Roumalade Slaw

I am always looking to expand my celebratory repertoire of things to make and do for any given holiday (season). Even if I've found a great go-to, I'm always game to change things up or try something new within the holiday realm.

Carnival & Mardi Gras time is absolutely NO different!

My main go-to is Dirty Rice. I mainly just dress up a Zatarain's mix by adding my own veggies (chopped bell pepper in all the colors, celery, onion) along with the called for ground beef, as well as adding diced andouille sausage & bacon crumbs. My hubby & daughter LOVE it when I make up the Dirty Rice! My boys? Not so much...

My hubby & I are the only ones who will eat Red Beans & Rice. The kiddos? Beans aren't their thing.

We've even done the shrimp boil thing, too. But only my hubby & I will eat seafood. *sigh*

Not only Joey Tribbiani, but my family loves sandwich night! It's a regular in the dinner rotation during the spring & summer months. We get some good rolls, find deli meats, get some decent toppings, then everyone can make their own. VOILA!

Quite some time back, we had some leftover wheat rolls that we used for sandwiches. I remember coming across something about Po' Boys, and since we had some leftover andouille sausages, my hubby fried them up, and I put mine on a roll. I topped it with a few dressings we had on hand & made a make-shift po' boy. I was so excited about it, I've been looking forward to making it again.

Well, with it being Carnival season, I figured I'd pull out sandwich night early & fix up some po' boys!

I have Pillsbury French bread to fix up & slice for the sandwiches, some andouille sausage for hubby & me (of course), but then I got some deli meats of roast beef & turkey for the kiddos to play with, then got lettuce/greens, onion, tomato, and then some sauces.

No, I didn't make gravy for the beef - sorry! However, I did see a roumalade sauce. I also found that a sweeter cole slaw is a good topper, too. I have some shredded cabbage slaw mix! So...I figured that maybe I could make a slaw with a roumalade sauce!

Here's what I did:

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ROUMALADE SLAW

(for Po' Boys)

Ingredients:

* 1/4 C mayo or Miracle Whip with Olive Oil
* 1/4 C mayo or Miracle Whip with horseradish
* 2 T ketchup
* 2 T honey mustard
* 2 T honey dijon mustard
* 2 T brown mustard with horseradish
* 3 T Worcestershire sauce
* 1 T pickle relish
* 2 t garlic powder
* 2 T dried minced onion
* 1/4 t celery seed
* 1 T paprika
* black pepper - to taste
* 1 t chili powder
* 1-2 T creole or cajun seasoning
* 2 T lemon juice
* salt - to taste
* 1 1/2 T sugar
* 1 T dried parsley
* 1 t hot sauce OR 2-3 pinches ground cayenne pepper
* 8 oz shredded cabbage cole slaw mix (about half a bag)


Directions:

~ Mix all ingredients, minus the slaw mix, in a large bowl

~ Reserve about half the sauce to be used as just a dressing

~ To the remaining sauce, add in the cabbage slaw mix & make sure it is coated well

~ Refrigerate the sauce AND slaw until ready to use

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Now that you have sauce AND slaw, you can use these to top your po' boy with! Use the remaining 8 oz. of slaw mix as a topper with or instead of, or with, your lettuce, too. Or you could serve this cajun-flavored slaw as a side. If you wanted to, you could even use all of the sauce AND the whole bag of shredded slaw mix so it might last a bit longer - depends on how many you're feeding.

Just to let you know, I'm not a spicy food eater...but I was SO happy with this! It went incredibly well with the sandwiches. My hubby thought so, too.

I also had fries to serve with or ON the po' boys. I made some quick red beans & rice for a side, also.

Po' Boy includes: andouille sausage, roast beef (deli meat), tomato, baby kale & spinach greens,
Roumalade Slaw, and French fries on French bread

Plus, I found some Zapp's Potato Chips when I was at World Market. I got them in the VooDoo flavor, Cajun Dill Craw-Tator flavor, and the Spicy Cajun Craw-Tator flavor. I thought they might be a great addition to the po' boy meal! My excitement for the pairing was confirmed when I came across Zapp's Facebook photo of the Spicy Cajun Craw-Tators with a comment from Visit New Orleans:

Of course, I had to serve my King Cake, too! (recipe HERE)

And the family loved all of it! I see it being added to future dinner rotations! Might even be this year's go-to for Mardi Gras. YAY!

ENJOY!

Hericot Vert Toss

Earlier in her show's existance, Rachael Ray did an easy & elegant substitute to a green bean casserole. Whether you like her or you don't, it is a much easier & lighter version. It was green beans & sauteed onions. Then, I saw that Green Giant has a frozen vegetable side that is green beans & slivered almonds. Yummmm...almonds are my favorite edible nut. So...I figured I could combine the two ideas...

Then I got thinking: if it's a switch up to green bean casserole, then where are the mushrooms? Not everyone is a mushroom fan, I know. But that cream of mushroom soup is HEAVY, and so are the deep fried onions. So, I figured I could try to sautee some sliced mushrooms, too.

After I'd already planned on trying this, I saw where someone did a dish that was green beans & sliced mushrooms. And, for the first time ever, I heard the term "Hericot Vert" (pronounced 'harry-co vay'). Woo Hoo! Fancy-schmancy!

So, I decided I love that term with this beautiful dish...so...I present to you:

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Hericot Vert Toss

Ingredients:

12 oz green beans, blanched or steamed

1/2 - 1 C sweet onion, largely diced

1/2 - 1 C mushroom, sliced

1/4 C sliced almonds, toasted

1/4 C celery stalk, diced (optional)

vegetable cooking spray

Directions:

* toast the almonds, you can do this in your skillet or in the oven; if in skillet, remove from skillet & set aside

* spray your skillet with the vegetable cooking spray, add in sliced mushrooms, diced onion & optional celery to sautee until tender

* while mushrooms, onion & celery cook, either blanch or steam your green beans

* when all is cooked thru, toss green beans, mushrooms, onions, celery & almonds all together

* Serve & enjoy!

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Notice I didn't use any additional seasonings (i.e. salt, pepper, etc.). You know why? Between the toasted almonds, onion, celery (if you use it) & the fabulous green beans...why mess with it? Seriously! Oh...and...Vegans Rejoice! It's filling, too...if you eat it all at once by yourself. Not that I might know that...or...anything...

Oh, I used steamed green beans this time around.

Just gorgeous!

ENJOY!

Italian Butter Grilled Cheese [Croutons]

The Ides of March happened just recently. I enjoy doing a "Caesar Feast" that includes Chicken Caesar Salad...so I wanted to make my own croutons. And last year, I came up with this:

It turns out that April 12th is National Grilled Cheese Day. Interesting, right? Well, I heard some trivia on April 12th that the (grilled) cheese sandwich originated in Rome. I thought about just adding grilled cheese to the Caesar Feast...but then a lightbulb went off!

Grilled Cheese Croutons for the Caesar Salad (or just a different kind of grilled cheese)! Oh yes...this would happen...

I wandered around Pinterest to see if I could find a grilled cheese crouton-type recipe. I found out that the croutons being used for soup were simply cubed up pieces of grilled cheese sandwiches. After that, I started coming across a lot of different grilled cheese recipes for the summertime being pinned. 

So, here you go...I was inspired & this is what I came up with:

ITALIAN BUTTER GRILLED CHEESE [CROUTONS]

1. Set oven to 450 degrees F

2. Mix in a small bowl for Italian butter:

1-2 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper

2 palmfuls crushed oregano

1 palmful crushed basil

1 palmful crushed parsley flakes

1 1/2 palmful garlic powder

1 palmful grated parmesan cheese

submerge in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

3. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray & then use day-old/slightly-stale bread.

4. Take a short basting brush & "paint" the Italian butter onto one side of the bread.

5. Place the "butter" side down onto the cooking sheet

6. Place 1 slice of either provolone or mozzarella cheese onto the bread. 

(Sargento has a provolone/mozzarella blend, so that's what I used) 

Only use 1 slice since you do not want croutons to be over cheesy. If you are making just a sandwich, feel free to use 2 slices.

7. Repeat step 4

8. Place on top of cheese with "butter" side up

9. Once the baking sheet has been covered (the Italian butter lasted enough for 16 slices/8 sandwiches, which just fit my baking sheet), place in the oven for 6-8 minutes

10. Pull out of the oven when the sandwiches start to appear golden brown (mine ended up a hair darker on the bottom side after 7 1/2 minutes, but they turned out fine)

11. Begin to cube the sandwiches into 16 pieces. I began with a knife, but found a pizza cutter to be much more efficient

After I cubed my 8 sandwiches, I ended up with 128 grilled cheese croutons. I tossed them in with our Caesar salad for dinner.

Isn't it beautiful? And everything was SO yummy!

These can be done on the griddle or in a skillet, too...especially if you just want the Italian Butter Grilled Cheese sandwich without cubing them.

So delicious!

Pretty, huh? I took either a cherub or sunburst tomato, a small piece of mozzarella cheese, wrapped a basil leaf around them, skewered the combo with a toothpick & then brushed each mini salad with the leftover Italian Butter.

So pretty, so cute...so tasty! And one of my faves!

ENJOY!