Month: February 2017

Fat Tuesday is on it’s way!

This week we will celebrate Fat Tuesday and there are a lot of great food opportunities that come to mind with this holiday!

I wrote in a much earlier post on Baking it Real about Fat Tuesday and the tradition of the King’s Cake. This is a traditional pastry with a small baby icon(meant to represent the child King) hidden in it. You can read more about that here:

https://barnwoodandbakedgood.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/mardi-gras-french-for-fat-tuesday/

and even get the recipe to make your very own King Cake this week in celebration of Mardi Gras! We also spoke a bit about the polish tradition of the Paczki. An heavy, fatty, eggy donut that you can’t resist on Fat Tuesday!

I wanted to touch though on some non-pastry food options for this Fat Tuesday, a little indulgence before heading into the Christian recognition of the Lenton season. As you’;; recall Fat Tuesday is the day of celebration before Ash Wednesday the first day of Lent known for it’s ritual of fasting. That being the case many communities celebrate with a decadent and over indulgent attitude toward their cooking on Fat Tuesday.

Many dishes are reminiscent of Southern styles of cooking. More specifically, the traditional Fat Tuesday entre’s are representative of Gulf Coast community cooking. Good old fashioned creole cooking!

So let’s talk a bit about creole cooking, and especially the dishes of Gumbo, and Jumbalaya! Louisiana Creole Cuisine is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana, United States which blends French, Spanish, Indian, Caribbean, Portuguese, Greek,  West African, German, Italian and Irish influences, as well as influences from the general cuisine of the Southern United States.

Gumbo is a stew that originated in southern Louisiana during the 18th century. It consists primarily of a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and what Louisianians call the “Holy Trinity” of vegetables, namely celery, bell peppers, and onions. Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used, the vegetable okra, the Choctaw spice filé powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves), or roux, the French base made of flour and fat.

Image result for Gumbo

Jambalaya is a dish of Louisiana origin of Spanish and French (especially Provençal) influence. It consists of meat and vegetables mixed with rice. Traditionally, the meat always includes sausage of some sort, often a smoked sausage such as andouille, along with some other meat or seafood, frequently pork, chicken, crawfish, or shrimp.

Image result for Jambalaya

Either of these dishes would be a welcome change to your dinner menu this Fat Tuesday below are a couple of links to some simple and delicious recipes for each! Enjoy!!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/31848/jambalaya/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/216888/good-new-orleans-creole-gumbo/

 

 

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Another fabulous find! 

I had to share this one!! O..M..Geee! I love the colors, and the clever tufted seat back matching the staircase silouhette. And then there’s the clear acrylic handrail!! I think I’m in love over here…

This one stopped me dead in my instagram tracks!! Don’t you just love it! 

Photo c/o devine_design_decor

A little baggage update

Thought I’d provide a baggage claim update… As you may know I recently (January 20th) travelled to Las Vegas with my husband and my luggage didn’t make the trip. More than that though it seems to have made the ultimate trip because Spirit Airlines us still unable to locate my bag.

I went through the lengthy process of completing the list baggage claim form with an itemized list of my belongings that were in the bag. Not including items not covered for reimbursement per Spirit Airlines policy. Those items included cosmetics, and electronics (a.k.a. my curling iron). Which as you may know are costly items. Once completing my list I had to have it notarized…yes notarized…and mailed it out with my receipts via certified mail. I received confirmation that they received my claim on Feb 2nd 2017. Per their policy they have 30 days from receipt of the claim to remedy the problem.

About 2 weeks after receiving my claim I got an email from Jessica. Jessica is now in charge of my case an she assures me she is working diligently to find my bag…ok…it’s only been missing now for three weeks! Good luck with that Jennifer!

A couple days later, Jessica contacted me again regarding my claim. I had listed a few items on my claim that were valued at more than $50. So she needs original receipts for those items. I don’t have original receipts for those things as I had owned them for about one year now.
One of the items was a faux suede jacket. I purchased it at a local Maurice’s store and it was one of my favorites. So I sent Jennifer a message with a picture of me wearing the jacket and a picture of the jacket with the listed price from the store website.

I even offered in my response that as I did not have the original receipt I would accept the minimum allowed reimbursement of $50.

Her response…”I’m sorry but per our company policy this is not enough to justify reimbursement. Without the original receipt we won’t be able to provide reimbursement for these items.”

My response…”No compensation at all seems a little ridiculous. I have a number of items that were in that bag that aren’t listed as part of your policy for example cosmetics, curling irons, and other clothing items that I’m sure I’m not accurately remembering going off my memory. But my shape wear and that jacket were definitely in there, and worth more than the $50 maximum for items without receipt. I feel that considering I don’t keep receipts on such things for more than a month or two compensating me at the minimum rate is something that Spirit Airlines should definitely compensate me for. Especially since this entire ordeal completely ruined my entire trip!”

Jessica’s response to my response: “Hi Courtney,I understand what you are saying. Unfortunately, I am unable to change the policy. We are still tracing your luggage and I will continue to update you.”

And my response: “If not properly compensated I may be forced to take legal action against Spirit Airlines. Thank you.”

And that’s where we are! It’s been 4 more days and no more information. I’ll continue to wait until we’ve met the thirty day resolution timeline. But, so far not very impressed. Hopefully Spirit Airlines provides me with a happy ending to this story. What are your thoughts?

A quick crowd pleaser

I love to entertain! We host regular get togethers with some of the most amazing friends and family and now and then I’ll whip up a quick dip, or snack to enjoy with them! 

Last night was no exception our “barn league” spring training tournament took place it was a ton of fun! 

I made a quick tasty Cobb salad chip dip. Here’s what you’ll need.

2 pkg cream cheese

1/2 c. Sour cream

1/4 c. Ranch dressing

Lettuce

Onion

Tomato

1/4 c. Blue cheese crumbles

1/2c. Cheddar cheese shredded

1/2 c. Crumbled bacon

In a large mixing bowl blend the cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing

Spread this into the bottom of a glass pan, layer the remaining ingredients on top. That’s it! 

I serve it with corn chips or tortilla chips. So yummy and the perfect treat for a group to share. Enjoy!

Chicken Fettuccine with Roasted Red Pepper sauce

A quick solution to the never ending what’s for dinner question, I think you’ll fall in love with this super simple and tasty recipe. Chicken fettuccine with roasted red pepper sauce.

Here’s what you need:

1 lb chicken tenders cut into chunks

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

12oz. Jar of roasted red peppers in water

1/2 c. Half and half

1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. Chopped fresh parsley

1 box fettuccine noodles cooked and drained

In a large skillet cook the chicken in olive oil until cooked through and lightly browned. Add garlic salt and pepper saute for another minute. 

Chop half of the roasted peppers and puree the other half into a sauce. Add roasted red peppers, and half and half to the chicken stir together.  Add Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Add fettuccine noodles and parsley stir to coat the noodles. Top with a little more Parmesan cheese. 

That’s it! A super simple, flavorful, and filling family dinner. Enjoy!!

Cornhole kick off tournament!

One of our favorite pass times is playing cornhole with our friends. It’s our go to good time game and we frequently host tournaments in our pole barn throughout the year. Tonight is the Spring Training Tournament our seasonal cornhole kickoff tournament!

(team hug life)

If your not familiar with the game, it’s a bean bag toss type game with a slanted board. Points are awarded when the bags are thrown and come to rest on top of the board or hopefully go in the hole! But your opponent can negate your points with their throw. It makes it a lot of fun and very challenging when you get paired up with a team of equal skill.

(team Titan vs. Team real deal)

(Amber has her form down)

We amp our tournaments up a little with team names and a lot of smack talk lol. We nicknamed our organization “The Barn League” My BFF Amber is my partner and our team is known as the “cornstars” we’re on our way to cornhole fame for sure lol!

So if you need something to do and wanna have a little fun grab a partner and come out tonight for the tournament we’ll be there starting at 7pm! The barn is heated although our unseasonably warm weather is certainly helping us out! Bring your own drinks and snacks I’ll make up some dip and chips and let’s throw some bags! See you there!

(annual 4th of July tourney)