Jambalaya

For my Jambalaya, I make my own Cajun Seasoning Mix, but if you want, you can purchase a Cajun seasoning mix at the grocery store instead. I also start it out with bacon fat + butter, but you could substitute olive oil if you wanted to be more healthy.

Cajun Seasoning Mix:

2 tablespoons each: Paprika, Salt, Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon each: Ground Black Pepper, Onion Salt or Dried Minced Onion, Cayenne Pepper, Oregano
1/2 tablespoon: Chili Powder

Ingredients for Jambalaya:

1/2 package of bacon, cut into small, 1-inch pieces
butter or margarine
1/4 cup each, chopped: onion, green bell pepper, celery
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 lb of chicken - bones and skin removed, and diced into small squares
1 package (about 5) Andouille sausage, sliced into small pieces
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
Tabasco sauce
about 4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup rice

Directions:

Start off by cooking the bacon over medium heat in a large saucepan or pot. When the bacon is almost cooked, add about 2 tablespoons of butter, and melt. Remove the bacon, leaving the bacon fat and melted butter in the pan.

Add chopped onion, celery and pepper. Add 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of the Cajun seasoning mix, depending on how spicy you like it! (I use 1 tablespoon, and for "really spicy," I add more later in the recipe). Cook until veggies start to turn soft. Before the onions turn clear, add sausage, chicken and tomatoes. When chicken just starts to turn white, add chicken broth and stir in the uncooked rice.

Cook slowly, on low heat, until rice absorbs the broth and becomes tender, about 15 minutes. If it seems that the broth is getting absorbed but rice needs more cooking time, additional chicken broth may be added. Stir occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom.

When rice is almost done, add shrimp, about 1 teaspoon of Tabasco, and tomato sauce. Sprinkle in more of the seasoning mix if desired. Cook until shrimp is done, which should take 5 minutes or less.


When I make this for a large group or party, I usually make two, or sometimes three, versions - basically different levels of spiciness. The version above, without additional seasoning mix, is a good "medium," adding more seasoning and more Tabasco makes it more intense, and for a "wimpy" version, cut the seasoning mix at the beginning in half.

Enjoy!

Wasp Nest Cake

Another Melinda recipe - she's been working on a Butts County cookbook. I have tasted this one and it IS so yummy!

2 large vanilla cook & serve pudding mixes
2 cups milk
Cook until it just starts to thicken
Then add:
1 Butter Pecan Cake Mix and stir until smooth.
Pour into a 9X13 pan sprayed with cooking spray.
Mix
11 oz of Butterscotch morsels
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
and sprinkle on top, then lightly mash down into the batter with your hand
Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
While it is cooling (in the pan) bring to a boil
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar
and stir til smooth.
Drizzle on top of cake.

Orange Basil Pork Loin

This is a new recipe that my friend, Melinda gave me. She says it is delicious, and I am going to try it this week.. I can't wait to try it, and thought you would all like it too!

Take a pork loin, and rub it with basil and black pepper. Let it set for about 30 minutes. Slice it into medalians and sear it in a hot skillet - I'll use by big cast iron one. Add 1 cup of red wine, 1 cup of orange juice and simmer. When it is almost done, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Now, I'm not sure how long you have to cook it, but I wouldn't think it would take very long, since it is sliced before it simmers.

Dishwasher Detergent

If you are hooked on making your own cleaning supplies now, here’s one more for you!

Dish Washing Detergent:
1 tblsp Borax
1 tblsp Baking Soda
per load

So what I did was put 5 cups of each in a plastic canister with a lid under my sink. Mixed it up and scope out two table spoons for each load! It is great for your dishwasher and works well at cleaning your dishes. However you will still want to use a rinse agent to get your glasses really sparkling. But it really saves you money on the detergent.

Laundry Detergent Recipe

Laundry Detergent

MAKE YOUR OWN!

Usually laundry detergent is the highest priced item on my list when I am headed to the grocery store. In financially difficult times like these, every penny counts, so my friend recently showed me a way to help lower the cost of laundry detergent dramatically. I hope this can help you as well. I’m going to give you a simple recipe to make your own laundry detergent! This recipe will make 10 gallons of detergent which can be stored outdoors if there is not space inside. For a two person house hold this will last around 6 months or more.
I’ll give a few tips before I get started with the recipe. If you need a bucket to store it in, I suggest going to your local grocery store bakery and asking for empty icing buckets. They will usually give you empty ones (that they have not cleaned out) for free. These buckets are normally 5 gallon buckets with lids. Also, you could use old chlorine (for pools) buckets after they have been emptied. So, don’t go out and buy a bucket, ask around and you can usually find them for free. You will need two. Be sure to wash them out first! One last tip, if you are using store bought laundry detergent now. Save the empty bottle. You can fill it with your new, home-made detergent and leave the rest in buckets in an outdoor storage closest or somewhere else out of the way. (This way you can have a small easy to pour container in your laundry room.)

Ingredients:
4 cups of HOT tap water
1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (around $1.25 on your laundry detergent aisle)
1 cup of Washing Soda (a 55 oz. box is around $3.79 on your laundry detergent aisle)*
½ cup of Borax (a 76 oz. box is around $4.79 on your laundry detergent aisle)*
*These items can be stored and used for your next batch, or you can use the borax for another project I’ll share after this!

Instructions:
Grate the bar of soap
Put hot water in a pan on the stove
Add grated soap and dissolve over medium heat
Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with more hot tap water
Add Washing Soda, Borax, and dissolved soap mixture
Stir until powder is dissolved
Fill 5 gallon bucket to the top with tap water
Stir and cover overnight to thicken
Fill your second 5 gallon bucket ½ full with detergent
Fill both containers to the top with warm water
Shake and Use!
(Use ½ - 5/8 cup per load)

craft fairs

First off, I will say that I am venting, and I am sorry. I have had an extremely frustrating weekend. I received information about the 12th Annual "Bear Creek Festival" in Hampton, Georgia that averages 10,000 attendees. Sounds like a pretty good festival, right? 12 year holding it (so everyone in the area should know about it); near the race track (with an event going on this weekend, so lots of people in the area); 10,000 people sounds like a good number too. MAYBE they have had 10,000 if they combine the 12 years of the festival (if other years are like this one!) What a bust! I took Caitlin with me to help for the weekend, and she was a huge help, but that meant another person to feed for the weekend too. The booth cost $60, and of course, it took gas to get there. I had bought a 6 pack of water and a couple of bags of chex mix (around $7.00) to take with us. Between us we spend $19.00 that day for lunch, and the splurge of the weekend, $5.00 of that was spent on getting us some "potato ribbons" to share that afternoon. On Sunday, we only spent $8.00 for our lunches. So, in all the weekend cost me $94.00, plus gas for the van and explorer. (Dad came over on Saturday morning to help set up, then came back on Sunday afternoon to help with take down) Of course that doesn't take in the cost of fabric, etc. of any item. On Saturday, we brought in about $85.00. On Sunday, we brought in a grand total of $3.00! We did make one $15.00 exchange - a girl who had an air brush booth, traded a purse for a shirt for Caitlin. I had planned on paying Caitlin something for helping me, so that made me able to give her something even though I didn't really have the money to give her. So, I guess that brings my income to $103.00 for the weekend. What a waste!
It makes me question if I should even be doing this. I enjoy so much making the bags and other items. You know me, I have to be doing something, I can't just sit and watch tv. It's my daddy in me, I think. Anyway, sewing is pretty good therapy for me, and I don't want to stop sewing. I KNOW that I am not charging too much for my bags. If I factored in how much I spend on making them, on some I would be losing money. But, since I buy a lot of fabric and supplies from yard sales, I figure it balances out.
What am I doning wrong? Am I the only person who likes these bags? (I know you'll say you do, but you're my family, you're supposed to like them) Should I figure a way to make them cheaper?
We'll see how the Honey Bee Festival in Hahira goes this weekend. It is supposed to be a good festival.
I have been advised to bite the bullet and spend a little more and hit the big shows. So, for next year, maybe I will try McDonough's Geranium Festival, Mossy Creek in Gay, Ga. and the yellow daisy festival at Stone Mountain. I need to start looking into those, I guess. That kind of scares me, if I am being honest, because if I go to those, and still fail, do I stop altogether? Maybe deep down, I don't sign up for those because I don't want to admit I suck at this and give up entirely.

Sorry I'm being so negative after Carrie has been trying so hard to get me to write a blog. LOL - Bet you won't ask me again will you?

Four Cheese Creamy Macaroni

*UPDATED WITH A FEW CHANGES MAY 2013*

This is a recipe for a really cheesy, really creamy, baked, Mac and Cheese! If you don’t like it creamy, use one less egg and a cup less half and half.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
11 tablespoons butter
2 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
8oz shredded Muenster cheese
2 cups half-and-half
3/4 cup heavy cream
16 ounces cubed processed cheese food (like velveeta)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4  teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add 1 tbls of oil and pasta, cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain well and return to cooking pot.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 11 tablespoons butter; stir into the macaroni.
In a large bowl, combine the Muenster cheese, mild and sharp Cheddar cheeses, and Monterey Jack cheese; mix well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Add the half and half, 2/3 of the cheese mixture, cubed processed cheese food, and eggs to macaroni; mix together and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a lightly greased deep 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until hot and bubbling around the edges; serve.

(Beer-Battered, Caribbean Flavored) Fish Tacos

Today I made fish tacos to bring to lunch at my office. I've made them many times before, and they are always a big hit when I need to cook for lots of people. I am forever making adjustments to the batter for these and trying to perfect it! For this blog, I'll relate the batter instructions as I made it today with some notes about other ways to do it. I like fish tacos with a bit of a Caribbean flare to them, and the key to getting that right is in how you season the fish. If you prefer more of a Mexican flavor, you could substitute different spices (as I'll explain below).


This is a messy and fun recipe, so get ready to really get your hands (and kitchen) messy!

Ingredients for Fried Fish:

• Boneless Fillets of White Fish. I usually use Tilapia because it cuts easily. You'll need one package (about one pound, or four medium fillets) for 2-3 people, more for a larger crowd.
• Jamaican or Caribbean fish/seafood seasoning. You should be able to find this at the grocery store in the spice section. I use a Jamaican Jerk Fish Seasoning mix.
• Cayenne pepper. (note: if you are using a spicy Jamaican seasoning, you may not need cayenne. this depends on how spicy you want it)
  
• Two bottles of beer (a mild Mexican beer, preferably)
• Two packages of Tempura Batter Mix. If your grocery store has an Asian section, you should be able to find this there. See below for alternatives if you can't find this.
  
• All-purpose flour, about 1.5 cups.
• Ice cold water, about 1 cup
• Vegetable Oil (you will use 1/2 or more of a regular sized bottle)

Ingredients for Spicy White Sauce:

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  
• two limes
• Jamaican seasoning (same as you use for the fish)
• Tabasco sauce

Other Ingredients for Tacos:
*amounts listed are for making tacos for a large group.

• 2 packages (10 per package) of Soft Tortillas, 10 inch size.
  
• Shredded Cabbage. Either get two packages of pre-shredded cabbage or one whole cabbage and shred yourself.
  
• Shredded Cheese, about 2 cups.
  
• 4 Avocados, Sliced
• Pico de gallo or diced tomatoes and onions

Preparing the Fish:



Slice the fish into small, thin pieces about 2.5 to 3 inches in length and 1 inch or less in width. Place in a Tupperware dish and coat with the Jamaican seasoning. After all of the fish is sliced and seasoned in the Tupperware, pour in one bottle of beer and place in the fridge.

In one small mixing bowl, mix together one package of Tempura Batter Mix, 3/4 cup of flour, 2/3 cup of ice cold water and one cup of cold beer. The batter should be a little bit lumpy and should be thin enough to not clump together. Add the rest of the cold water and an additional 1/4 cup of beer if needed. This is your wet batter.

In another small mixing bowl, mix together the other package of Tempura Batter Mix and 1/2 cup of flour. Sprinkle in about 1 tsp of the seasoning you are using and a dash of cayenne pepper. Mix together with a fork. This is your dry batter.

In either a large wok or an electric deep fryer, add enough cooking oil to be about 3 inches deep at least. (If using a deep fryer, there is probably a "max level" indicator inside - add oil almost to this level). Cover and heat the oil. Oil is ready when it sizzles if you sprinkle water into it.

Take the fish out of the fridge. Remove the fish from the beer and add to the wet batter. I like to put all of the fish into the wet batter at one time and mix it thoroughly with my hands to coat evenly. Take pieces of fish from the wet batter, dip into the dry batter to coat, and put into the oil to cook. You can cook many pieces of fish at once, so long as they have enough room to float around without sticking together. Cook the fish until the batter is golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.


Making the White Sauce:

In small bowl, mix together 3/4 cup of mayonnaise, the juice of two limes (all the juice you can squeeze out), about 1/2 teaspoon of the seasoning, and a dash (about 4-5 drops) of Tabasco sauce. Stir until the sauce is smooth.
Serving the Tacos:

The best way to serve these is to set up a taco station for serve-yourself. Put the shredded cabbage, cheese, white sauce, and pico de gallo into small bowls. Warm the tortillas and place on a plate. Add the fried fish to the table, and everything is set!

Alternatives:

For people who may not like the spicy-tangy white sauce, you could also have traditional salsa available. Also you could replace the shredded cabbage with shredded lettuce.

Using the tempura mix in the batter makes for a lighter, fluffier consistency. If you can't find the tempura mix, you can instead mix the following for the wet batter: 1.5 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup of cold beer and 2/3 to 3/4 cup of cold water (more if needed). For the dry batter, you would just use flour with a little bit of seasoning mixed in.

If you prefer a more Mexican flavored fish taco, try using a taco seasoning pack for your seasoning. I like to buy the kind in the envelope and put it into a spice jar/shaker. Everywhere the recipe calls for seasoning, use the taco mix.

In Progress: Dr. Suess Quilt

So, I'm working on about 4 baby quilts right now for friends, etc who all decided to have babies around the same time... for one, I'm doing a Dr. Seuss-themed quilt, and wanted to do this blog post about it while it is still in progress to get some ideas...

It turns out that Dr. Seuss fabric is NOT easy to find. Apparently Dr. Seuss was real stingy with the licensing for products, etc. After searching through many fabric stores (complete dead-ends), yard sales, e-bay, etc, I located sheets from Pottery Barn Kids (thanks to Mandy's mom for the tip) - click here to see them. So from this bedding fabric, I cut squares out so that each different character is in its own square. The difficulty is that the layout was somewhat erratic, and the characters are all different sizes, resulting in various sizes of the squares. So I'm thinking of a couple of different options here - either piecing together the squares with various sized colored fabrics to make uniform sized squares, and then piecing those together to make the quilt top, or simply bordering each square and piecing them together somewhat erratically in a more funky pattern for the quilt top, rather than a structured, predictable look. Thoughts?

The other problem is the choice of fabric colors. I'd like to use two or three colors, and either solids or a small pattern. As you can see if you click on the link, the fabric is white with the brightly colored characters printed on it. There are so many different colors, and I'm not sure what would be the best way to go for a fabric choice? Any ideas???

Right now, the squares are spread out across a towel in my living room, so I can look at them and hopefully be inspired. Any thoughts or ideas from ya'll would be helpful!

Bookshelves and Drawer Unit

A couple of months ago, I started the process of re-doing some of the stuff in my office. In case you haven't seen it, the office itself has one red wall, and three off-white walls. I'm working with a chromatic scheme of red, white and black using those three colors repeated throughout the office, but with multiple patterns. So far, it is working well. The first project I undertook for this makeover was redoing my old, boring bookshelves. Unfortunately, I don't have a "before" picture, but basically they were plain, old and worn-out looking, and an ugly beige color.

Here's the "after" picture of the shelves themselves:



For the shelves and sides:

I removed all of the shelves from the two bookcases. I used a white paint (leftover from another furniture painting project) from Home Depot, and painted the frame (sides, bottom, top, etc) and the shelves themselves with two coats of paint. The paint on the frame will need to be dry before you apply the paper (see below) so you may want to do that part before the shelves.

For the back of the shelves:

I bought two large rolls of printed red, black and white wrapping paper. These rolls came from Hallmark and were part of the (RED) collection. Then I purchased a can of spray-on adhesive from the local hardware store. Attaching the paper to the inside of the bookcase was a two-person job, and cannot be done until the paint is dry. It was difficult to measure out the length of paper before we were ready to apply it because it was self-stick paper, but if you were using regular paper you should be able to measure first. What we did was spray the adhesive onto the inside back panel of the case, then starting from the top, carefully apply the paper. One person made sure it was lined up correctly and smoothed it out and the other person unrolled the paper as we went. When we got to the bottom, we smoothed it all the way into the bottom corner, and then used a knife to cut straight across.

Close up of the paper:



After the requisite time for the adhesive to dry, we made sure the shelves were dry and then we put it all back together.

I also repainted a small, simple three-drawer unit I had from IKEA. I've had this for years, and it was living inside my closet at home, but once I discovered it was the same depth as my shelves, I decided I wanted to use it at the office. Previously, it was a bare-wood pine dresser. Here is an "after" picture:



For the outside of the drawers:

First I took each of the drawers completely out, and painted the base/frame red, using leftover red paint in the same color as the wall in my office. I then painted the fronts and sides of the three drawers.

For the insides of the drawers:

I used the leftover paper from the bookshelf project to make a liner. I measured and cut each piece to fit the bottom and sides of the inside of the drawers and used the spray adhesive to attach the liner.

For the knobs:

Each knob was first painted white, and then I used a small rounded paint brush to make a dot-flower pattern sporadically on the knobs in red and black. Here is a close-up of the knobs.



Once the three pieces were done, I arranged them with the drawers in between the two shelves. On top of the drawers, I used alternating white with red, black and white patterned magazine holders I purchased at IKEA. On the wall above this, I hung a wall unit I bought from Pottery Barn (part of their "Daily System" collection), that goes with other wall hangings elsewhere in the office. On the shelves, I am using various red, black and white organizers / storage tools, including cute black suitcases and red baskets I got from www.landofnod.com, and more of the magazine holders.





Here it all is together:

Stuffed Tomatoes

Last week, it was my turn to cook for our office's weekly shared lunch, where one person makes a homemade meal for the whole office. I was trying to come up with something that was summery and a good lunch option, but also filling because everyone here really likes to eat! I came across a recipe for stuffed tomatoes, and modified it a lot to make it my own. They came out delicious! Here is the recipe:



Ingredients:

10 to 12 medium to large tomatoes
2 packages of Italian sausage (about 8 to 10 sausages total)
About 2 cups of croutons
1 small container of ricotta cheese (the regular size, I think 8 oz)
1 small container of diced tomatoes (or 1/2 regular sized can)
minced garlic (I used about 2/3 a teaspoon of the garlic you can buy pre-minced in the jar)
fresh basil leaves
olive oil

Instructions:

Cut tops off of tomatoes, and use a spoon to carefully hollow out the seeds and core. Set upside down on paper towels to drain as you prepare the mixture for stuffing.

Slice sausage into small pieces. In a saucepan or deep frying pan, heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until garlic is slightly browned. Add sausage. Cook until sausage is done throughout. Use a spatula to break the sausage into even smaller pieces as it is cooking. Once sausage is thoroughly cooked, stir in diced tomatoes. Remove from the hot pan to a mixing bowl and let cool slightly. Reserve most of the drippings.

Preheat oven to 350

Slowly stir croutons into the sausage. Add ricotta cheese and stir. You can then add a couple of tablespoons of the drippings from the pan and some crushed basil leaves. Stuff mixture into the tomatoes so that they each are full to slightly over the top. Place into a 2 inch deep baking pan. They can be touching each other. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for about 35 minutes in the oven at 350. Then place into the broiler for 5 minutes or less to brown the tops. Add a leaf of basil to the top of each tomato and serve hot.

Notes / Thoughts:

I think that if I were doing this again, I would try crumbled goat cheese instead of ricotta. The texture of the goat cheese would probably be nice if it was tossed in lightly to the mixture, whereas the ricotta coated the mixture smoothly.

I cut the casings off of my sausage before cooking it, which made it a lot easier to break it up smaller while cooking. You want there to be different sized chunks in the mixture.

I used plain croutons that I bought in the bakery section of Whole Foods, so instead of large salad croutons they were basically just small pieces of bread toast. I think you could probably make your own from toast for this recipe.

I served this with ciabatta bread and a side salad, and it was very yummy! I think this could be served either as a side dish or as a main entree.

Watts Happening Here?

Hello bloggers and followers, and welcome to the new "Watts Happening" blog. This blog was born of the need for myself, my sister and my mother to swap information about recipes, craft projects, etc. "Watts happening," for us is cooking, sewing, beading, and a variety of other things. As my dad says, we "burn up the phone lines" talking about these things on a regular basis, and given that we all have busy lives, we thought it would be a good idea to have one central location where we can share our thoughts and ideas.

We hope this blog will be a way for us to not only share our ideas and projects with each other, but also to connect to anyone out there who cares to be our reader! Enjoy!