My Love Affair with Etouffee

Ehhh-to-faay. You have to say it the right way. With the best Cajun drawl you can muster. Like its name, this is a dish that takes time. So pour yourself a tall glass of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy the process.

I've never been to New Orleans. Hubby-bubs went 30 years ago for Mardi Gras (before we met). At that time, for him, it was all about the party. For me, the actual place--its culture, history and food—conjures up a combination of mystery and romance. Of course Hurricane Katrina does come to mind. But my inclination is to go to that magical side: of Sissy Spacek in the movie “JFK” talking about going to Antoine’s for Easter dinner; of wandering Bourbon Street hearing jazz on from street performers; of nibbling on beignets and sipping café o’lait at Café Du Monde.

My love affair with etouffee started simply--by watching Emeril Live and then finding his recipe that I thought I'd give it a try. We are quirky people and like to celebrate anytime we can. It seemed natural create the tradition of making etouffee for the family every Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. The tradition stuck, but now I make the dish throughout the year when I have time to attend to the beautiful process of caramelizing onions and then adding the trifecta of flavors--garlic, celery and (for me) mushrooms).

Creating the roux is one of my favorite parts. When it comes together in that beautiful caramel color I know I’ve achieved success. This is a high-point for me, as I am terrible at making gravy.

It all comes slowly together after you add chicken stock and other things that make you happy—cheese, chicken, crawfish, shrimp…whatever you like. And I feel a bit “Cajun” as I create my own pot of deliciousness.

And then, as if by magic, the ingredients communicate and create their own Mardi Gras in your mouth. It’s worth every minute!

Using Resources

Remember when I said we made enough steak and chicken for other meals? Well, I used that tonight. The extra cooked beef became beef stroganoff--I had an onion and mushrooms leftover to use as well. So, a little planning and taking stock of what's on hand can make a difference.

I made homemade cranberry scones last night as well, for a pitch-in for a celebration of Daughter #1's performance this morning. Yummy!

Successes and Failures

I always like to hear bad news first, so here's my failure: I tried to make pumpkin pie pops. Some time ago was my first shot at it and it didn't work. Second time around this afternoon was another failure. Now, I realize that when trying something new it may take 10, 100, 1000 times to get it right and I'm not willing to give up. Thankfully, hubby-bubs is willing to eat all my mistakes.

However--here's the success part--since the pie pops didn't work, I threw the remaining pumpkin pie filling in a pie shell and the Duffy's will have pumpkin pie for dessert.

We did take advantage of the lovely fall weather last night and grilled out steak and asparagus on the grill. I also made my favorite summer salad (recipe posted)! I love it when I'm frugal and I got a deal on the steak, which I cut up and froze in order to turn it into beef stroganoff on Wednesday, once the weather turns cooler.

Tonight it's lightly breaded chicken with quick risotto (one of Daughter #1's favorites). Again, I was frugal and bought enough chicken to make this dish and chicken chili cheese etouffee on Friday. The chicken is cut up and frozen and will be ready to go!

It's likely we won't have leftovers after tonight's dinner or on Wednesday so I'll likely fill in with a pasta dish--I'll let you know what I decide. Until later....

Camp Gray

You have to be a VIP to get privileges to come to Camp Gray...and we are very honored that our request is always accepted. It's by invitation only, and all about family, so you can't make reservations.

We saw deer and coyote and enjoyed a great bonfire (grilling hot dogs and s'mores) and got to carve pumpkins.

Daughter #1 taught us all how to grill a PB&J over an open fire. We left with homemade Concord grape jelly made from grapes grown on the grounds of Camp Gray...delicious!

Tonight we had another variety of party tray--nothing fresh, I'm sorry to say--all processed food, which I don't like. But it is the ND vs. USC game and I just got back from being out of town.

The weather forecast has changed and it looks like it will be warmer than we expected. That means GRILLING as long as we can.

We are flying by the seat of our pants for the next few days, because we can! But I'll keep you posted about what we decide to adapt our menu--and I'll post recipes as well.

What a Weekend!

Well, the Duffy's had quite a weekend and one full of "party tray!" That's our term for heavy appetizers. Friday night was Orchard's Alumni Day event for which I am responsible. It was a lovely evening and Daughter #1 and #2 helped me set up. And our good friends at Aladdin, who serve over 600 students and faculty/staff each school day, presented a wonderful display of yummy food. The shrimp was my personal fave!

Saturday, we partied with "party tray" again at my mother-in-law's surprise 70th birthday party. Fifty people came to celebrate and each brought their own signature appetizer. Another evening full of fun, laughter and love. I brought my newest signature dish that a friend of mine shared with me. I "Duffy-ized" it and have posted the recipe.

Two nights of "party tray" is plenty, however...and two events in a row is a little tiring. Outside of making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast and baking some brownies, I haven't spent much time in the kitchen today (actually most of the day was spent on the couch watching Lifetime Movies. Sad, but true!) So tonight, with the help of the Kroger bakery and Bob Evans, we will have an old-fashioned, Midwest meal--fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

Our schedule gets a little lighter this week--volleyball is over and we are heading into Fall Break--so here's what I've come up with for the next few days before Break begins:

Monday - spaghetti carbonara (always a hit and I have a healthier version thanks to Cooking Light Magazine). I'll serve garlic bread and a big salad as well.

Tuesday - the weather will turn a little cooler at this point in the week so I'm going to try something I haven't done before. I have leftover shaved ham and cheese from the appetizer for the birthday party, as well as some puff pastry. I'm going to try ham and cheese puffs---we'll see how that turns out. The meal needs some veggies so I'll make asparagus (a Duffy fam fave) or edamame. I got inspired for edamame again today when Daughter #1 was singing that song "Hey Mama" by Matt Kearney only she thought the lyrics were "ed-a-ma-me, ed-ed-a-ma-me." We had a good laugh over that!

Wednesday - LEFTOVERS!

Thursday - Fall Break! We'll see where the inspiration leads me:)

Have a great week everyone! Stay tuned. This week: Finding Martha should publish:)

Missed My Deadline!

Sorry for missing my Sat deadline for posting the weekly menu for the Duffy household. We had a crazy-busy schedule! Saturday we ended up at the Northside Knights of Columbus' Octoberfest. 78 RPM (Uncle Tim's band) played. It was super fun. I was thinking about that bratwurst all day and I wasn't disappointed. It was a beautiful night and we spent about 2 hours with good friends and family.

Sunday we enjoyed the Butler Ladies volleyball game against Green Bay. Daughter #1 is on the volleyball team at school, so we joined a few teammates to take it all in. It was like a ballet watching those Lady Dawgs play.

Over the weekend, I made 3 pies: pecan, pumpkin and sweet potato. I'd always wanted to try a sweet potato pie so that was the inspiration. I thought I'd bring them all into work to see if it could inspire some folks to order some Pie Love pies for the holidays (more on Pie Love pies later).

I also made 3 chicken pot pies which I mentioned Friday's post. We're enjoying ours tonight.

So...leftovers tonight.

Tues...the volleyball team is having a pizza party tomorrow (no cooking for me)

Wed...remember that pork I bought? We didn't cook it so we'll take care of that on this evening. I have a leftover sweet potato I didn't use for the pie, so I'm thinking sweet potato fries and zucchini fritters for sides.

Thur...if the team wins on Tues., we are out to Brownsburg for the finals. I'm thinking leftover night again.

Fri...I have a big work event and Sat we celebrate a family birthday.

Outside of my cooking/baking extravaganza this past weekend, I'm not in the kitchen much this week, except to heat stuff up.

Coming up next week...."Finding Martha" and details about Pie Love!

Friday Night!

It's been a busy week at the Duffy household. Last night hubby-bubs and I got to attend a great event--the Preview Party for The Container Store opening up in Indy this weekend (Oct 8 and 9). Ten percent of all proceeds this weekend go to support The Women's Fund, an organization that is growing nearer and dearer to my heart. The food was fabulous--catered by Hoaglin Catering. I think our absolute favorite was the butternut squash soup served in individual cylindrical glass--you guessed it--CONTAINERS! It made me want to try a batch of that on my own.

I also give them applause for the macarons. However, and this is no knock to Hoaglin, Circle City Sweets still corners the market on those. If you haven't tried them yet, you must! Pistachio is one of my personal faves.

Tonight is frozen pizza night at our house. Not very unique or exciting, but just what the doctor ordered for the end of a very busy week.

My hope and dream for this weekend is to make 3 pies: sweet potato, pumpkin and pecan. I want to bring them to work for people to sample.

As usual, I'll be making out the menu tomorrow for next week. As a teaser, on tap for Monday night is homemade chicken pot pie. I'm making two batches for friends, so why not make a 3rd for my own fam, right?

Fritters! Who Wants Fritters?!

Well, the taco soup didn't last long. Hubby-bubs went to town on it during the Notre Dame/Purdue game. Fritos go a long way to adding the appropriate crunch. Sadly, we didn't have the were-with-all to last the entire game. It was lovely to wake up and read about an Irish win (sorry Boiler fans).

The Weight Watchers chicken was a hit last night. But the zucchini fritters stole the show. I am always surprised that Daughter #1 will eat things like asparagus and zucchini, but not mac and cheese. She helped make the fritters and then couldn't wait to be the first to give the finished product a try. (recipe for both WW chicken and fritters are posted under "recipes.")

The Duffy household schedule got changed up (not an unusual occurance) so we'll indulge in BALTs (that's bacon, avacado, lettuce and tomato) sammies and french fries tonight. And hopefully make it through the first quarter of the Colts/Bucs game:)

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

Happy October 1st everyone! No, friends, there's no rabbit on the menu this week...although I've had rabbit, as has my mother--but that's a story for another day.

Growing up we used to always say "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" first thing on the first day of the month. A friend of mine from 'Da Region used to say "bunny bunny." Apparently, it's an old British superstition dating back to the early 1900s. Saying that phrase first thing on the first day of the month is supposed to bring you good luck throughout the month. So, my friends - rabbit, rabbit, rabbit to you!

Now - here's the weekly menu for the Duffy family. Documenting our meals has made me realize that I need to make a little more effort into putting more healthy options on the table. So, here's my attempt at doing so:

Tonight - it's Notre Dame vs. Purdue this evening and the weather is chilly, so I decided to make Aunt Mary Beth's taco soup (I'm realizing that, along with other things, she has really good soup recipes). It's relatively easy and uses ground turkey, fat-free refried beans and salsa (recipe posted). I'm making home made guacamole as well.

Sunday - I have a great Weight Watchers recipe for chicken breasts that is soooo easy. Mix up some reduced sodium soy sauce with Dijon mustard and paint it on the chicken with a kitchen brush then lightly cover in breadcrumbs and bake. We'll have our fave kicked-up brown rice with sauteed onion, celery and mushrooms (the kids don't even know what's in there and they love it) and my famed zucchini fritters.

Monday - we're looking at milder temperatures, so it could be a good night to grill. Pork tenderloin is something we all love and cooks up enough to make shredded BBQ out of it later. We'll grill romaine lettuce as well with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Tuesday - I have a Board meeting this evening, so it'll be a leftover night for hubby-bubs and the kids.

Wednesday - BBQ pork (see Monday). I'm thinking deviled eggs and cole slaw with reduced-fat mayo, bacon bits and blue cheese crumbles.

Thursday - hubby-bubs and I were invited to the Preview Party for the brand new Container Store opening up in Indy. Appetizers, cocktails and dancing for us! Finally, a date night:) Can't wait!!!! Kiddos can have frozen pizza with the sitter.

Friday - yet to be determined depending on some pending plans. I was thinking make-your-own-pizza night. I like to make my own pizza dough. It's easy but takes a couple of hours to rise...etc. It'll depend on my energy level and our schedule. After all, I'll have been out the night before, quite possibly past my bedtime (usually 9 or 10 pm--I'm such an old fogey!!!)

Have a great week everyone. I'll keep you posted how it all goes.