produces giant clouds of smoke. To cut back not the billowing fumes, our recipe calls for clarified butter. If you do use whole butter, try cooking outdoors or on a stove with a professional exhaust hood turned on high. 

1 (1 pound) pork tenderloin

2 tablespoons clarified butter*

1/2 recipe Blackened Seasoning (You can use the one I posted which is the one the recipe calls for or you can use your own)

1 recipe Creole mustard sauce ( Will post this recipe)

Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F, Trim the tenderloin, removing all fat and silverskin. Coat the tenderloin with clarified butter, then season generously and evenly on all sides with Blackened seasoning. 2. Place a cast iron skillet ( or heavy-bottomed sauté pan) over high heat until smoking hot. Sear the pork on all sides until a dark brown crust forms, about 3 minutes per side. The pork should be lightly charred. If necessary, transfer the whole pan to the oven and finish cooking until an instant read thermometer registers 140° for medium-rare (or 150°F for medium). 3. Remove the tenderloin front the pan and place on a carving board: tent loosely with aluminum foil and rest for 5 to 10 minutes (this part is really important…the pork with continue to cook during this time without burning it in the oven) 4. Slice the tenderloin into thick medallions. Serve hot or cold with the Creole Mustard Sauce.**

Tips and Techniques:

* To clarify butter: It is simply pure butterfat which has had the milk solids removed in order to raise the smoke point while maintaining rich butter flavor. To clarify butter, melt the butter in a heat sauce pan over medium-low heat. COntinue cooking until the butter fat becomes very clear and the milk solids drop to the bottom of the pot. Skim the surface foam as the butter clarifies. Ladle off the butter fat into another container, being careful to leave all the milky residue in the bottom of the pan. It is much easier to clarify at least one point of butter at a time. One point of whole butter yields approximately 12 ounces of clarified butter.

**Select Cajun and creole ingredients are available in specialty markets or in the spice section of many grocery stores.

Pepper Jelly Glazed Carrots

I found this recipe in the December 2011 issue of Southern Living. It was absolutely delicious and very simple. I try to always keep red pepper jelly in my cabinet just for this!

Ingredients:

1 (32-oz.) package carrots, halved crosswise

1 (10 1/2-oz.) can condensed chicken broth, undiluted

1 (10 1/2-oz.) jar red pepper jelly

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions:

1. Cut carrot halves lengthwise into quarters. Bring carrots and chicken broth to a boil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring often, 6 to 8 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender and broth is reduced to 1/4 cup.
2. Stir in pepper jelly and butter, and cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until mixture thickens and carrots are glazed. Transfer to a serving dish, using a slotted spoon. Pour half of pan juices over carrots; discard remaining pan juices.

COOKS NOTE: I just bought the bag of carrots near the salad stuff at Kroger that were already sliced. I think they are called string carrots or something like that. Much easier if you ask me!

Corn Chowder

This is a recipe that I got from my mom. This is my go to meal when I am tired and don’t feel like cooking. My husband loves it so that means I love to cook it! Thanks for this one Mom!

Ingredients:

1 can cream corn

1 can whole corn (drained)

1 can cream of potato

1 pint of half and half

1 lb of ground sausage ( I have been using ground cajun deer sausage…when I buy the sausage from the store I get hot jimmy dean sausage.) I have also done it with chopped ham and it was delicious!

Directions:

1. In a large pot add the first four ingredients and season to taste. (salt, pepper, garlic powder….whatever you fancy.)

2. Brown the sausage in a skillet. If you add a little water in the skillet the meat will fall apart in smaller pieces. (I don’t like big chunks of sausage.)

3. Drain the meat and then add it to the chowder. I usually turn it on medium low heat and cook for about 30-45 minutes.

COOKS NOTE: You can also put it in the crockpot and cook it on low if you have a while. I cooked it for 3-4 hours and low and it was good. Not quite as thick as if you do it by stove top, but good all the same.

Leila's Nursery

I wanted to share some pictures with you of Leila's nursery. My mom and dad worked hard to help us and I think it turned out perfect. My goal was not to really have a theme but to go with a color scheme that I liked. Dave had an old movie poster of The Beatles movie The Yellow Submarine. It has cartoon characters and lots of bright colors. That was where I started and went from there.

Yes that is a picture of Jerry Garcia. It was my husbands only 

request so of course I complied.

Panoramic View

Paint Color: Grayish from Sherwin Williams

Crib Bedding: Caden Lane

All furniture are antiques handed down to me

Hawaiian Sweet Roll Sandwich's

These are always a hit. They are great for tailgating, pot lucks, you name it...they will be a hit there too! Haha! My friends love these and they are so easy to make. 


INGREDIENTS:

1 package of 12 Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

1 Onion, minced or grated (I use my food processor...much faster!)

1 stick of butter

3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard

3 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

3 teaspoons of poppy seeds

1/2 a pound of shaved ham

8 slices of swiss cheese

Directions

1. Melt buter in small skillet and add onions. Combine mustard, worcestershire sauce, and poppy seeds into onions and butter. Simmer for several minutes.

2. Slice rolls as a as a group length wise and place bottoms in an aluminum foil line 13″ x 9″ pan.

3. Spread 3/4 of onion mixture on rolls bottoms,  followed by the ham and cheese slices.

4. Top with the roll tops. Spread the remaining onion mixture over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate till ready to bake.

5. Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes on 350 degrees. Or until cheese has melted

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe on an Apple a Day via Pinterest. It has become my go to cookie recipe!! I have done some variations to the recipe....like adding chopped milky ways instead of chocolate chips. I also like to put the dough in my muffin top pans to make deep dish cookies.

Ingredients:
Soften 3/4 cup of Unsalted Butter
3/4 cup of Brown Sugar
1/4 cup White Sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of chocolate chips or whatever your heart desires

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Last add the chocolate chips. Drop heaping tablespoon portions of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until they start to turn golden around the edge. DO NOT cook for more than 10 minutes or they wont be like the chewy soft bake ones from the store. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then remove them to cool completely.

Our life in a Nutshell

I met my husband Dave in March of 2009. He just moved back to Cleveland to farm with his dad and I was in my last semester of nursing school. When I was preparing to graduate, something told me that I needed to stick around....this guy was special. I took a job at the hospital in Clarksdale and so our budding romance continued. I knew after only a few months that this was a man that I could love and spend the rest of my life with. One year after we met Dave got down on one knee while making me dinner and asked me to be his wife. I knew without a doubt that I would love him the rest of my life. On March 26, 2011 Dave and I said our vows and became husband and wife. During our first 2 years of marriage we had a blast. We traveled all over the country (Las Vegas, New Orleans, Denver, Jackson Hole, Boise, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Diego, Breckenridge, Aspen) to see friends and always enjoyed our time together. When Dave's sister got married in May of 2012 there were lots of beautiful babies around. While out on the dance floor sharing a slow dance, Dave looked at one of his cousins beautiful babies and said "I want one of those." One month later we were expecting our little peanut. Her due date was February 22, 2013. After 40 weeks and 4 days we were blessed with our beautiful baby girl, Leila Sloane on February 26, 2013 at 8:31p.m. She has filled a place in our lives that we didn't even know we needed to fill. She has been such a blessing and a wonderful baby. We look forward to the adventure ahead! Little girls are SO MUCH FUN!