Monthly Archives: May 2020

Yogurt Cheesecake with a Salty Pretzel Crust and Candied Walnuts

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I like a challenge and was excited to see a notice for a contest to create a recipe using California walnuts. The goal was to submit a blog post and recipe using walnuts in either a sweet or savory recipe. Well, I love walnuts and so I jumped at the chance to enter the contest. However, by the time my walnut samples arrived in the mail and I figured out what to make, I’d missed the deadline. I made my recipe anyway. It is a soothing yogurt cheesecake — very healthy, too — I added a salty pretzel crust (savory) and candied walnuts on top (sweet). The recipe contains a “twist” on traditional cheesecake recipes. You will see. The dessert turned out great.

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Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

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I’m making homemade barbecue sauce to accompany a slow-cooked garlic pork roast for Memorial Day. Why make homemade barbecue sauce and not purchase it? Quite simply, I like the flavor of homemade barbecue sauce; it tastes better than most of the ones that you can purchase. It is so easy to make barbecue sauce, why not? Although the sauce is not named after the famous New Orleans street, “Bourbon Street,” but rather Bourbon whiskey which is an ingredient, it does remind of all the good food which we’ve eaten in that city..

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Crawfish or Chicken Tetrazzini — Your Choice

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Peeled crawfish tails blend very nicely with pasta to create some mighty tasty entrees and pasta salads. Springtime is when crawfish are in season, so I thought I’d adapt one of my favorite pasta dishes, “Chicken Tetrazzini,” substituting crawfish tails. Tetrazzini is a chicken or seafood pasta dish with mushrooms in a rich cream and cheese sauce. It is one of the first casserole dishes which I learned to make and is still one of my favorites. The crawfish recipe is a slight adaption to enhance the dish. I included my original chicken tetrazzini recipe and also a crawfish variation. Both are delicious and fitting for a springtime dinner!

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Louisiana-Style Crispy Oven Fried Catfish

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When people come to visit us here in Louisiana, they often ask where to go to eat authentic Louisiana seafood. We usually mention Middendorf’s Restaurant which is located about an hour away from here. The seafood restaurant is on the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, the north side, at Pass Manchac. The restaurant has been around since 1934 and is favorite of locals. Their best-known entree is crispy thin-cut fried catfish. I decided to see if I could replicate the dish retaining the flavor but “frying” the catfish in the oven to avoid all the effort involved in deep fat frying. Here’s the restaurant’s catfish. Mine looks a little different but tastes great.

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Kids Can Cook: Cake Box Brownies and an Upscale Variation

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Here is a recipe that kids can make: “Cake Box Brownies.”  Mix the recipe up in 5 minutes and bake them for 15 minutes. Quick and easy. It is a good recipe to try with Mother’s Day coming soon. You need a large bowl and wooden spoon, a measuring cup and an 8″x 12″ baking pan. And of course, the ingredients. Why a box of cake mix? Because that is typically what is in my pantry — not brownie mix. Recently I needed to make a batch of brownies in a hurry with no time go to the grocery store for the proper ingredients. So, I quickly checked the internet and found that other folks were making brownies from cake mix, too. Well, my batch turned out pretty good. I’ve made it several times since then, tweaking and adapting the recipe each time. Included is one of my more upscale versions. Continue reading →