Sausage, Herb, Cream Cheese Crescent rolls. Tomato, Jack N Crab Dip, & Stewed Garlicy Sausage & Peppers.

"What can I eat with cream cheese? I feel fat just sticking my finger in the container and licking it off." - C926-Team Pink.

Well, we have had a busy day in the kitchen but since it was raining ... it gave us something to do. We tried three different recipes from the cookbook today, two had sausage, two had cream cheese, & one had crab!

First we started off with Bobby's Hot Tomato, Jack, and Crab Dip. I have made several versions of this over the years, especially around Christmas time. This is the first one that ever had tomatoes in it. My guest Sous Chef of the day, my 13 year old son Walker, was kind enough to join me in the kitchen and promptly helped chop and seed the tomatoes for this dish. He also, diced the green onions and added seasonings. The crescent rolls were super easy and Walker helped me spread the cream cheese on the triangles and fill them with sausage. He even gave a shot at rolling them up and ... yes... he was better at it than me. When I told him that the looked pretty he said, "I'm not going for pretty, I'm going for good tasting food." *sigh* Just like his mom. When we were done he said, "Ya know, I think we are BETTER than the butter queen!" Gotta love that kid! Finally, we put together the Stewed Garlicky Sausage and Peppers. This recipe was soooo easy, and I love the fact that it is a crockpot meal so it can be made on a weeknight. Walker like the fact that it smelled like sausage pizza!

All very yummy ... out of the three dishes, the sausage herb crescent rolls were great! The crab dip was really good, and the stewed sausage recipe was good, but the sausage I used was not so good. :o( (Next time - better sausage!)

Bobby's Hot Tomato, Jack, and Crab Dip
pg. 30 The Deen Family Cookbook

8 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp Paula Deen hotsauce
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, free of shells
1 cup seeded diced tomatoes
1/4 cup green onions, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 avocados

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. mix together all the ingredients up to the crab meat till creamy, then fold in remaining ingredients. Gently stir until thoroughly mixed. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot with crackers or toast points.

Corrie's Sausage, Herb, and Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls
pg. 25 The Deen Family Cookbook

1 pound good quality sausage
2 cans crescent rolls
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tsp chopped sage
1/4 tsp PD hot sauce

Directions: Preheat oven 375 degrees.

1. Crumble and brown the sausage in a non stick skillet over medium high heat.
When well browned, stir in hot sauce, let cool, drain well.
2. Open the crescent rolls and separate them. You may lay them on the baking sheet you will bake them on or use waxed paper for this step.
Spread cream cheese over each triangle. Place a tablespoon of the meat, roll up and seal.
3. Place onto ungreased baking sheet.Bake till golden (about 15 minutes).

Stewed Garlicky Sausage and Peppers
pg. 97 The Deen Family Cookbook

2 large yellow onions, chopped
2 large green peppers, chunked
1 large red pepper, chunked
4cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
1 3/4 lb sweet or Italian sausage, chunked
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tbsp tomato paste
One 14 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 tsp salt
chopped fresh basil

1. Cut the sausages into 1-inch pieces. In a medium soup pot over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil and cook the sausage pieces, stirring occasionally, until well-browned, about 5 minutes. Add oregano and red pepper flakes, cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, cook another minute. Add diced tomatoes with juice, the wine, and salt. Simmer for 2 minutes.

2. Arrange half the onion/pepper mix in the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour half the sausage mix over them. Add the rest of the onion/pepper mix, top with remaining sausage mixture. Cover and cook for 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low. Garnish with Basil or Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Creamy Corn & Shrimp Chowder and Twice-Baked Potatoes wth Shrimp

“I do not believe that you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.” - Laurie Colwin

Yummers! I loved a baked potato, but i love a loaded baked potato even more! Tonight I wanted to make two recipes that included similar ingredients. So I chose Corrie's Creamy Corn and Shrimp Chowder and Michael's Deluxe Twice-Baked Potatoes with Shrimp. I got home a little late from a doctors appointment so I wondered if I would have time to make everything on time. Well, I gave it a shot and it worked out just fine. Everyone had a bite to eat before running off to other things! The soup was a hit but I wandered if I could make it thicker...the potatoes are NOT a week night thing because it is time consuming - however, I could see us making it on a Sunday afternoon!

Corrie's Creamy Corn and Shrimp Chowder
pg. 51 The Deen Family Cookbook

6 ears of corn, kernels cut off (or one can)
2 tbsp of butter
1 medium onion chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
1 lb large shrimp
3 green onions (white and green parts, trimmed and chopped

1. Put the corn cobs into a large pot with just enough water to cover. Boil gently for 20 minutes. Discard the cobs and reserve the corn-infused water.

2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the corn kernels, chicken broth,cream, and 3 cups of the corn water. Season with salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and simmer until just opaque, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Ladle the chowder into bowl and garnish with green onions.

Michael's Deluxe Twice-Baked Potatoes with Shrimp
pg. 72 The Deen Family Cookbook

4 russet potatoes (6 to 8 oz each)
vegetable oil, to coat potatoes
4 slices of bacon
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed.
1 1/2tsp Cajun seasoning
salt
1/3 cup thin sliced green onions (white and green parts)
4 tbsp butter (soft)
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tbsp mayo
3/4 tsp pepper
(I added 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese as well)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake veggie oil coated potatoes for one hour.

2. While potatoes are baking, fry bacon for 7 minutes, put on to paper towel lined plate reserving 3 tbsp grease.

3. Cut shrimp into thirds (I left mine whole) add to bacon grease with Cajun seasoning, salt, and cook until pink.

4. When potatoes are done, slice off the top 1/3 and scoop out the flesh of the tops and the 2/3 portion leaving 1/4 inch border of the potato inside the skin. Mash the flesh of the potato with the salt, green onions, butter, sour cream, mayo, and pepper. Stuff the skins with the filling mounding it as high as you can. Top the potatoes with shrimp and bacon.

5. Return potatoes to oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved green onions and serve!

Baked Chicken With Dijon and Lime & Collards

"As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings." - Hattie McDaniel

One of the great things about committing to this blog is that it forces me to cook and bake things that I would have never normally tried. With the anxiety that surfaces when cooking wandering what will work what will not, will it taste good, will people like it, doing it this way allows you to step out of the box and try without worrying that you have ruined a meal...this way you can look at it as if it is simply an experiment. Tonight I am making a dijon and lime baked chicken and coupling it with one of James favorites, collard greens and dumplings! I prepared the chicken ahead of time and set it in the fridge till I was ready to bake. An extremely simple recipe with some really flavorful condiments. Dijon, mayo, garlic, lime zest, and salt n pepper. The collards were also simple to make and turned out to be my favorite collard recipe yet! Chicken broth, hot-sauce, garlic, salt and pepper...oh yeah and butter! These recipes were quick, easy and got everyone fed before running off to all the other commitments our busy family has. The boys were not very thrilled with the chicken (because of the dijon and lime) but my adult pallet was loving every minute of it. This chicken had the taste of a restaurant quality meal.

Bobby's Baked Chicken With Dijon and Lime
pg. 78 The Deen Family Cookbook

One 3 1/2 chicken cut into 8 peices
3 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Miracle Whip
1 clove of garlic, minced
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
3/4 tsp pepper
salt
fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse chicken, pat dry. Place in greased casserole dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, mayo, garlic, lime zest, and juice, and pepper. Season the chicken generously with salt. Pour the dijon/mayo mixture over the chicken and coat well.

2. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Drizzle with pan juices over the top and garnish with parsley.

Michelle's Collards
pg.124 The Deen Family Cookbook

I tweaked this recipe for time allotment. It called for cornmeal dumplings, I just made cornbread with green chilies instead.

Collards
2 quarts chicken broth or water.
1 tsp Paula Deen Hot Sauce
1 tsp Lady and Son House Seasoning (salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
one lb bunch collards, center ribs removed, leaves cut
4 tbsp butter

1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients except the collards and simmer for 15 minutes. Add collards and cook for 20 minutes. Strain and salt and pepper to taste.

Spicy Corn and Crab Puffs & Blueberry Skillet Coffee Cake

“The crab that walks too far falls into the pot” - Haitian Proverb

La n Va are bringing the main course tonight so I thought a nice little appetizer would be great along with a super sweet dessert! I decided to try Bubba's Spicy Corn and Crab Puffs and a second time recipe favorite Easy Blueberry Skillet Coffee Cake. I will still list the coffee cake recipe even though I made it before, we all know that is makes regular buttermilk biscuits taste like a bakery shop delight! I will note that all the hell I went through frying the puffs was worth the awesome taste, but I HIGHLY recommend having an actual fryer on hand for this job as using the skillet caused me to have three pea-sized blisters on my left upper-arm. I was doin' some serious extreme cooking today! I know I sound like a broken record but the recipe was easy and went together so fast. I heated the oil and began frying away. These puffs were easy to tell when they needed flipped and really took no time at all to cook. The spattering hot oil kept me on my toes however, so I was able to get my workout in while frying! Within a total of about 12 minutes all the puffs were done and Walker and I were quick to sample...yummy! Justin and James both thought they were good just the way they were. Being fans of sea food, we both thought we could have used a bit more crab. If you are still worried about what it may taste like, I would say it is like a pimped out hush-puppie! lol!

Bubba's Spicy Corn and Crab Puffs
pg. 18 The Deen Family Cookbook

1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
one 8 1/2oz box corn muffin mix
1 lb of lump or backfin crabmeat, well drained
1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels
5 green onions white and green parts, chopped
21/2 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
peanut or veg oil for frying

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and eggs. Stir in the corn muffin mix. Fold in the crab, corn, onions, and hot sauce. Add salt and pepper.

2. Heat oil in skillet to 330 degrees.

3. Using two spoons, carefully drop heaping spoonfuls and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate, season with salt, pepper, and additional hot sauce as desired. Serve immediately.


Easy Blueberry Skillet Coffee Cake

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Coffee Cake
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 12 oz tube buttermilk biscuits
1 cup blueberries

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To make the streusel, combine the almonds, sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon in a food processor anad pulse till large crumb form.

2. In a 9 inch cast iron skillet or other oven proof skillet, cook the butter and brown sugar over medium heat until melted. Arrange the biscuits in a single layer in the pan, scatter the blueberries over the biscuits and the streusel topping over the berries. Bake until the biscuits are golden and a tester inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean (about 30 minutes). Allow to cool slightly and serve warm.

Shrimp Scampi w/Artichokes and Basil & Southwest Blackbean Salad

"Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There`s, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole ...." - Bubba

As the family was returning from their various areas of "vaca"...I wanted to make a nice welcome home dinner. I decided on Paula's Shrimp Scampi with steak and Jamies Southwestern Black bean Salad. The guys were relaxing in the pool after driving 9 hours to get home from Michigan so Va and I did a tag team on supper. She grilled the steak on the grill while I whipped up the scampi. The salad was premade a couple hours earlier. This is my second attempt on the salad recipe and it was even yummier after using all the correct ingredients. ;o) Again, super easy and very yummy. Everyone really liked all the dishes. The marinated artichokes were a pleasant addition to the scampi and we served it over linguine. We talked about the guys fishing trip in Michigan and Va's Atlantic City trip, my Wash. D.C. trip and Walkers NC trip and Jackie and Frankie's beach trip! Everyone had really nice stories and enjoyed congregating around the diner table to reconnect after all our travels.

Paula Deen's Shrimp Scampi w/Artichokes and Basil
pg. 67 of The Deen Family Cookbook

8 TBSP (1 stick) of butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
3/4 TSP salt, plus more to taste
1/8 TSP red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
Pepper
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and diveined
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Juice of one lemon
Cooked pasta or rice for serving

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine, salt, pepper flakes and pepper to taste, and bring to a simmer. Let the liquid reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the shrimp and artichokes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just pink, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the basil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt to taste and serve over pasta or rice.

Jamie's Southwestern Avocado and Blackbean Salad
2nd attempt with all the correct ingredients. (Even Yummier)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
2 or 3 dashes of Paula Deens hot sauce or other hot sauce
4 cps of chopped romaine lettuce
2 avocados, pitted, peeled, & diced
2 cps of fresh or frozen corn
2 15oz cans of blackbeans, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
salt n pepper to taste

1. In a small bowl, whisk cilantro, oil, lime juice, and hot sauce.
2. In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients, add the dressing and salt and pepper to taste!