Spicy! Crawfish Jumbalaya {A Cajun dish that is sure to please your family and guest!}

This weekend we had our yearly cemetery associate meeting aka family reunion which includes a potluck dinner afterwards.  I always try to take two or three things, and this year wasn't any different, I took Spicy Crawfish Jumbalaya, Apple Dumplings Cobbler, and Strawberry Salad (recipe coming later)!  There is always more food than anyone can eat, and the first thing I am looking for is new recipes from wonderful family cooks.  This year I came away with a wonderful recipe for Mexican Pot Roast that I am hoping to make soon.

Jambalaya is a Cajun rice dish that may include a variety of meats and fish.  With Crawfish in season right now it was the perfect time for this recipe.  

I used crawfish my Grandsons brought me from a crawfish boil that they had leftover from a Crawfish Boil  their school had for a fundraiser.  What a huge blessing it was to get crawfish.  I don't know if you have ever eaten crawfish or not, but it takes a whole lot of crawfish to make this dish when you only use the tails.  It takes two pounds of crawfish tails, and that would be approximately 10 pounds of crawfish.  Thankful for my Grandsons thinking of their Grandma!

{Click to continue}

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken + the secret to getting the grill taste cooking it in the oven!

I have been posting a lot of desserts lately, so I thought it was time for a main dish recipe.  This Oven Baked BBQ Chicken recipe is one that I adapted from the Oven Fried Chicken recipe on the blog, except this time I didn't coat the chicken with flour.

The luxury of baking barbecue chicken in the oven is preparing your side dishes while it is baking, and putting dinner on the table in no time.  There is nothing better than multi tasking when preparing a meal.

My cast iron skillets are my all time favorite cooking pans.  Actually, I have several sizes, and there is not a day that goes by that I am not using one of them for something.

The secret to getting the grill taste by cooking it in the oven is to bake the chicken in the cast iron skillet until it is almost done, then crank up the oven, and add the barbecue sauce to finish cooking it.  This  way the sauce thickens and gets that wonderful rich coating that taste just like if you had grilled it.

{Click to continue}

Coconut Lime Chess Pie + a tip on how to keep the crust flakey when baking custard pies! {Chess Pies are the Ultimate Southern Pantry Pie}

The coconut and lime in this Coconut Lime Chess Pie adds a crunchy and tangy twist to the Classic Southern Chess Pie.

Chess pies have been around for ages.  Originally the recipe called for cornmeal, which sets the pie apart from other custard pies, and a small amount of vinegar was added to cut down on the sweetness of the pie.  That is why I added lime juice to this recipe.  My husband is a big fan of custard pies, but they tend to be too rich and sweet for him, so I usually cut  down on the sugar.

The crust in custard pies tend to be soft and soggy at times after they are baked.  Here is a tip ~ Bake your crust for fifteen minutes before pouring the filling in.  This keeps the crust from absorbing a lot of the liquid from the pie filling, causing it to be tough and wet.  Instead the crust will be tender and flakey!

You cannot get more basic when it comes to baking a pie than chess pies.  Chess pies are made with four simple ingredients of eggs,  sugar, butter and flour.    In the early days of this recipe, farmers used what was on hand at the time, which may include cornmeal, vinegar or buttermilk.  You might say this pie is the ultimate Southern Pantry Pie!

{Click to continue}