Stone Fruit Skillet Cobbler with Puff Pastry Crust

I love the flavor and aroma of ripe peaches, plums and cherries in the summertime and fall. It is so easy to just slice and eat these juicy, ripe fruit for a healthy, delicious snack. These stone fruit also make great cobblers, pies and other desserts. The recipe, “Stone Fruit Skillet Cobbler,” is an example. This simple recipe is similar to a traditional pies, but without all the fuss. Prepare and bake the cobbler in the same dish — a cast iron skillet. Top with an easy puff pastry top crust. Any of these stone fruits can be used in the dessert; this time I used peaches. For an added southern touch, I used Sugar in the Raw®, a Turbinado sugar made exclusively from sugarcane, in the dessert and top crust. This cobbler is delicious.

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Cajun Blackened Chicken

When I think of Mardi Gras, I think of New Orleans and recall all of our adventures to the city during carnival season. New Orleans has a distinct and rich cuisine; we’ve eaten at many restaurants over the years during these times. Blackened redfish, made famous by Cajun Chef Paul Prudhomme, is one of the memorable dishes of this city. With carnival season and Mardi Gras arriving soon, here’s my “blackened recipe,” a version using chicken rather than redfish.

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