Mo's Crawfish Casserole

This, to me, is the Cajun version of COMFORT FOOD.
Give me a crawfish casserole any day over "meat & potatoes"!!


First, while you are preparing your Crawfish mix, you need to cook 2 cups of rice. Once these are done, just set them aside until you are ready to assemble. :-)

Ingredients 
2 cups of raw rice
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. of crawfish tails (thawed)
Slap Ya Mama (or your own Cajun seasoning)
1 stick of butter
1 can of cream of celery soup
bread crumbs


(While your rice is cooking)
Preheat the oven to 375. Sauté the onion and bell pepper in the stick of butter. Season GENEROUSLY with Slap Ya Mama (depending on your family's ability to handle the heat!) When the veggies are soft, add the thawed crawfish tails and sauté for about 10 minutes, until they cooked through. Add the can of cream of celery soup and then turn down the heat. Let this mixture cook together (on low heat) for about ten more minutes.

While you are waiting, grease a baking dish (9x13 works great) and then sprinkle a thin layer of the bread crumbs on the bottom of the dish. 

Take your mixture from the stove and then stir in the cooked rice until your mixture is a LITTLE BIT SOUPY. Be careful that it is not DRY!  So add your rice about a half-cup at a time....mixing well.

Now spread your rice/crawfish mixture into your greased baking dish. Then sprinkle another layer of bread crumbs on top.... not too thick- just enough to cover it.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, until it starts to get a little bubbly. Just don't let your top get too browned.

I serve this with Cajun Green Beans as a side dish-- a yummy meal your family will love! 

Mexican Rice

I am often asked for my recipe for my Mexican Rice, but it was not until my future son-in-law complimented it that I realized it must be really good. ;-) I believe his words were something along the lines of "this is better than the rice I have had made by real Mexican women"!!

So here goes:

Chop 1 medium yellow onion.
Using a NON-STICK saucepan-- combine the raw onion, 2 cups raw rice, 2-3 TBSPs cooking oil, and 3-4 generous shakes of Cumin.
Cook on medium heat until the onions are soft and the rice is a TINY BIT browned. DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Add 1 can of Ro-tel tomatoes (you decide how hot), 1/2 can of water (using the Ro-tel can), 1 can of chicken broth and 3-4 generous shakes of "Caldo de Tomate" (powdered tomato-- see picture to the right).

Stir everything together, watching it carefully.
As soon as it starts to boil just a bit, REDUCE the heat to LOW and then cover. Don't stir or bother it while it simmers.

It should take about 15 minutes (give or take) for the rice to be ready.

If you want more rice, adjust your chicken broth---but never your water. Do not ever add more than the 1/2 can of water.


If you are making this for dinner and want to prepare it early, do all the instructions above and then put the rice in your electric rice cooker (on WARM, not on Cook) and it will keep for a couple hours until you are ready to serve.