Crockpot Lasagna

I promise that after you make this once, you will NEVER make Lasagna in the oven again!

Put this on before you go to work and when you get home, the only work to do is to warm up some yummy garlic bread! And Dinner is Served!

Brown 2lbs ground beef with 1 chopped yellow onion and 1 chopped red bell pepper. Pour in one jar of Spaghetti sauce and 1 can of Ro-tel tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. (I also add a few shakes of dried red pepper flakes...just for some kick!) Basically, make your own meat sauce that you would normally make for Spaghetti.

Mix the following ingredients in a bowl: 16oz carton of cottage cheese, 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (FRESH!!), 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, 1 egg and 1 TBSP oregano.

Grease your crockpot and then spread one layer of the meat/sauce mixture on the bottom of the crockpot. Break your raw lasagna noodles so they fit as best as possible to make your next layer. Cover the noodles with the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers, reserving enough of the meat/sauce for one more layer (which you will place on top of the last layer of the cheese mixture.

Turn the crockpot on low and cook for 6 hours (or 4 hours on high depending on when you want it to be ready). No stirring, no need to open the lid while it cooks. Just make sure your noodles are still a bit firm....don't overcook.

Come home from work and be ready to encounter a delicious smell!

Cranberry Glazed Pot Roast

I made this tonight for the first time and the verdict is YUM!! I have always made my pot roast Cajun style, but this new recipe is a KEEPER!

I actually made mine with a pork tenderloin because a pot roast is too big for us....but either way, the result will be just as delicious!

Step one: Take out your crockpot.

Step two: Mix 2 TBSP flour with your favorite seasonings (you can use salt & pepper, but of course, I use Slap ya mama!)

Step three: Rub your pork roast/tenderloin with the flour mixture (and discard the leftover mix)

Step four: Set the pork roast/tenderloin in the crock pot and turn it on medium.

Step five: Chop 1 small yellow onion and throw in the crock pot with the pork.

Step six: Pour the following items into the crock pot over the pork & onion:

1 cup red wine, 2 TBSP Worchestershire Sauce, 2 TBSP soy sauce, 2 TBSP Maple syrup

Step seven: Add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to the crock pot.

Step eight: Cook on medium for about 8 hours..... so put this on before you go to work and come home to a yummy meal!

I served this with mashed potatoes....

Note: when you serve it, be sure and put a few of the cranberries on each plate because a bite of the meat with a bite of cranberries is like nothing you have ever tasted!!!

Green Beans with New Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 lbs of fresh green beans
1/4 pound of bacon or salt pork
2 cups chicken broth
1-2 tsp of seasoning (S&P or Slap Yo Mamma)
10-12 small red potatoes
1 onion (cut into slivers)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, sliced
Ground black pepper

Remove the ends from the beans. Snap the beans in 2 pieces, place in colander, wash, drain & set aside.

In a large pot, lightly brown the bacon or salt pork over medium heat, turning often (approx. 10 minutes) Toss the green beans into the pot, stirring to coat well with the bacon/pork fat. Add the broth and seasoning. Cook over medium-low heat, covered tightly for approximately 30 minutes or until the beans are half done.

While the beans are cooking, peel a center strip from each new potato with a potato peeler. At the end of the 30 minutes, add the potatoes and onions to the beans; add 1/4 cup more broth, if needed. Cook, covered tightly, until the potatoes are tender (approx. 25-30 minutes). Check the pot periodically to make sure a small amount of liquid remains. When the potatoes are tender, tilt the lid slightly, off to the side of pot and continue to cook approximately 15 minutes more. During last 15 minutes of cooking, add the butter and season with ground black pepper.



Recipe from Paula Deen's cookbook - it is a delicious way to get your family to eat their veggies.

Joe's Ranch Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 pkg. yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups buttermilk

4 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add oil & measure dry ingredients. Add small amount of dry ingredients to yeast mixture, alternately with small amounts of the buttermilk until completely mixed. Shape your biscuits and place on a pan - allow to rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm with butter.

The mixture can remain in the refrigerator up to 1 week and only take out the amount you plan to serve - allow to rise and bake.

MoMo's Shrimp Casserole

Ingredients:

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (red or green)

1 can cream of celery soup

1 lb. shrimp (peeled & deveined)

2 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup chopped green onions (scallions)

1/2 cup chopped parsley

bread crumbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter - add onions, celery, bell peppers and saute for a few minutes. Blend in the celery soup. Remove from stove and add shrimp, rice, green onions & parsleyt - blend and season to taste. Place all mixed ingredients in a lightly buttered casserole dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Serves 6-8 and it is yummy!!

Crab Dressing

1 cup crabmeat
1 lg. onion (chopped)
2 tablespoons of roux
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1/4 cup celery
1/2 bell pepper (red or green)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons parsley
2 eggs (slightly beaten)

Saute onion, celery, & bell pepper for 5-8 minutes. Add water & roux until thick
Add crab meat & lightly season with S&P (or slap your mamma) - cook about 15 minutes
Add bread crumbs & parsley & eggs - Mix well
Bake covered @ 350 degrees until dressing has set (approximately 30 minutes - check every 15 minutes)
Uncover and cook until bread crumbs are slightly browned.

Delicious crab dish that serves 6-8 people.

Crawfish Ratatouille

A while back I was looking for some type of side dish that used crawfish because you know that a good Cajun cook will find a use for Crawdads in ALL parts of the meal! (still working on dessert! LOL)

So I found 3 different recipes and did not like any of them as they were, so I took a piece of each and came up with my own recipe for Crawfish Ratatouille. (yeah, I made the name up too! But Ratatouille is French so I think it works!)

It is a great side dish, or you can serve it as a "one dish dinner" with some warm French bread!

Ingredients:

2 pounds Crawfish tails

1 stick butter

3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

3/4 cup chopped purple onion (same thing as red onion, but I call 'em purple!)

3/4 cup chopped celery

Your favorite Cajun Seasoning (of course, I use Slap Ya Mama)

3 cans/1 bag fresh sweet corn

3 TBSP sugar

1 cup cream (the "madlavning creme" in Denmark works great!)

Saute the veggies in the butter with a generous amount of your Cajun Seasoning until veggies are soft. Add the corn and sugar (and a bit more butter if it looks like you need it. I usually put in another TBSP just to keep everything from drying out.) Once everything is well-blended, add the cream and cook on low for about five minutes, while stirring. This is important to get all those flavors really blended. Remove from heat and set to the side.

In a skillet saute your seasoned crawfish tails in 2 TBSP butter for about 5 minutes. Add the tails to your veggie base and blend well. Cook all of this together for about 10 minutes... or once you add the crawfish tails, throw all this into your crockpot and let it cook on medium heat until you are ready to serve. This is a great dish to cook ahead of time and let it just simmer for an hour or so because the longer it sits, the better those flavors come out! It is especially good on the second day as leftovers!

Zydeco Sweet Potato Crab Chowder

I received a great gift from my mother awhile back...Louisana Cookin' magazine. It has some of the best recipes, and this one was a hit with my family. It's a little bit of work, but well worth it.

Ingredients:

2 pieces bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 ounces andouille, ground or chopped (approximately two 4-inch links of andouille)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño, seeded
1 15-ounce can cream-style sweet corn
2 15-ounce cans low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
2 cups, drained and diced Princella Cut Sweet Potatoes in Light Syrup
1 cup whole milk (I used 2%)
8 ounces cooked Louisiana lump crabmeat
2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, in all

Cook the bacon in a large stockpot over medium heat until it begins to crisp. Remove bacon. Add the andouille to the bacon drippings. Sauté for about 3minutes or until the andouille is crispy.
Remove 2 tablespoons of the andouille and set aside for garnish. Add the bacon along with the red bell pepper, shallots, celery, and jalapeño. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until fragrant and vegetables are tender.
Add the cream corn, chicken broth, Creole seasoning, and black pepper. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Next add in the sweet potatoes, stir to incorporate and let simmer 5 minutes, then add the milk and all but 2 tablespoons of the crabmeat, let simmer another 5 minutes or until mixture is heated through.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of parsley. Adjust seasoning if necessary. In a small bowl toss the remaining parsley, crab, and andouille together and use as garnish.
Ladle into bread bowl, individuals bowls, or a soup tureen. Garnish with the reserved andouille/crab mixture.

MoMo´s Strawberry Pie

Note: To make this in Denmark, you have to bring a few things over from the US.... otherwise, it´s just not quite right.....

Ingredients:
Graham cracker crust
2 cups of freshed, sliced strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 TBSP cornstarch
3 TBSP strawberry jello (powder)
Cool whip

Cook sugar, cornstarch and water over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is thickened. Remove from heat, add Jello and allow to cool completely.

Add sliced strawberries to the mix and pour into the prepared Graham cracker crust. Set in the fridge overnight (or several hours) until set. Just before serving, top with Cool Whip and a few more sliced strawberries. It is SO easy, but your guests will think you worked all day on this!

Shrimp Creole....the Viking´s fave Cajun dish

Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I use red....mom uses green)
1 can Rotel tomatoes (chopped with green chiles)
1 stick butter
cornstarch for thickening
slap ya mama (or other Cajun seasoning)
2 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined and seasoned, sitting in the fridge, waiting!


Saute the onion, celery and bell pepper in the stick of butter until veggies are soft and onions are almost clear. Season them with your favorite Cajun seasoning while cooking. This would be a good time to put on a pot of white rice in your rice cooker.
(You know a Cajun kitchen should have one! None of that "rice in a bag" nonsense!)

Add the can of Rotel tomatoes and 2 cups of HOT water. Simmer for about 20 minutes so all your spices come together. Sample your sauce. Each can of Rotels is different...some hotter or milder than others. If it is too warm for your family´s taste, add another ½ cup of hot water and simmer 10 minutes longer. Add the shrimp to the mix. Cook until they are done----about ten minutes.
Now you must determine how thick you want your Creole to be.... that determines how much cornstarch to add. Start with a small amount as it thickens quickly! Just make sure that your Creole remains a sauce, not a thick gravy.

Serve over the cooked white rice and top with chopped green onions before serving.

These leftovers are the best...an extra day sitting in the fridge really melds the flavors together!

Cabbage Casserole

Ingredients:
1 small head of cabbage
3/4 cup raw rice
1 1/2 lbs ground meat
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 soup can of water
2 cans tomato sauce w/ 1/2 can water

Brown meat with onion and celery. Lightly oil 9 x 12 baking dish. Shred 1/2 cabbage in bottom of pan. Layer meat, raw rice, cabbage, meat, raw rice, etc. Mix the soup, tomato sauce and water together and then pour over the top layer. Cover with foil and back for approximately 1 hour. Uncover and bake additional 15 minutes. Delicious and this will be a hit with guests who don't even like cabbage.

Crawfish Etouffee

Chop 1 yellow onion, 2 stalks celery, and 1 red bell pepper.

Saute in ½ stick of butter and 4 or 5 shakes of Slap ya Mama Cajun Seasoning (or your own favorite brand) until tender.

Add 4 heaping TBSP of ROUX and blend into the sauted vegetables.



Add 2 cups of boiling water (yes, BOILING!) to the mixture until it is not too thick, but not runny like a soup either. It needs to maintain a little thickness. Add more or less boiling water, depending on the thickness of your roux. Cook on low heat for at least 20 minutes, allowing all the flavors to blend together.



Season your crawfish tails with your favorite Cajun seasoning and add to the sauce. Cook 10-12 minutes.



While all this is going on, you should have a batch of rice cooking in your rice cooker so you can serve the Crawfish Etouffee over rice. Chop a few green onions (tops) on top of each serving.

MoMo´s Blueberry Muffins

MoMo NEVER used sour cream for anything in her life until she created this recipe for the best blueberry muffins I have ever eaten! They are a perfect addition to any breakfast or brunch!


Mix together the following ingredients.
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups sour cream
½ cup oil
1 tsp vanilla


Gently fold in 1 ½ cups blueberries, drained, as the last ingredient.


Mix (without breaking the blueberries).

Grease a muffin tin and fill each cup with the batter. Sprinkle ½ tsp of sugar on top of each cup´s batter. Bake at 350. Bake 12 minutes for mini muffins and 15-18 minutes for standard sized muffins. (or until set and golden brown)

Batter makes 12 standard or 24 mini muffins.

Shrimp Chowder

A perfect dinner for cold winter night!

Even if this batch sounds too big for your family, make it anyway because this freezes GREAT and tastes even better the second time around!



Ingredients:
1 bag whole kernel corn (or 3 cans)
½ pound bacon
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3 TBSP flour
Slap ya Mama Cajun seasoning (or your own favorite brand)
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
½ pound potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bay leaf
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup cream

Directions:
In a soup pot fry the bacon in 3 TBSP of oil until crisp. Chop into small bite-sized pieces and set aside, reserving the oil. Add onions, celery, and bell pepper to the "bacon" oil and saute until tender. Add garlic until fragrant. Sprinkle in the flour and several shakes of Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning, stirring for about a minute. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. Add potatoes, bay leaf, bacon bits, and corn, bringing to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the shrimp and cream.


If your chowder is too thin, add another TBSP of flour. If it is too thick, add additional milk.
Cook until the shrimp are pink. Taste before you serve in case you need another shake of Cajun seasoning!



Remove bay leaf before serving.
Goes great with warm french bread.

ROUX ... the basic for most Cajun recipes

Find a Sunday afternoon when you have a couple of hours to spend in the kitchen. This is the perfect time to make a batch of roux! (Although some Cajun cooks would tell you that the roux you can buy in a jar is just as good, MoMo Fontenot would vehemently disagree!) She believed that a good Cajun cook should always have a batch of roux waiting to be used in the back of the fridge!

In a heavy saucepan, over a medium heat, begin to heat 1 cup of vegetable oil and 1 cup of flour, constantly stirring. Add flour or oil as necessary so that it is not too dry and not too wet. There is no specific way to measure this other than the eye of the Cajun cook.

You cook a roux till it "looks right".

Continue stirring and stirring until it turns brown... Can´t tell you what shade of brown other than "roux colored".

Again, you cook a roux till it "looks right"!

Remove from the stove when the color and texture are right. Add 1 cup of chopped yellow onion, stirring into the mixture.


Refrigerate in a plastic container and pull out what you need for each recipe.

A look into our kitchens

On August 13, 2008 Judy Fontenot, our mother and grandmother, went to heaven leaving behind a legacy which we strive to carry on every time we walk into our respective kitchens.

"Kiss the Cajun Cooks" is the electronic recipe box of 3 Cajun girls, all living in different corners of the world. Some of our recipes come directly from MoMo Fontenot, while others are our own unique creations. Some are experiments, and others are tried and true favorites with our families.

But regardless of where our inspiration came for each recipe, we promise that each and every one is made with a little bit of Cajun love!