Laborous Day...

Hello All,

I had a good weekend, although it seems like I spend most of my weekends cooking now. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, as long as I don't spend all of my weekends eating. :)

I made my first gumbo Saturday night (Chicken, Sausage, and Smoked Turkey Gumbo) with Pralines and Calas for dessert. Calas are little fried rice cakes. Not at all like a popcorn style rice cake, but imagine fried dough with cooked rice in it and dunked in powdered sugar and drizzled with honey. If you're interested in cooking cajun or New Orleans type food, please visit www.gumbopages.com for some awesome recipes. Spaghetti with Sugo Sauce on Sunday and Clean out the pantry pasta last night (plus I made more pralines :D).

When my mother comes to town, she always wants to buy groceries for me. And if you've read what I've just written, you'd know I don't need anymore groceries. But I don't really use meals in a box or overly processed stuff like that because that's why I learned how to cook, so I wouldn't have to eat that stuff (that my Mom made.) So, I have stuff in my pantry from her that I'll never use like instant cheesecake mix, premade piecrusts, and hamburger helper. The gourmet in my head is cringing just typing those words. Ugh. So, I cleaned out the pantry and decided I would make jazzed up hamburger helper since I had two boxes of the lasagna hamburger helper. I used Italian sausage instead of hamburger and sauteed some crimini mushrooms and added some red wine and balsamic vinegar. This may be the best clean out your pantry meal I've ever made. Yummy!