Shrimp Casserole

Everyday I thank goodness that I live on the Gulf coast! We are so lucky to have such good friends in the seafood industry that I don't think I have actually ever paid for shrimp, crab or fish. Just last week a friend of my dad's gave him a huge cooler full of shrimp. I mean nice, big shrimp that normally one would pay an arm and a leg for! Of course he passed some along to me.

After peeling all of the shrimp, I found this recipe for shrimp casserole and just had to try it out.

Preheat oven to 350

Cook 1 1/2 cups of rice.

Chop 3 celery ribs,

4 green onions,

2 garlic cloves and an onion,

and a green bell pepper.

Once everything is chopped,

melt a stick of butter and saute the veggies for about 10 mins or until soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Add 2 cans of cream of celery (Winn Dixie didn't have cream of shrimp) and 1 1/2 lbs of shrimp. I chopped my shrimp into smaller pieces since they were so big.

Add the rice and mix together. Place in a 13x9 greased, casserole dish.

Top with Italian seasoned breadcrumbs and Colby cheese. Bake for 25 mins.

Let cool and serve!

I think this casserole may show up at Thanksgiving. The rice was perfect, shrimp were really fresh and when mixed with the veggies and soup, it was a great combo. It was nice and creamy and makes you want to eat the whole thing in one sitting, but I didn't.

Now that I have shrimp coming out of my ears, I will have to figure out what to do with them. I'm kinda thinking about egg rolls, but I haven't decided yet. Maybe taco's? Wish me luck!

So Good, but So Bad

The other night JW and I were starving so I decided to throw something together with what I already had on hand. There wasn't much to choose from, but I made do with some cheese, potatoes, green onion, garlic and butter.




Wash 3 red potatoes and cut into small pieces.

Boil until tender and drain.

Chop up a green onion and a garlic clove.

Melt some butter and saute the onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the potatoes.

Top with cheese.



In another pan, fry some eggs.

Place the potato mixture on a plate and top with the eggs. I'm not a big fan of runny eggs.

JW and I shared, but I really could have eaten the whole thing by myself. I put ketchup on mine and it just sealed the deal. Hot sauce would be good too. Try it out and let me know what your think! Put your own spin on it.

Below is a recent picture of my babies. Hayden is growing too fast and JW is such a wonderful big brother!

Pork Roast with Navy Beans

Tis the season for a big bowl of beans! There is nothing like a beans with a side of cornbread on a cold day. My favorite beans are Navy beans cooked real slow with a ham hock, just like Mama make it, but I found this recipe and I thought I would give it a go. I didn't use the fennel seeds. For one, I'm not paying $7 for a jar of fennel seeds when I only need a teaspoon or so.

Let's get started...

You will need to rinse and pick over the beans. Cover them with water and let them soak for 8 hours. Drain.

Preheat oven to 275

Now for the pork roast.

Chop up some fresh sage (from my Mama's garden), 3 garlic cloves, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.




Rub all over the roast.

Put the beans in a dutch oven and place the roast on top.

Add 4 cups water, more sage, 5 minced garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil. DO NOT STIR THE POT! You can shake the pot, but if you stir, the casing will come off of the beans. Put the top on and place in the oven for 4 hours.

Remove from the oven and take out the bay leaves.

Shred the meat, mix together and serve.

I made this last Friday, which was an all day affair, and and the house was smelling SOOOOOO good. Later that night we had some friends come over and it was gone before we knew it! It was enough to feed 6 people and that included 3 people having seconds. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Turkey Salad Sandwich

TGIF! Sooooooo glad it is Friday! This will be my last turkey post for a while! I still have the drumsticks, but they have a new home in my freezer. At least I haven't wasted any of it. I am a huge fan of chicken salad and it is just about the only way I can get Mark to eat mayonnaise so why not use turkey instead?

To start, you will need to finely chop some celery and green onion.

Remove the meat from the 2 turkey thighs and chop into small pieces.

Add a chopped up boiled egg and 1/4 of green bell pepper chopped.

Mix with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Toast some white bread. Load it up with turkey salad. Add some chips and enjoy!

To tell the truth, I wouldn't have been able to tell you if it was turkey or chicken, if I hadn't made it myself. It was really good and a nice change for Mark to take to work for lunch. Try it out! There are tons of different recipes for chicken or turkey salad. I just make mine up as I go.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Be safe! Love to all...

Turkey Chowder

Happy Veterans Day! It is Wednesday and we are still overrun with turkey! I am determined to use all of the meat that I can so I'm not being wasteful. It's kind of cool outside so I decided to make a nice hearty chowder. The recipe is super easy and only takes a few mins to cook. Hope you like it!

Chop up an onion.

Saute the onion in 2 Tbs of butter, salt and pepper, until tender.

Chop up half of one leftover turkey breast.

To the onions, stir in 2 (10 3/4oz) cans of Cream of Potato soup

3 1/2 cups of milk

1/4 tsp of ground red pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5 mins.



Add the chopped turkey.

Stir in 1 cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese.

Add salt and pepper to your liking and serve. I guess I could have topped it with some green onions or chives to make it pretty, but I forgot. Sorry. I'll try harder next time. ;)



You just can't get any easier than that! Let me tell you, this chowder was AWESOME!! You can use all kinds of meat or seafood for this recipe. I was going to use some shrimp, but that was before I cooked a whole turkey. I think next time I may use bacon, and cheddar cheese instead of Monterey Jack and throw in some green onions at the end to make it a nice potato soup. Try it out and let me know how you like it!

Roast Spatchcocked Turkey

It is now November and that means it's turkey time! Turkey's are on sale at just about every grocery store you go to. My Nanny found a turkey BOGO and so she gave me one to fix. Having never cooked a turkey before, I was a little nervous. I don't really have a great track record when it comes to roasting poultry. For some reason, I just can't seem to get it all the way done. My Martha Stewart magazine came in the mail a couple weeks ago and I found a recipe for a roast spatchcocked turkey that proclaimed one can cook a 12lb turkey in just over an hour. Sounded good to me!

Pre-heat oven to 450

After removing the bird from the plastic that it was wrapped in, I took out the giblets (yuck) and the neck (double yuck). Wash the turkey in cool water inside and out then pat dry with paper towels.

Place the bird breast side down and cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it. This is easier said, than done. I just did not have the hand strength to cut with my kitchen shears, so I enlisted Mark to help.

After removing the backbone, flip the turkey over and break both sides of the breast bone to make it lay flat. Again, our counter is too high for me to put enough weight on it to break the bone so I had Mark do that part too. I'm only 5'2 (if that) so I would have had to get a step stool out for me to be able to do it myself, and I don't have a step stool. Thank goodness for big, strong husbands!

In a bowl mix together some oil, salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning and some garlic powder. Martha's recipe only called for salt and pepper, but I felt the need to make it my own and add a some more flavor to the mix.

Place the turkey on the biggest cookie sheet (with a lip) that you have. I could use a bigger one, but I did the best i could with what I had.



Rub the bird down with the oil/spice mixture.

Tuck the wing tips under and put it in the oven for 45 mins.

After 45 mins, baste the turkey with the juices in the pan, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and cook for another 25 mins or when your meat thermometer reads 160.

Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest before carving.

To carve, cut off the wings and legs. Cut the drumstick from the thigh. Remove both breasts from the bone. OK, so I didn't take any pictures of this process because my hands were covered in turkey juice.

Slice the breast into pieces and serve!

I just heated up some green beans and made some cornbread stuffing from a box. I know, I know, not really what you want to hear from the Southern Foodette, but after a long weekend at the camp, I was too tired to cook from scratch. I do plan on making some cornbread stuffing soon!



I have to say that the turkey turned out GREAT! It was juicy and the skin was nice and crunchy and the spices were awesome! We will be eating turkey all week. I ate one of the wings as a midnight snack last night with some hot sauce. Soooooo gooooood!

Try it out! This is a great way to speed up Thanksgiving dinner and it is easy enough to do during the week. I'm going to try a chicken next. You could use this same process for any kind of poultry or game bird.