This spicy, crawfish cream sauce is simple to make and so delicious! I mixed the sauce with linguine pasta and I used a blend of freshly shredded grated pepper jack and Smoky cheddar cheeses.  Check out the instagram reel here!

​Ingredients
1 stick of butter
2 cups of yellow onion, chopped finely
1 cup of green bell pepper, chopped finely
1 cup of celery, chopped finely
2 bay leaves
1-14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 tbs of tomato paste
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 cup of chicken or shrimp stock
2 lbs. of large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Badia Complete Seasoning, to taste
Slap Ya Mama Seasoning, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste
Black Pepper, to taste
Smoked Paprika, to taste
Himalayan Pink Salt, to taste
Onion Powder, to taste
Cayenne Pepper, to taste
Thyme, to taste
Parsley, to garnish
Oregano, to taste
1/2 cup chopped green onions
 
Directions
1.       In a large pot, on medium-high heat, melt the butter.
2.      Add the onions, celery and bell pepper and stir for about 4-5 minutes.
3.      Add the garlic and stir another 1-2 minutes.
4.      Stir in the diced tomatoes, bay leaves and tomato paste.
5.      Season the mixture with the dry seasonings.
6.      Bring this mixture to a boil for about 15 minutes.
7.      While this is boiling, whisk together the flour and water.
8.      Add the flour mixture to the pot and cook about 5 minutes.
9.      Add the stock and the Worcestershire sauce to the pot.
10.  Season the shrimp with dry seasonings.
11.  Add the shrimp to the pot and allow them to the cook until they are pink.
12.  Add the green onions and parsely.
13.  Serve over warm rice.

Quick and easy pasta alfredo using fresh parmesan and homemade alfredo!

Ingredients
1 lb of penne pasta
2 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream (room temperature)
2 lbs of large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbs of olive oil
2 tbs of butter
1 8oz block of parmesan cheese (2 cups), freshly grated-You can use 1-2 cups of cheese depending on your preference
Smoked Paprika, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste
Onion Powder, to taste
Zatarain’s Blackened Seasoning, to taste
Badia’s Complete Seasoning, to taste
Oregano Leaves, to taste
Thyme Leaves, to taste
Cayenne Pepper, to taste
Parsley, to garnish
2-3 Green Onions, diced finely, to garnish
Directions

1.  Cook pasta according to package directions but “al dente”.  Drain pasta and set aside.
2. Add shrimp to large bowl and add the olive oil.  Season with dry seasonings.
3. Heat a large pot over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the shrimp in a single layer and cook each side until seared and pink (about 1-2 minutes). Remove the shrimp and set them aside.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the heavy whipping cream to the pot and stir.  Be sure to loosen up any food stuck to the bottom.
5. When the cream starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and stir in about a cup of the parmesan cheese and allow it to melt.
6. Add the shrimp back into the sauce and stir.
7. Stir in the pasta and coat it well with sauce.
8. Season to taste with the dry seasonings.
9. Add more cheese, if desired.  Allow the cheese to melt.
10. Garnish with green onions and parsely.

​

It's important to keep some classic sides under your belt.  When it comes to favorite sides, it will always be potatoes for me.  The homemade, cheesy cream sauce pairs well with Yukon gold potatoes.  I used leftover cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses that I freshly shredded.  I also added freshly shredded mozzarella. Try this dish if you want an alternative to plain, mashed potatoes. Be sure to check out the reel on Instagram!

3 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes (sliced thinly)
1 stick of butter
1 ½ cups of heavy whipping cream (room temperature)
2 tbs sour cream
1 tbs of Roasted Garlic Better than Bouillon
1 cup of chicken broth
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup of shredded Monterrey jack
 1 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs of minced onions
Slap Ya Mama Seasoning, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste
Black Pepper, to taste
Smoked Paprika, to taste
Himalayan Pink Salt, to taste
Onion Powder, to taste
Parsley, to garnish
Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Peel the potatoes and slice into thin disks. Set aside in water.
3. In a saucepan, on medium heat, melt the butter.
4. Stir in the heavy whipping cream, sour cream and minced onions.
5. Add minced garlic and lightly season with dry seasonings.
6. Remove from heat and stir in a ½ cup of cheddar cheese and Monterrey Jack
7. Drain the potatoes.
8. Using a greased casserole dish, layer about half of the potatoes in the dish.
9. Lightly season with dry seasonings and add ½ cup of the mozzarella.
10. Pour about half of the sauce over the potatoes.
11. Layer the remaining potatoes on top.
12. Repeat steps 9-10, using the remaining sauce.
13. Top the dish with the remaining cheese.
14. Garnish with parsley.
15. Bake for 45 mins.
16. Allow to stand about 10 minutes before serving.

 

I love the way the fresh rosemary and sage added to the flavor of this oven roasted chicken.  I decided to stuff my chicken with Louisiana Crawfish Rice Dressing.  This is totally optional though. You can find that recipe here!
 Ingredients
1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs)
Olive Oil
Poultry Seasoning, to taste
Chicken Seasoning, to taste
McCormick Rotisserie Seasoning, to taste
Granulated Garlic, to taste
Onion Powder, to taste
Badia Complete Seasoning, to taste
Italian Seasoning, to taste
Fresh Sage
Fresh Rosemary
1 ½ to 2 cups of Chicken Broth
1 large white onion, roughly chopped.
3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped.
Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. Remove gizzards and innards of chicken and discard.
3. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels on the outside and inside.
4. Coat the bottom of the roasting pan with olive oil.
5. In a large bowl, rub the chicken all over with olive oil or melted butter.
6. Season to taste on both sides and the insides.

Note:  I sprinkled all of the seasoning on the chicken and then rubbed it all over the chicken.
7.  Place the roughly chopped vegetables in the bottom of the pan.
8. Place the chicken in the pan.
9. Stuff the chicken with about 2-3 sprigs of each fresh herb. Note:  At this point, if you chose to stuff the chicken, stuff it with the unbaked, Louisiana crawfish rice dressing.
10. Tuck the wings of the chicken under it and tie the legs together with twine.
11. Add the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan and place more fresh herbs around the chicken.
12.  Place a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh.
13. If you didn’t stuff the chicken, bake it for about an 1 hour and 15 minutes or until it has reached a safe, internal temperature (165 F).
14. Make sure you check the chicken every 20 minutes or so.  If it is getting too dark, cover it with foil.  Also, baste the chicken with the broth juices during the 20-minute checks.  Note:  I found that the stuffed chicken took longer to bake.  Add at least 30 minutes of cook time for the stuffed chicken.  The area that I found to be under cooked was the thigh and leg area.  Use your thermometer and also do visual checks of the chicken for doneness.  There’s no such thing as eating medium (undercooked) chicken lol.
15. Allow the cooked chicken to sit at least 10 minutes before cutting to retain juiciness. I basted my chicken with juices from the pan during this time.

This is probably the easiest rice dressing I have ever made.  Mainly because once you cook the ground meats, you just dump everything in the pan and bake it. The flavor was also amazing. Use Louisiana crawfish tails if you can, because the imported ones are rubbery, yuck!   I used the this rice dressing to stuff a roasted chicken but it is also amazing as a stand-alone dish! Check out the Instagram reel here!  If you’re interested in how I made the roasted chicken, I have posted that recipe here!  Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 lb of lean ground beef
1 lb of Jimmy Dean Sausage
1 or 2 lbs of Louisiana Crawfish (I used 2lbs because I was stuffing this in a chicken)
1 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1 green bell pepper, chopped finely
1 large yellow onion, chopped finely
3 stalks of celery, chopped finely
1 10 oz can of Cream of Mushroom soup
1 10oz can of Cream of Celery soup
1 10z can of Cream of Onion soup
Slap Ya Mama Creole Seasoning, to taste
Onion Powder, to taste
Granulated Powder, to taste
Black Pepper, to taste
Badia Complete Seasoning, to taste
1 tbs of liquid Zatarain’s Crab Boil
Smoked Paprika, to taste
1 cup of uncooked, extra-long grain rice.
1 tbs of olive oil
Parsley, to garnish
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Add oil to a skillet and brown the ground beef and sausage.  Drain and return to skillet.
3. Add chopped vegetables and cook until softened.
4. Season with dry seasonings and stir in crawfish tails. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. In a large, greased, casserole dish, add all 3 soups and mix with a spoon.
6. Stir in meat mixture from skillet.
7. Stir in one cup of uncooked rice.
8. Season with dry seasonings.
9. Stir in liquid crab boil.
10. Garnish with parsley.

Note: If you decide to use this rice as a stuffing, put some unbaked rice dressing in a separate bowl and stuff the chicken with it. I used a separate bowl to avoid, contamination of the entire dish of rice dressing.  It makes a decent amount.
11. Bake, covered for one hour and 15 minutes.  Check for any uncooked rice.  If not cooked, stir and bake 10 more minutes.

Mustard greens are one of my favorite side items because they taste amazing with so many main dishes.  I especially love fresh mustard greens. Mustard greens are very easy to cook.  The most important tip I have is to make sure you clean the greens properly! Nobody likes gritty, grimy greens. Here’s how I prep my greens for cooking.
Tear the mustard green leaf from the center stem and discard the stem. Put all of the greens in the sink and fill it up with water.  I like to rub the greens together to release any dirt or grime.  Follow this with a good rinse.  Drain the water and repeat twice more.
 Next, add more water to the triple rinsed greens in the sink. Add a generous amount of salt and about ½-1cup of vinegar and rub the greens together in a scrubbing motion until you have done this for each leaf.  Rinse well and drain.
 
Note: In this video, I used a mixture of turnip greens and mustard greens.  I boiled the cleaned turnip greens about 15-20 minutes and poured the water off.  Turnip Greens can be bitter so I wanted to pour the bitter water off of them.  I then followed the recipe as listed below with a mixture of both types of greens. See the instagram reel here!
Ingredients
2 bunches of mustard greens
4-5 Uncooked Pig Tails or Pickled Pig Tips
1 large yellow or white onion (chopped finely)
Slap Ya Mama (to taste)
Adobo Seasoning with Complete Seasoning (to taste)
Badia Complete Seasoning (to taste)
Onion Powder (to taste)
Minced Onion (to taste)
Granulated Garlic (to taste)
Black Pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
1 tbs Distilled White Vinegar
Directions

1.  In a 5 quart pot, add the meat and enough water to cover the meat by about an inch.
2. Bring this to a boil on medium-high heat and add the onions.
3. Allow the meat to boil and become tender for about an hour.
4. Add in the greens and add more water, if necessary to cover the greens.
5. Add all dry seasonings minus the salt.
6. Add in vinegar.
7. Allow greens to simmer on low-medium heat until tender.
8. Add salt to taste.

The majority of my favorite seasonings and kitchen items can be found on my Amazon Storefront! The link is here.

If you’ve ever had a gravy steak, you’re probably from the south and/or had a grandmother who could seriously cook.  If not, sorry.  
I’ll do my best to help you because they are truly delicious but a little hard to find in some areas. I like to cook them until they’re basically falling off the bone. In Louisiana, many of the grocery stores will simply put “gravy steak” on the label. The bougie grocery stores make it a little harder. Go in the store and ask your butcher for a “seven steak”. Tell them you want it with the bone. Be sure to check out the Instagram reel here!

This is the best mac and cheese that I have ever made.  EVER.  I am a mac and cheese lover and like to think that my normal recipe is already amazing but there is something about the blonde roux and addition of smoked Gruyère cheese that really elevated this recipe.  Check out the reel on Instagram!!  Let me know what you think about it in the comments.
Ingredients
1 lb of elbow macaroni
0.6 oz of Smoked Gruyère cheese (shredded)
0.6 oz of Cheddar cheese (shredded)
0.6 of Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
2 ½ cups Half and Half
1 ½ cups Whole Milk
½ cup of butter
½ cup of flour
Pink Himalayan Salt (to taste)
Black Pepper (to taste)
Garlic Powder (to taste)
Onion Powder (to taste)
Slap Ya Mama Seasoning
Badia Complete Seasoning
Pro tip:  Shredding your own cheese takes more time but makes the mac and cheese so much better!! Without the addition of the fillers in packaged shredded cheese, the cheese melts and blends a lot better. 
Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Boil macaroni according to package directions, minus 1 minute. 
3. Shred cheeses and mix all 3 together.
4. Drain macaroni and add into a cooking spray or butter coated casserole dish.
5. Season macaroni with dry seasonings.
6. On medium heat, In a 6 quart sauce pan, add the butter.
7. Once the butter melts, add the flour and whisk together
8. Continue to whisk this mixture about 1 minute.
9. Slowly pour in 2 cups of half and half and whisk until smooth.
10. Next, pour in the remaining half and half and the milk.
11. Continue to whisk and allow the mixture to become smooth and homogenized.
12. Continue to whisk the mixture over medium heat until it becomes very thick.
13. Remove sauce from the heat and stir in about 1/3 of the cheese.
14. Add dry seasonings and mix until the cheese is completely melted and smooth.
15. Sprinkle about another 1/3 of the shredded cheese in your seasoned macaroni and mix.
16. Add cheese sauce to the macaroni and mix well.  I added it in sections.  Example: Corners, middle and side.
17. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake about 15-20 minutes.  Cheese should be melted and starting to turn brown in some places.
18. Allow to settle about 5 minutes before serving. 

This is an easy pork chop recipe that I love cooking during the week because it's so quick.  These are like smothered pork chops without the gravy.  What's your favorite way to prepare pork chops? Check out the instagram reel here!

Ingredients
3 Bone-in, Center Cut Porkchop
1 onion (chopped, coarsely)
1 bell pepper (chopped coarsely)
½ bunch of green onions (chopped)
2 cups of all-purpose flour
Badia Mojo Rub Citrus Blend Seasoning (to taste)
Badia Complete Seasoning (to taste)
Badia Adobo with Complete Seasoning (to taste)
Zatarain’s Blackened Seasoning (to taste)
Garlic Powder (to taste)
Onion Powder (to taste)
Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (to taste)
Water (enough to cover bottom of skillet)
2 tbs Corn Oil
 Directions

1. Season the pork chops with dry seasonings.
2. Coat the pork chops in flour.
3. Heat corn oil in a large skillet at medium-high heat.
4. Add porkchops and brown for about 3-4 minutes on both sides.
5. Once both sides are browned, add the roughly chopped veggies.
6. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet.  You just don’t want the skillet to be completely dry.
7. Cover the porkchops and cook about 10-15 mins until a safe internal temperature is reached.

Enjoy!