Chile Relleno Cornbread

I'm super excited to share this cornbread recipe with you today! Whether you eat it straight out of the oven with butter, as a side to a big pot of chili or toasted and cubed to make croutons - it's insanely delicious!
I've been using poblano peppers more and more lately. I have even been using them in the place of green bell pepper sometimes and I'm loving the results. I feel like they have more flavor and less heat than a jalapeno, but if you can't easily find poblanos feel free to sub a seeded jalapeno instead!

Chile Relleno Cornbread

 1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup seeded and finely diced fresh poblano pepper

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk the buttermilk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and garlic powder in a medium mixing bowl. Gently stir in the poblano peppers and cheese.

Combine the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir gently until just barely combined.

Pour the Mixture into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes.

Are you following me on Instagram yet? If not, please do! You can find my latest recipe postings and  updates on Beignet and Roux! 

Little's Lunches

 Good morning! I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend! 

I know some are already out of school, but my kids have exams, field trips and end of year parties this week before we can officially relax for the summer. Here's what my kiddos are having the last week of school:

 Monday: Make your own taco kit: black beans and cheese, black olives and red bell pepper slices, a flour tortilla, sour cream salsa dip, strawberries and a fruit bar

 Tuesday: pretzel sticks, grilled cheese and poblano chicken sausages, grilled corn, black olives, colby jack cheese, strawberries

 Wednesday: grilled cheese and poblano chicken sausages, dried mango, cucumber, babybel gouda cheese, black olives, strawberries, pretzel sticks

 Thursday: baby tomatoes, shredded carrot, broccoli, ChileRelleno Cornbread, Yogurt Berry Star Crackers, 3 cheese ranch, dried cranberries, pepperoni, babybel gouda cheese

Friday: roasted broccoli, Chile Relleno Cornbread, baby tomatoes, mixed raisins and dried cranberries, babybel gouda cheese, fruit strip

Cheesy Chipotle Mini Meatloaf Benedicts

I'm so excited that my "Cheesy Chipotle Mini Meatloaf Benedicts" were chosen as a Top 10 Finalist in Healthy Solutions Spice Blend's 2019 Recipe Challenge! 

While I can't share the recipe until they are published, I can tell you about my dish. The contest asked for your best healthy diner dish so my meatloaf is a combo of lean ground beef, oats and black beans to bump up the protein and nutrition. Stuffed with melty smoked cheddar cheese, glazed with a chipotle honey ketchup sauce and topped with a poached egg and cilantro - it's a Tex-Mex diner dream!

I won the Grand Prize years ago with my Greek Style Baked Turkey Taquitos with Tzatziki Drizzle and I'm really hoping the judges like this entry just as much!
The winner will be announced on June 4th - I'll share the recipe once they make them all public!

Pulled Pork Muffulettas

Smithfield Pork is hosting their Shake It Up Contest and they asked for people to send in their best ideas and pictures of ways to Shake Up dinner in your kitchen using their pork products. 

Having grown up in New Orleans, my love for muffulettas runs deep and I knew immediately what I would make for this challenge - Pulled Pork Muffulettas

This contest wanted a picture and a brief description of your recipe idea. Here's what I submitted:

"I shake up a New Orleans classic by filling my Muffulettas with Smithfield Pork Butt instead of deli meats! Dusted with Cajun seasoning, slow cooked and shredded, the pork is the star of the show! Pile on toasted buns, top with provolone cheese and olive relish and dinner is ready in no time!"

I'm thrilled to say that I was chosen as one of the Top 20 Finalists and the prize is a $100 gift card. The grand prize winner gets $5,000 (WHAT?!?!) and was supposed to be announced on the 20th. I will not tell you the embarrassing amount of times I've checked to see if it's been announced yet but I will say that I have my fingers crossed that they pick my dish as the winner. Wish me luck!!

Update!! Unfortunately, I did not win the grand prize but my fabulously talented friend Lidia H. did and I'm so very happy for her! Congrats Lidia on a job well done!

Little's Lunches

Happy Monday!

This is the last Monday of the school year and my kids are SO ready to be off for summer! This week of lunches used up a lot of leftovers from a weekend BBQ. My kids love grilled sausages as their main protein. Served with BBQ sauce or ketchup and some pretzel sticks to stick them with, my kids are very happy! At the middle school my son has access to a microwave to heat them up, but the elementary school doesn't have that option. My daughter doesn't mind eating them cold, so luckily that's not a problem for us. 

 Monday: pretzel sticks, oranges, BBQ sauce, edamame and red bell peppers, sliced grilled hot dogs, cucumber slices

 Tuesday: sliced smoked sausage, garlic bread, BBQ sauce, cucumber slices, green olives and red bell peppers, oranges

 Wednesday: pineapple cubes, colby jack cheese, sour cream dip, celery, carrots and red bell peppers, sliced grilled hot dogs, garlic bread

 Thursday: Brianna made her own lunch today! I am out of town so she packed: meunster cheese, sliced smoked sausage, BBQ sauce, carrots, strawberries and pretzel sticks

Friday: strawberries, pretzel sticks, 3 cheese ranch, carrot slices and red bell peppers, dried mango, meunster cheese and pepperoni slices

Little's Lunches

 Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend and Mother's Day!

Instead of fighting the crowds and going out, I made the biggest cheeseboard I could and my husband boiled crawfish for me. It was delicious!

As for lunches, my daughter has declared Friday's lunch to be her favorite lunch of the whole year! Pretty funny since it's almost the end of school, but I'll take it! The grilled sausages are just leftover from dinner, the pretzel sticks are used as toothpicks to pick up the sausage and BBQ sauce is her new favorite, so that was a hit. 

Monday: layered fruit bar, Yogurt Berry Star Crackers, babybel cheese, prunes, mini red bell peppers, potato salad

Tuesday: Yogurt Berry Star Crackers, black beans, 3 cheese ranch, red bell peppers, babybel cheese, black olives, cucumber, kiwi

 Wednesday: Trader Joe's mini cheese sandwich crackers, layered fruit bar, kiwi, babybel cheese, sliced grilled chicken spinach sausage, prunes, edamame

 Thursday: meunster cheese, sliced grilled smoked sausage, strawberries, black olives, edamame, baby tomatoes, pretzel sticks

 Friday: strawberries, sliced grilled chicken spinach sausage, meunster cheese, BBQ sauce, edamame, pretzel sticks

Boozy Berry Grilled Pound Cake with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Mother's Day is Sunday and I think this should be the dessert of the day. Make it for your mom, make it for yourself, either way you'll thank me. It's so stupid simple to make, you only need 7 ingredients to get it done and I personally think it's a showstopper.
I took store bought pound cake and grilled it so it's warm and toasty - by all means, if you want to bake a home made pound cake go for it! But the store bought one worked perfectly fine and was the perfect thing to soak up all the juice from those marinated strawberries. You'll get bonus points if you put the extra Strawberry Elderflower syrup in some prosecco too!

Let's take a moment to talk about this vanilla bean whipped cream too. Can you see the flecks of vanilla in there?! Makes me want to dive in. 

I know fresh vanilla beans seem extravagant, but I promise you it's so very worth it! After you scrape the vanilla beans from the pod put the empty pod in your sugar canister - now you have vanilla sugar for baking or your coffee that will be divine!!

Boozy Berry Grilled Pound Cake with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

4 cups sliced strawberries

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons Elderflower liquor

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 (10.75 oz) pound cake

In a small mixing bowl gently stir together the strawberries, sugar and liquor. Let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

While the berries are soaking, prepare the whipped cream. Place the whipping cream, vanilla bean seeds and powdered sugar in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Slice the pound cake into 8 equal slices. Heat a grill pan over medium high heat until very hot (about 3 minutes). Grill the pound cake slices for 1-2 minutes per side, or until lightly toasted and you can see the grill marks.

Top grilled cake slices with the soaked strawberries and a spoonful of whipped cream. 

Little's Lunches

 Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend, enjoyed Cinco de Mayo and ate alllll the tacos!

Today is the last day to help me out by voting for my Crawfish Remoulade Campanelle with Succotash Salsa and Crispy Andouille for Barilla's Bayou to the Bay contest. Crossing my fingers I make it to the top 10 in this one!

Also, be sure to come back on Wednesday- I've got an absolutely fabulous new recipe, perfect for Mother's Day that I'll be posting- you don't want to miss it!

 Monday: sliced strawberries, pita bread, pepperoni, 3 cheese ranch dip, yellow and orange bell peppers, deli sliced turkey

 Tuesday: Mixed Berry Yogurt Crisps, strawberries, coleslaw, baby tomatoes, deli sliced turkey

 Wednesday: Turkey and Meunster Pita sandwiches, raisins, vanilla yogurt with chopped strawberries, mixed bell pepper slices

 Thursday: deli turkey slices, pita bread, radishes, baby tomatoes, kiwi, 3 cheese ranch dip, cucumber sticks, carrot slices

Friday: Garden salad with croutons and Italian dressing, deli sliced turkey, prunes, strawberries

Crawfish Remoulade Campanelle with Succotash Salsa and Crispy Andouille

I am taking part in the Barilla Bayou to The Bay recipe contest and my recipe is up for voting! 

If you have a moment would you please consider voting HERE

This recipe is a combo of some of my favorite southern flavors- crawfish, andouille, remoulade and succotash all come together in a dish that I couldn't be more proud of!

Crawfish Remoulade Campanelle with Succotash Salsa and Crispy Andouille

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons finely minced shallot

2 tablespoons finely chopped celery

2 teaspoons minced flat leaf Italian parsley

1 ½ Tablespoons creole mustard

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon horseradish

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 cup baby lima beans

¼ cup canola oil

2 cups cubed andouille sausage

1 cup freshly cut corn kernels

1 ½ cups sliced fresh okra

2 minced jalapeno peppers

1 cup baby tomatoes, halved

½ teaspoon creole seasoning

1 pound Barilla Semolina Campanelle Pasta

1 pound cooked and peeled Louisiana crawfish tails

Place the mayonnaise, shallot, celery, parsley, creole mustard, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, horseradish, garlic powder, Worcestershire, salt and white pepper in a medium mixing bowl and whisk together.

Place lima beans in a small saucepan and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce to medium-low, and simmer until beans are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Place oil in a large cast iron pan over medium high heat. Add the diced andouille and fry for 5-10 minutes, or until browned and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel lined plate.

Add the corn kernels to the andouille oil and cook for 8 minutes, or until kernels are slightly charred. Remove the corn and place in a medium mixing bowl. In the same cast iron skillet over high heat, place the okra slices in the pan and allow to roast until browned, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the okra, lima beans, jalapeno, tomato and creole seasoning to the corn and stir together.

Boil the pasta in a large stock pot for 10 minutes in rapidly boiling heavily salted water. Drain and allow to cool slightly.

Stir the pasta, remoulade sauce and crawfish together. Plate the pasta, sprinkle with andouille sausage and line the plate with the succotash mixture.

#BarillaSouthernStyle #mastersofpasta #chefsroll #rollwithus #barillalove #BayoutotheBay