Parmesan French Fries

I am now a Pinterest addict!!!  I found a recipe for Parmesan French Fries, but I  hardly had any of the seasonings it called for.....so, I made up my own.  Justin and I devoured them!  So let's cut to the chase...

• 3 medium russet potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp Tony's
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Wash and cut the potatoes in long strips.  Mix the garlic powder, Tony's, black pepper, salt, and parmesan cheese in a small bowl.  In a gallon freezer bag, add potatoes, olive oil, and the seasonings mixture.  Shake, shake, shake!! Line a cookie sheet with foil, spray with Pam, and lay the pototoes on foil in a single layer. Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes. Ta Daaaa!!  Easy and totally awesome!

PW's Cajun Chicken Pasta

I'm so glad my dear friend, Anna from We the Gingers, introduced me to The Pioneer Woman a year ago!  I have found so many recipes that my husband and I love to chow down on.  Here is the newest recipe that I've tried and was a complete hit here at the Smith house!!!  Try it out, I'm sure you'll love it!

Pioneer Woman's Cajun Chicken Pasta

The finished product.

If you know me, you know I never follow a recipe exactly (got that from Mamie)....I added 1 zucchini and fresh mushrooms.  I think they added to the deliciousness!  I can't wait to try this recipe with shrimp and crawfish!

Puerto Vallarta came to Texas...Grilled Bacon Wrapped Shrimp topped with Pineapple and Cheese

My husband and I were so lucky to be able to accompany our friends on an awesome vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  We stayed at a house on the beach that came with a cook, a maid, and 2 houseboys!!  We were so spoiled while we were there!  We went to a little local restaurant just down from our house that was outstanding.  The food was fresh, seasoned just right, and CHEAP!  We couldn't get over the fact that we could have a shrimp dinner for $12!  And, it came with FREE dessert!  So, of course, I find my favorite meal there and I have to go talk to the chef about the recipe.  There was a slight language barrier, but I got the jist of it.  I made the dish Saturday night for my family and they loved it just as much.  Here's whatcha do:

I used about 50 large (large is important because they shrink when cooking) shrimp...this just depends on how many you are cooking for.  Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon (thin bacon) around each shrimp.  Sprinkle with Tony's and grill until the bacon is done.  While that's grilling, take a fresh pineapple and cube it.  Put the cubes in a food processor and turn it to mush!  Put the mushy, fresh pineapple in the skillet, add about 1/2 cup Brandy, and sprinkle the top with cinnamon.  Simmer for about 10 minutes. While that's simmering, shred 16 oz block of Colby-Jack cheese. Place the cooked bacon-wrapped shrimp in a casserole dish.  Spread the pineapple mixture over the shrimp.  Sprinkle cheese over mixture.  Place in 400 decree oven for about 7 minutes.  Serve and enjoy all the smiles and praise you will receive!


The pineapple/brandy/cinnamon mixture

The final product.  Sorry it's hard to see for all the yummy cheese!!!

FYI: This dish can be a lengthy process.  I would suggest prepping in advance. 

An Easy Schmeasy Dessert...Dump Cake!

If you'll notice, very few of my posts are about sweets.  I leave that up to my sister-in-law or my Mom who both make excellent desserts.  One dessert that I have somehow been missing out on all these years is Dump Cake!  The cool thing about dump cake is that you can mix and match your favorite fruits, so you can seem really inventive and creative with this dish! ;)

What you need for this dump cake:

• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 1 large can crushed pineapple
• 1 yellow boxed cake
• 1 stick of butter, melted

Here's the simple part!!  Spray your casserole dish with Pam.  DUMP the cherry pie filling in the dish, DUMP the crushed pineapple in the dish (NO draining), stir them around together.  Sprinkle the cake mix over the fruits and pour the melted butter all over the top.  Bake at 350 for an hour.  EAT!!  Or add Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream on top and then EAT!

My sister-in-law made this with peach pie filling and crushed pineapple....I think that it's my favorite!  Get creative :)

Ginger's Mini Tomato Pies

When we moved to Marshall, I didn't know anyone apart from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and some of her family. It was such a pleasant surprise when this blonde chick just popped up in my house one evening while I'm just laid up on the couch Facebooking and watching Trash TV (Justin's name for the Bravo channel).  She had come over with her then boyfriend (now fiance!) because the fellas had to do some work talk...I sure didn't know she was coming along or I would have at least tried to pretend to be doing something, ya know, like laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc....but nooooo, she caught me in unmatching lounge clothes, with my hair all a mess, watching Real Housewives and being nosey on Facebook.  But the good thing is, we hit it off and have been friends ever since. We share a love for cooking and trying new recipes.  When she invited me over for dinner the other night and told me she was making Tomato Pies, I did not have the heart to tell her that I'm not a big tomato fan....so I just played along and reluctantly took my first bite...to my amazement, it was DELICIOUS!  So all you non-tomato lovers, please try this recipe!  You may be as surprised as I was and you may learn a way to get this very nutritious, vitamin-filled food into your diet!  Here ya go!
You will need:

• Mayo
• Shredded Colby Jack cheese
• Salad Supreme seasoning
• Italian Seasoning
• Fresh Parmesan cheese
• Cheap canned biscuits (not the Grands...just those little ones that were the only thing available when we were kids)
• Butter
• Tomatoes, sliced about 1/2 inch thick

Mix 1 cup of mayo with 1 cup of Colby Jack cheese in a mixing bowl.  .Take each biscuit and smash it, but don't go crazy smashing....just smash like once or twice (does that make sense?)  Brush melted butter on each biscuit. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on each biscuit.  Add the tomato slice to each.  Sprinkle with Salad Supreme.  Top each tomato with 1 tablespoon of the mayo/cheese mixture.  Top with parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with more Salad Supreme.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. 

This is one cool gal, Ginger :)

This is the final product!  Makes me hungry!

Ginger served the Tomato Pies with pasta salad.

I had never heard of Salad Supreme, so I thought I'd share the label with ya!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Crawfish boils are a fun, festive way to celebrate Mardi Gras! "Laissez les bons temps rouler" means "Let the good times roll!"   So that's what we did...we had a great time this past weekend celebrating one of Justin's friends 31st birthdays with a crawfish boil!!  Several of our friends came in from out of town to join in on the celebrating...then we had several other friends that we've made here in Marshall show up too.  We ended up with quite a turn-out!  The crawfish turned out delicious and everyone had a great time eating, drinking, playing washers, shooting guns, dancing, playing drinking games, and just being merry!!

My husband, Justin, on the left and the birthday boy on the right getting ready for the crawfish boil.

My brother-in-law designed and built this crawfish pot!! Pretty cool, huh?!

 This was either before or after the target shooting and I just captured the moment, lol!

 Digging in to dem mudbugs!!

 Beautiful mudbugs!!!

 Cheese!!

Smitty's Crawfish Etouffee

My husband's maternal side of the family has French heritage and I feel VERY fortunate because I have always enjoyed Cajun faire!  Justin's Dad learned to cook from his mother-in-law...so he's actually the one that does all the Cajun cooking around their home even though Justin's Mom is the one that has the French blood pumpin'!!  Justin's family enjoys embracing their French heritage through cooking, decroating for Mardi Gras, attending Mardi Gras functions, hosting crawfish boils etc.  So, for our rehersal dinner, we planned a Mardi Gras themed dinner and party.  We chose to have it at Delacroix's in Nacogdoches and it was fun and delicious...I've become a fan of the Cajun traditions and have enjoyed embracing that part of my new family :)
For our second Valentine's Day together, Justin invited me over to his house...he had cooked a wonderful meal of Crawfish Etouffee!!  I was blown away at how absolutely mouth-watering this dish was.  If I wasn't already head-over-heels with this boy, I was after that meal!!  So enough with the background, here's the scoop on the dish:

• 3 lbs crawfish tails (I buy these in the seafood section at Wal-Mart or if you've just had a crawfish boil and you have leftover crawfish, you can peel them and use those!)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1 stick butter
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 6 oz. heavy whipping cream
• 3 cups prepared Minute Rice
• water, as needed
• Tony's to taste

Saute all vegetables in butter until clear and soft.  Add tomato paste, whipping cream, and Tony's.  Add water if needed for consistency. Simmer 15 minutes.  Add crawfish.  Simmer 5 minutes. Turn off burner, cover, and allow to sit for 15 minutes.  Serve over prepared white rice (I cheat and use Minute Rice...the ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves!)

(Ok, if you're wondering....for these pictures, we used shrimp because Wal-Mart was out of crawfish and it turned out really good....so you can always use shrimp if you're not a crawfish fan....or you can use crawfish AND shrimp...Justin also added crab leg meat this time, but NEVER use imitation crab for this dish)

BEEF...it's what's for dinner!!!

I know I've been M.I.A. for a while, but work, life, and work have been getting in the way...did I mention work?  Anyway, it hasn't stopped me from cooking for my honey, just kept me from staying glued to the computer so much!!

If my husband and I could survive solely on protein, I think we would...oh, and potatoes....meat and taters kind of people, that's us!!  We thought we knew good meat and we thought we were eating good, UNTIL, I ran across a recipe for a beef tenderloin.  Ohhh myyyy...we didn't know what we had been missing all these years!!  This is a Pioneer Woman recipe.  She is the best, and I have come to completely admire her and just plain want to be her!  So, on with the recipe...

Heat the oven to 475.  Start with a whole beef tenderloin (about 4-5 lbs).  I get mine at Sam's.  Trim the fat and the "silvery" cartilage that is sometimes between the fat and the meat.  Season the meat with plenty of seasoned salt (Lawry's, Tony's, or TexJoy...whatever your favorite may be) and lemon pepper.  Remember, be liberal with the seasoning.  Heat just enough oil (canola, vegetable, or olive) to cover the bottom of the skillet until it is at its smoking point and sear the meat in the oil on both sides.  Place about 1/3 cup of whole peppercorns in a ziploc bag.  On a cutting board, beat the peppercorns with a mallet or hammer until they are crushed.  Once the meat is seared on both sides (this only takes about 45 seconds per side), remove from oil and press crushed peppercorns on both sides of meat. Top meat with 4-5 tablespoons of butter. Place tenderloin on a cookie sheet and bake for approximately 30 minutes,  internal temperature should reach just under 140 degrees.  Slice and enjoy!!!  Tastes delicious with any kind of potato, of course :)