Upcycled Jambalaya

As mentioned yesterday, last night's dinner of Vegetarian Jambalaya made a mountain of food. With enough leftovers remaining for an entire meal, I decided to upcycle the jambalaya into something more along the lines of what we are used to seeing and eating: shrimp and lumps of crab meat. Unfortunately, crab meat could not be found at the store.

Modifications Made:
While leftovers where reheated in the microwave with a cup of water added to loosen up the contents, one pound of fresh Gulf shrimp were peeled, deveined, diced into bite size chunks, and boiled until done. To enhance the flavors of the jambalaya, shrimp were boiled in just enough water to cover all shrimp and the water was heavily seasoned with Tony Chachere's Original seasoning. So much seasoning, the water was red.

Scaled for Likeness: Good
Say NO to tomato paste. What was manageable yesterday was overwhelming today. It was not as though the dish tasted like spaghetti or anything, it just further away from what we are accustomed to eating. The dish today lacked all the spiciness of Cajun/Creole foods, the slight vinegar hint (think Louisiana Hot Sauce), the combination of all meats (chicken, seafood, sausage). Addition of shrimp was nice, but it was not the same as if the shrimp has been cooked in the original mixture to fully incorporate the seasonings. There was definite room for improvement of this recipe.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green be

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add potatoes. Cover and reduc

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Eating Waffles

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