Pastalaya -Jambalaya with Pasta (instead of rice)

Every year around Mardi Gras I make a batch of Yankee Gumbo or Jambalaya over rice... We look forward to it as one of those -once a year- holiday meals. Well, pasta always seems to catch my eye, and I saved the recipe for this Pastalaya the minute I saw it:@) This is also a nice meal for folks that would like a little New Orleans flair, but aren't fond of seafood. I did change it up a bit by adding okra, and do suggest thickening the sauce with a little flour. But, this was a great recipe to start with! 

Want a more elegant dinner?

Serve the stew with thickened sauce over piled linguine.

Oh and... This okra came from Dollar Tree,

it's usually sliced into nice frozen rounds...

This year it was um, rough cut large chunks DT???

Pastalaya-from Louisiana Cooking

2 Tblsp butter

1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces

1 lb andouille or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2" rounds

2 C Trinity-mixture green pepper, onion, celery

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 C fresh tomatoes-I used canned diced tomatoes in juice

1 C chicken broth

10-12 oz Frozen okra-optional

2 Tblsp Creole Seasoning-easy homemade Emeril's Essence recipe here

flour mixed with water/chicken broth, only if desired to thicken broth

1 lb linguine, cooked and kept warm-I used a large ziti

1/4 C chopped green onion

1. In large dutch oven, melt butter, brown chicken and sausage. Remove from pot.
2. Add Trinity, cook about 5-7 minutes, until softened.
3. Add garlic, cook for a minute stirring constantly.
4. Return chicken and sausage, add tomatoes, broth, Creole seasoning and okra if using. Bring to boil, reduce to medium, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
5. If it needs to be thickened add a little flour to small amount of water, stir into stew.
6. Stir in pasta and green onions. Alternately: Serve stew over linguine and garnish with green onions.

Eat well and have a happy day:@)

ReView: Mardi Gras Dyed Pasta Salad & DIY Masks for Barbie

Mardi Gras is this Tuesday, February 21st folks. How about adding a little colorful flair to lunch or dinner by making a holiday Dyed Pasta Salad. You could really go all New Orleans and make it a seafood salad:@) It's easy to do by adding food coloring to the boiling water while making the macaroni. You can find all of my posts with the Mardi Gras label HERE. Everything from easy beignets to monkey bread king cake to muffuletta bruschetta.

And Barbie likes to party too! I'll show you how to whip up some Mardi Gras Masks from pipe cleaners. It's easy and they can be decorated as desired:@)

Laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler:@)

ReView: Mardi Gras! Quick Faux Gumbo & Dollar Store Necklaces for Barbie Crafts

I'm gonna start with Barbie this week because my gumbo pic is from 2012, and um, let's just say it could use a little updating. 

Mardi Gras is Tuesday, March 1st this year. And just like us, Barbie (and Ken) like to have a little holiday fun too... I picked up some Dollar Tree Mardi Gras necklaces, one set made cute masks, and the other was the perfect size for 1:6 scale saxophones! Imagine that, Barbie musical instruments for about 40¢ each:@)

All I did was hot glue a pipe cleaner as a stick or handle, and then embellish with glitter, sequins, and beads. Super easy:@)

All of my DIY Barbie Mardi Gras posts can be found HERE.

The saxophones can be removed from the necklace, or you can shorten the necklace to fit around the doll's head.

And if you'd like to cook a little something in celebration, but don't want an involved project, may I suggest this Faux Gumbo. It calls for leftover chicken, some frozen okra, and some every day pantry items. Oh, and a little bacon fat is never a bad idea:@)

All of my Pig In Mud Mardi Gras posts can be found HERE.

Laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler!

Make something just for fun and have a happy day:@)

Saturday Snipits: Pansy Planter & Barbie Headband Crafts Round-Up

I love making little headband crafts from recycled bottle rings for Barbie. And this cat ear headband comes together in no time using only two items, a sturdy bottle ring and a pipe cleaner. It can be embellished as desired, maybe a little contrasting colored pipe cleaner or faux fur in the center of each ear, but that's really not necessary to give everyone the idea of what we made. 

This comes together pretty much exactly as the Unicorn Headband HERE. 

The only difference is, make sure you bend the ears into a point for the cat headband. 

A fun little round-up of headband ideas for all seasons:

Honestly folks, they are pretty self-explanatory, but I do have some tutorial links below:@)

Unicorn Headband  ~  Pumpkin Topper Headband  ~  Mardi Gras Headband  ~ Orange Braid Headband
4th of July Headband  ~  Reindeer Headband  ~ Bunny Ears Headband

Barbie says this is puuuurrrrfect for Halloween:@)

Vintage leopard outfit from Etsy.

I was so pleased planting winter hardy pansies last year I wanted to try it again. I opted for a $2.50 pot of mixed traditional colors and hope to get pics fall through winter. Last year they colored up every time the temperature got milder and I even had some flowers in the snow:@) My mini-zinnias are still growing strong, and while they are shading my pansies a bit, I just can't pull them out yet... Can anyone else relate to that?

~Create a little seasonal fun and have a happy day🎃

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Wednesday ReView: Mardi Gras-Beignets (Donuts from Canned Biscuits) & Barbie's Jester Headband

Fat Tuesday is next week so I thought I'd share a simple idea for some Beignets (or Donuts) from canned biscuits. I made an orange zest version pictured here, you could coat them in a more traditional powdered sugar if desired. And even Barbie likes to have a little Mardi Gras fun... 

Donuts from Canned Biscuits  and  All Pig In Mud Mardi Gras posts here.

These jester headbands are colorful, festive, and come together in no time. All that's required is the ring from a screw-on bottle cap and some bump chenille pipe cleaners in green, gold and purple. I added some gold beads to the tips too, you could also use really small bells, pom-poms, or any other embellishment that sounds like fun.

The headband is cute for both Ken and Barbie😉

Simply twist the pipe cleaners around the ring and shape into curves... Wa-la!

No beads for the ends? Just give each tip a little curl to create the illusion of a ball.

More Mardi Gras:

You can see my picture tutorial about how to make pipe cleaner Mardi Gras Barbie masks here.

Make something just for fun and have a happy day:@)

Super Easy Mardi Gras Monkey Bread from Canned Cinnamon Rolls & Mardi Gras Round-Up

My contribution to Mardi Gras this year is a fun little spoof on traditional King Cake, use your favorite pull-apart bread recipe or this super easy idea... My Mardi Gras Monkey Bread is hot, sticky, sweet and just a perfect (messy) seasonal treat:@) It's easy because it calls for canned cinnamon rolls, you know, the kind you hit on the counter to open. Each roll gets cut into four pieces and dropped into a round bundt type pan, and of course what makes it a party is the icing gets sprinkled with the Mardi Gras colors, green, gold and purple.

What I love about this is, if you're only serving a couple people, 

use one can and a 6" small bundt pan, larger crowd? Use 2 cans and a regular size bundt pan.

I made the small one and baked it for 28 minutes.

My directions below will be for the 6" pan, I'll give a link to a full size variation here.
Or, use your favorite monkey bread recipe and simply give it some Mardi Gras flare with white icing and colored sugar.

Looking for a budget friendly idea? One can of Walmart brand cinnamon rolls was $1.18...

More Mardi Gras Inspiration:

Biegnets from Canned Biscuits

Mardi Gras Dyed Pasta Salad

Mardi Gras Dyed Deviled Eggs and Muffaletta Bruschetta

And Barbie wanted in on the fun...
So I created a Mardi Gras Masks Tutorial here.

Dollar Tree necklaces are the perfect size for doll play!

Super Easy Mardi Gras {King Cake} Monkey Bread from Canned Cinnamon Rolls

One can of cinnamon rolls with icing

2 Tblsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp butter-add more if you'd like
colored sugar

1. Mix sugar and cinnamon in plastic bag or medium size bowl, set aside.
2. Open rolls, cut each roll into fourths (I used a pizza cutter). 
3. Break apart and shake chunks in sugar/cinnamon mixture.
4. Drop into well sprayed 6" bundt pan.
5. As you're adding the dough, cut the butter into little pieces and occasionally add some to the pan with the dough. Be sure to add a few dots to the top too.
6. Continue until all of the dough and butter is added to pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 28 minutes, or until bread is baked through.
8. Remove from oven and let sit in pan for 10 minutes. 
9. Turn bread onto plate and let cool for 10 more minutes.
10. Squeeze icing over bread and sprinkle with gold, green and purple colored sugar.

Laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler and have a sticky sweet happy day:@)

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Cajun Deviled Eggs

I thought these Cajun Deviled Eggs sounded like fun for Mardi Gras ~and they were a big hit at Sunday dinner! The only thing I did differently was, instead of mixing the relish into the yolks I piped a little nest in each egg and spooned about 1/4 tsp of my homemade sweet jalapeno relish into the center. The sweet relish makes for a very tasty bite!

If you don't have Cajun seasoning there's a recipe for Emeril's Essence HERE.

Cajun Deviled Eggs-adapted from Kraft
8 hard boiled eggs, cut in half, yolks popped out
1/4 C Miracle Whip-I used mayonnaise
1/4 C cream cheese spread-I used 2 Tblsp cream cheese from the foil pack, softened
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning
salt to taste-I used Lawry's Cracked Black Pepper Seasoned Salt
1 Tblsp sweet pickle relish
1/4 tsp fresh thyme, chopped-I didn't have this

1. Mix yolks and next six ingredients (skip the relish if you decide to add it to the top).
2. Fill whites and garnish with sprinkling of fresh thyme. Alternately, pipe yolks into whites making an indent in the center, top with 1/4 tsp relish.

Eat well and have a happy day:@)

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Mardi Gras Macaroni Salad-Dyed Pasta

So-many-possibilities... The starting point for this Mardi Gras Macaroni Salad is dying the pasta gold, green and purple, from there, what sounds good? Want a simple pasta salad with a little Cajun seasoning-done. Want a Muffaletta Pasta Salad by adding deli meat and cheese and some pickled peppers or giardiniera-done. How about a Cajun Seafood Pasta Salad by adding some shrimp and crab-um, also done:@) Have fun with it and change it up to your liking, you know your crowd.

Colorful and festive!

Directions for Dyed Pasta:

1. For each cup of cooking water use 20 drops of food coloring. (Use a little less blue than red for the purple.)
2. Cook pasta per directions on the package or until desired doneness, drain and run under cold water until the water runs clear.
3. Make your favorite pasta salad recipe and enjoy!

Have a happy day and laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler:@)

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Valentine's Day Tiara for Barbie -DIY Tutorial

I found inspiration for this Queen of Hearts Valentine's Day Tiara for Barbie while perusing the isles of Dollar Tree. They had some really cool tiaras for Mardi Gras, which I totally need:@) This one couldn't be easier, it uses the bottom ring from a bottle with a screw on cap, some sparkly pipe cleaners and beads from your stash. A perfect cold winter day project to keep the girls busy, and Barbies everywhere happy!

I used the ring from a bottle of vinegar, any sturdy plastic ring would work.

The tiara before embellishing...

Directions: 

1. Wrap a sparkly pipe cleaner tightly around the ring at least five times. Try to keep it close together and completely cover the ring.
2. Add a few longer 'spikes' to the tiara in the center to give it some height.
3. Finish the other side by wrapping the pipe cleaner the same amount of times as 1 above.
4. Glue on beads, sequins or any desired embellishment. 
5. Please note: The doubled pipe cleaner spikes will be too thick to push on most beads. You could cut small pieces of pipe cleaner and wrap them around the ring so that the two ends stick up (think V) and push beads onto the ends.
6. Cut the ring in the back so it can be opened and placed on Barbie's head.

You can click here for my Barbie Pinterest Board.

Make something just for fun and have a happy day:@)

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Louisiana Baked Crab Dip

Is there a bigger party than Mardi Gras? It's so big it spills out into the streets! While I won't be there in person I can still participate in spirit and this year my contribution will be Louisiana Baked Crab Dip. Creamy, crabby and can be served with anything you'd like for scooping. Oh and, if you can't wait until Mardi Gras on February 17th to try it, I think bringing this dip to a Super Bowl Party would make you very popular too:@)

I made a half batch and my changes are listed below as optional, but the major ones were: I used a 6oz can of crab meat and yellow onion. 

I think the green onion would have been a pretty addition and shook in a little dried parsley for color.

You may have noticed I added the ~ever popular~ jalapeno label, yep, I think it would be great in this dip:@)

Two other fun appy ideas:

Mardi Gras Dyed Deviled Eggs and Muffaletta Bruschetta

In case you're kinda new to hot sauce and curious about what brand to buy... I have several bottles of hot sauce in the kitchen at all times, 

but my absolute favorite 'go to' bottle is Crystal's. It has a little heat, a little zing and pucker from vinegar and a little salty bite... 

It's a nice balanced sauce I've used on everything from scrabbled eggs to Bloody Marys to... crab dip.

Louisiana Baked Crab Dip-adapted from myrecipes.com
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/4 C Parmesan, grated
3 Tblsp green onion (white and green parts), minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
S&P to taste
1/2 lb jumbo lump crab meat, picked through-I used a 6 oz can drained very well
A few shakes of dried parsley for color-optional
Panko crumbs for topping-optional-but highly recommended
Smoked paprika for sprinkling on top-optional-but highly recommended
Additional hot sauce for serving

1. Mix everything up to the crab meat. Gently fold in crab meat.
2. Spread into a baking dish (I used a 5" dish for a half batch) and bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden on top.
3. Serve hot (I prefered it more towards room temperature) with crackers, chips, bread or veggies and extra hot sauce.

Party like you mean it and have a happy day:@)

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Happy Mardi Gras! Barbie Mardi Gras Masks DIY

These Mardi Gras Masks for Barbie are a fun little project that can be as simple, or extravagant, as your imagination (and craft supplies) allow! They start with a pipe cleaner and then can be embellished with anything, more pipe cleaners, feathers, ribbon, beads, foam cutouts, sequins, etc. I made one that gets held in Barbie's hand like opera glasses and one that sits on her face like reading glasses. My picture tutorial shows how to make the reading glasses, but they are both similar. Ken's selfie of the girls sitting on his lap...

  Looks like the girls are all set for some fun during the Mardi Gras parade too😎

A close-up of the mask detail:
I started with the green glasses and glued the purple and gold on.

 And the second one...
Gold glasses with gold, purple and green feathers and a heart rhinestone glued on.

Mardi Gras Mask for Barbie:

Create the top of the frame of glasses by bending both sides of the pipe cleaner down at 90 degree angle.

The center should be about 1 1/2-1 3/4" long. 

Having a doll handy is helpful, hold the pipe cleaner up against her face to gauge the size of the glasses.

 Begin to shape the lens of the glasses.

I wrapped it around my finger, then twisted the pipe cleaner up over the top of the frame. 

You can see the excess sticking out to the right, that will be the part that goes over her ear.

Do the same for the other lens.

 At this point the mask looks like glasses😎

   Bend the two sides back so they slide over her ears. 

~Or~ leave them long so a girl can twist them behind the dolls head so they stay on better while playing.

Decorate the mask any way you'd like. 

I wanted to show you how I make Barbie size feathers from craft feathers: 

Simply cut the tip off and trim as necessary.

Hot glue works best (and the fastest) for sticking items to the mask.

And finally...
Ken says: Remember, what happens in Nawlins, stays in Nawlins😃

My Barbie Pinterest Board HERE

Enjoy the festivities this year folks, but Earl sends his little reminder...

What happens at Mardi Gras...

Doesn't always stay at Mardi Gras!

Have a happy day:@)

Mardi Gras Dyed Deviled Eggs

Have you heard there's this little party going on down south, I believe it's called Mardi Gras... I'm planning a themed dinner so I thought I'd add these Mardi Gras Dyed Deviled Eggs to the menu! Simply use food coloring and dip half of each peeled egg into green and the other half into purple, the gold kinda takes care of itself:@) Use your favorite deviled egg recipe and you're all set!

I use 1 tsp vinegar, 1/2 C warm water and about 20 drops of food coloring for each color.
Dip them until you get the desired color. After each dipping I turned them upside down on a paper towel to drain.

I'll be honest and say purple isn't an easy color folks. For every 10 drops of red add 2-3 of blue. Mine kinda looked brown so I read to add a pinch of baking soda and did... figured it couldn't hurt.
For the best coloring, these eggs should be served the day they're made.

Have a happy day and laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler:@)

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Muffaletta Bruschetta

My contribution for Mardi Gras this year is a Muffaletta Bruschetta. If there's one thing we enjoy and know about in Philly it's deli meat! So I wanted to share my thoughts on this tasty appy.

This is a fun twist on the Hoagie Spread I made a couple years ago, the main difference being the Bruschetta didn't call for mayo or any kind of binder. And um, don't forget to toast your bread folks...

After spooning some onto bread we quickly realized this was not an easy thing to eat! Really good, but little chunkies kept falling all over the place (and I don't have a dog to help clean up)... So we added a little mayo, just enough to coat everything and that helped a lot! Unfortunately by then it was dinner time and we ate instead of taking pics-you understand I'm sure:@)

My thoughts on ingredients: You'll need ham and provolone, I suggest a prettier Imported Ham. Every recipe I see calls for "salami", I used Genoa Salami. Add green olives, some type of pickled peppers, oregano and olive oil and I think anything else from here on out works. Possibilities: giardiniera, pepperoncini, hot pepper rings, capers, black olives, grated Parmesan, red bell pepper, jalapenos, pickled jalapenos, and celery (it's good and crunchy, go ahead and add it in:@). What's missing? Onion, leave it out.

I didn't want to make a huge batch so I asked for 1/4" slice of each meat and cheese at the deli (I used about half of the ham, it's so much bigger than the salami and cheese) diced them into 1/4" (or a little smaller) cubes, then just added what seemed like a good amount of everything else.

Mufflaetta Bruschetta- adapted from Ms. enPlace
1/4 lb ham, thickly sliced
1/4 lb salami, thickly sliced
1/4 lb provolone cheese, thickly sliced
1 C chopped green olives
1/2 C giardiniera mix-I used a few mild banana pepper rings, diced
1 Tblsp capers-didn't have these
1 tsp dried oregano-or to taste
Splash of juice from olives-I used olive oil
2 loaves French bread
Also added celery and some fresh jalapeno because I forgot to get a red pepper

• Small dice the meats and provolone, chop up the olives and peppers/giardiniera (and anything else you add). Mix all together with oregano to taste and a drizzle of olive juice or oil. Add a little mayo if desired to help hold it together. Serve on toasted French bread.

Have a happy day:@)

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Faux Gumbo

The Yankee's in the kitchen again... I have truly enjoyed gumbo when I've had it and love okra! How about a quicker, lighter meal that's similar in flavor and truly uses up some of the things in the freezer. This is a modified recipe from Martha Stewart and it's so easy I made it in the morning before work. I used leftover chicken, adding a little sausage or kielbasa would be nice too.

No heavy sauce, the only naughty thing is the bacon grease and there wasn't much of that!

This was fantastic over pressure cooker brown rice.

Faux Gumbo-for... maybe two with salad and bread:@)
Half of a small onion, small dice
1 large garlic clove, minced
Half of a green pepper, about 3/4" dice-I freeze extra peppers
Heaping Tblsp bacon grease-in lieu of sausage
Half a can of diced tomatoes-leftover and frozen, I used petite dice
About a cup of okra-Had a bag in the freezer
1 tsp Emeril's Essence-homemade recipe here
Sliced pre-cooked chicken-leftovers from the freezer thawed, however much you have or would like
A few grinds of black pepper
Salt to taste-I used smoked salt because I had it
Serve over rice

1. Over medium heat saute the onion in bacon grease, stirring, until it starts to get translucent.
2. Add garlic and green pepper, stirring, cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, okra and Emeril's Essence, cook for about 8 minutes-until the tomato liquid reduces a bit.
4. Add S&P to taste and serve over rice.

I really enjoyed this folks, just use it as a guide and make your own great Faux Gumbo:@)

Have a happy day:@)

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