Mini Creole Crab Cakes w/ Spicy Remoulade Sauce + Awards

Here's another fabulous Creole recipe that is one of my faves and is sure to become one of yours, too. Great as an appetizer or entree, served with spicy remoulade sauce, is a wonderful summer treat that will have you going back for more. Le bon manger', cher!

Mini Creole Crab Cakes

1 lb. fresh Louisiana, lump crab meat

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tbs.'s light mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. Creole mustard
1/4 cup bell peppers, (any color),  diced
1/4 cup green onions, minced
2 tbs.'s fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. or more, Creole seasoning


Combine mayonnaise, mustard, egg, parsley, Creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce,  green onions, garlic, and  peppers, in large bowl. Gently fold in the breadcrumbs and crab meat, taking care not to break up the crab lumps. Form into 3 inch patties. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray or coat with 2 tbs.'s of olive oil and heat to medium high. Add crab cakes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve with remoulade sauce. (recipe below)  Enjoy!

 Spicy Remoulade Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
1 tsp. yellow mustard 

1 tsp. Creole or Dijon mustard

1 tsp. milk
1 1/2 tsp.'s. prepared horseradish
2 tbs.'s white onions, minced
1 tbs. fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice
Salt  to taste
Few drops Tabasco

Combine all ingredients in bowl and blend thoroughly. Chill for 1 hour, before serving. Out of this world and great with any seafood.

I'll be sharing these at the beach party over at Seaside Simplicity,  Savory Sunday and 
Melt in your Mouth Monday. Hop on by, if you can, and join in the fun!!

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Awards

My dear foodie pal, Joyce @ kitchen flavours, recently presented me with all of these blog awards. Merci beaucoup for all of these lovely awards, cher! I am so honored and and really appreciate your generosity. Joy's blog is packed full of awesome recipes and if you've never visited her before, you're in for a real treat!  Please stop by and tell her that I sent you.

Now, I'm supposed to pass all of these fantastic awards on to 10 foodie bloggers that I have recently discovered. I would like to pass them to these 10 foodies, whose blogs inspire me and wonderful recipes never cease to amaze me. Please pass these on to your favorite, newly discovered foodies.

(In no particular order)

1.  Ali @ Jam Hands

2.  MM @ Ms. Enplace

3.  Miriam @ Meatless Meals for Meat Eaters

4.  Nikki @ Chef in Training 

5.  Gerry @ Foodness Gracious

6.  Donna @ My Tasty Journey

7.  Erin @ Ekats Kitchen

8.  Marsha @ The Harried Cook

9.  Amanda @ The Sweet Details

10. Renee @ My Kitchen Adventures

Congrats to all!  Please pay them a visit, when you have time. You'll be so glad you did!

Wishing ya'll a fab weekend, filled with fun! Merci beaucoup for coming by!

Grilled Stuffed Bell Peppers + More Awards

With all of the beautiful weather we've had this Spring, I've been grilling up a storm and enjoying every minute of it. I just love spending the time outdoors and it's such an easy way to prepare dinner, while taking a nice dip in the pool to relax, after a stressful day at work. Here's a Cajun fave that is very popular at my house and is just "out of this  world" when roasted on the grill. Grilling really brings out the sweetness of the peppers and the spicy filling is oh so good! Cest bon, cher! Enjoy!

Grilled Stuffed Bell Peppers

6 large bell peppers, any color

1 lb. lean ground beef or bulk sausage
1 onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tbs. Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

2 small cans tomato sauce
Few shakes of hot sauce
1 cup cooked rice
2 tbs.'s olive oil
Shredded cheese

Cut off tops of bell peppers and wash, inside and out, remove seeds, and set aside. Chop veggies.

Brown ground beef or sausage on medium heat, in large skillet and drain. Add onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, jalapeno, and garlic, and stir fry for 10 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, and Cajun seasoning, and mix well. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add hot sauce and stir well. Add cooked rice and mix gently until well combined. Drizzle a little olive oil, inside and outside of bell peppers. Fill peppers with meat mixture and place in a grill pan. On medium heat, grill on indirect heat for about 30 minutes.Top with cheese, if desired and, grill for 5 more minutes.

These go perfectly with anything else you are grilling, as a delicious side dish or they can easily stand alone as an entree, with a big tossed salad, and French bread. Cest bon, cher!!

I'll be sharing these at  Full Plate Thursday, Potluck Friday,  Saturday Nite Special, and This Week's Cravings.

For my Seafood Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe, click here.

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More Awards

My dear friend, Jessica @ cajunlicious has done it again! She has so graciously given me another 8 awards and I am so honored! Merci beaucoup, cher, I really appreciate all of them! I'm supposed to pass these "8 awards rolled into 1"  package deal, to 15 of my favorite  "foodie" bloggers. So I have decided to pass them on to these 15 bloggers who greatly inspire me with their fabulous recipes and are so supportive with their their lovely comments. Congrats and many thanks to all, for your continued friendship and support! Ya'll are the best!

In no particular order, they are:

Pam @ Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner

Miz Helen @  Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Joy @ Kitchen Flavours

Rosaria @  Loving Real Food

Mary @ One Perfect Bite

Martha @ Seaside Simplicity

Dave @ My Year on the Grill

Alisha @ The Ardent Epicure

Lisa @ Sweet As Sugar Cookies

Dennis @ More Than a Mount Full

Tina @ Mom's Crazy Kitchen

Katherine @ Smokey Mountain Cafe'

Drick @ Drick's Rambling Cafe'

Amanda @ Eating in Winnipeg

Velva @ Tomatoes on the Vine

Carey @ Mouth of the South

Please pay them all a visit when you find time and tell them I sent you! Hope you all have a great weekend, filled with fun and happy times. Merci beaucoup for stopping by!

Muffaletta Pasta Salad + More Awards + Bayou Blues

After gaining 5 lbs. over the holidays, I've been on a veggie diet for the past two weeks and I'm happy to say that I'm now back down to my pre-holiday weight. Lots of salads and wraps and vegetarian fare, with a Cajun/Creole flair, of course. A cleansing of the body and mind is always on my list of New Year's resolutions and I like to Feng Shui my home, too and clear away clutter that has built up during the previous year. Here's is a fabulous dish that one of my dear friends brought to share for my New Year's buffet and it is out of this world, cher! Bon appetit!

Muffaletta Pasta Salad

 12 ounces rigatoni or penne pasta, cooked according to package directions, and drained

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, finely chopped

1 lb. mozzarella cheese, cubed

1/2 lb. cooked ham, cubed

1/2 lb. genoa salami, cubed

1 1/2 cups Boscoli Italian Olive Salad Mix (available at Wal Mart and most grocery stores) or online @ cajungrocer.com

2 tbs.'s red wine vinegar

1/2 cup light mayo

2 tbs.'s Creole mustard

1 tbs.or more Cajun seasoning
Salt and Tabasco to taste

  Combine the first 7 ingredients in large bowl and mix well. Combine the wine vinegar, mayo, mustard, and seasonings in small bowl,  and toss with the pasta mixture. Chill for 2 hours, prior to serving. Cest bon, cher! Enjoy!

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Awards

Now on to the awards! My dear friend, Eddie @ Clouds and Silvery Linings recently presented me with two prestigious awards . Merci beaucoup, cher, for the great awards! I am honored and will display them proudly on my sidebar. If you do not already know Eddie, he is a talented writer, comedian, and poet, and has two fabulous blogs, one for each of his personalities. He is as "canaille" as they come and if I didn't know better, I would swear that he is a Cajun! Cheers, cher!

There are three conditions to accepting this highly prestigious award.

1. You answer five simple questions - these appear at the end of this post. 

(concocted by Eddie)

2. You pass the awards to at least five or to as many fellow bloggers you wish, asking them the same questions or five of your own.

3. You accept the other award as a sort of Get One, Get TWO Free promotion LOL

So now on to the questions: (concocted by Eddie)

Please note: one word answers not acceptable. Expound your ideas/answers in a formally considered written response of at least two sentences. LOL

1. What came first - the chicken or the egg?

Well now, Eddie,  everyone knows that a chicken comes from an egg, right? So the egg would have to come first, right? But it came from the chicken! LOL

2. Which facet of blogging do you enjoy most?

a) Writing

b) Visiting

c) Commenting

d) Reading people's comments to your posts

I enjoy all of these facets of blogging. But if I had to choose one, I would have to say that I enjoy writing,  the most.

3. Runner beans - do they really grow clockwise round canes in the southern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere - or is this a load of tosh, they grow either way wherever they are?

Hate to sound dim,  but what are runner beans? You Brits sure have a language all of your own! LOL

4. What attracts you most to the opposite gender?

a) A good sense of humour, lashings of personality, charm and lots of wit

b) He/She is loaded with dosh

c) He/She is romantic

d) He/She has a fast sports car like a Corvette

e) Good looks

f) A cheeky smile across a crowded room

g) Neither - please specify

h) Other - I cannot imagine an answer to this one!!

(Please note you cannot choose ALL because he/she does not exist! but if you choose a) I will gladly email you my telephone number LOL)

Oh he does exist, so I would have to say, ALL of the above, plus
h) Other- he MUST be an excellent dancer and cook!!!

5. What New Year's resolution did you make?

I made several, but the main one is to become an award free blog, after this post! LOL

And finally, I would like to pass both of these awards to ALL of my 246 wonderful followers! (links on the Followers gadget, on my sidebar) Please visit them when you find time.. Help yourself, mon cher amis! Ya'll are the best of the rest and I appreciate each and every one of you!!

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Bayou Blues

And for your entertainment, here's a little clip of some bayou blues that a good friend of mine took at last night's Birthday Bash for Lil' Buck Sinegal, at the Blue Moon Saloon, in Lafayette. Lil' Buck is an awesome, legendary guitar player, and was celebrating his 67th birthday, playing a gig with the one and only, Buckwheat Zydeco, on the keyboard. The filled-to-capacity, Boomer crowd was loving this hot combo! Crank it up and let the good times roll, cher!

Merci beaucoup for stopping by! Hope ya'll have a fabulous, fun filled, weekend!