FoodieLicious: Fat Tuesday Treats

I'm a little sad about being laid up this week because there are so many February holidays and special days to celebrate with friends and food! In previous years, I have hosted celebrations for the Super Bowl, Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras and Girl Scout Thinking Day. Not to mention San Antonio Rodeo-themed possibilities. Oh well, at least I can think about all the yummy treats I would have cooked up!

I missed the Super Bowl completely due to icky pre-op prep required by my doctors. I kind of forgot about Chinese New Year, it being eclipsed by Valentine's Day. I did as much as I could, given my current limitations, for Valentine's Day, but even failed to take a single photo of our family! The heart-shaped homemade pizza was pretty much not going to happen either, although delivery from Domino's did.

The next holiday up is Fat Tuesday--this Tuesday--and I will especially miss serving up some Cajun favorites to everyone. However, in honor of Mardi Gras, I am sharing one of my recipes that I like to make on Fat Tuesday. This one is from Emeril Legasse of the famed New Orleans restaurants, so it's pretty authentic.

Classic Remoulade Dressing
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, Food Network

Yield: 6 servings

For the Dressing:
1 egg
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
3 tablespoons Creole or whole-grain mustard
3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup olive oil

For the Salad:
Lettuce leaves
Onion slices
Cooked shrimp
Fresh parsley

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a food processor with a metal blade and process until smooth. Season with salt, cayenne, and pepper. While the machine is running, slowly add the oil, a little at a time, until thick. Reseason if needed.

To assemble, toss the lettuce with half of the dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Mound the greens in the center of each serving plate. Lay the onions slices over the greens. Place 3 piles of the shrimp around each mound of greens. Garnish with parsley.

My Notes: I omit the raw egg from the recipe. I sometimes leave out the cayenne pepper. I use less oil than called for in the recipe. I have also served this with chicken instead of shrimp.

Cheap Eats

I've been both amazed and repelled by all the posts and articles I've read lately about how to feed your family on next to nothing. One of my favorite blogs asked readers to comment on their favorite cheap meals. Wow! These ladies don't mess around--one Mom feeds her family of four for less than $8.50 a meal. Another made dinner for two for $7.38. Both cooked meals from scratch. Yum!

What kind of grossed me out and yet fascinated me at the same time were the "recipes" or "meals" that consisted entirely of packaged or processed foods. Some call them "pantry staples." Full disclosure: our pantry has quite a few of these staples (Uncle Ben's Wild Rice Pilaf, Cornbread Mix, etc.) so I'm not knocking them altogether. But a whole menu of canned/boxed food? Hmm. For example, the dinner made up of 1 can of corn, 1 can of black beans, and 1 can of meat or meatless chili. Heat in a pan and serve. Doctor it up with spices if necessary. Hmm. Or this one: Top Ramen cooked with only a little bit of water and add a can of Pork-n-Beans at the end. OMG.

So here is my "quick-scratch" contribution to eating in these lean times (and what we had for dinner last night):

Easy Chinese Chicken Pasta Salad

Leftover boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh meat, shredded or sliced (1 - 2 cups or whatever you have)
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 head iceberg or romaine lettuce, shredded
2 ribs of celery, sliced
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
Leftover cooked pasta (regular or whole wheat, any shape, about 2 cups or whatever you have; I have used penne, rotini and thin spaghetti)
Chow Mein Noodles (ie. La Choy)

Dressing:
4 tsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1/8 tsp pepper

1. In a bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well.
2. Toss chicken, pasta and all vegetables together with the dressing. Add a few handfuls of chow mein noodles on top. Best if served immediately. (**If you are serving the salad much later, you can leave out the lettuce and chow mein noodles and add them right before serving to keep them crisp**).

Makes about 6 servings, can be stretched by adding more pasta and lettuce. Since I buy most of my produce at Costco, this meal is really economical. For example, 6 heads of romaine for $3! Enough celery for a month for about the same price. About $1.50 worth of carrots, green onion and cucumber combined. And I always have these particular Asian ingredients on hand anyway, so I didn't have to go out of my way for them and they seem to last forever in my fridge. Definitely a yummy cheap meal!

*Variations: You can add/omit vegetables based on what's in your fridge. For example, I think it would look/taste really great with some red bell pepper strips or mandarin oranges. You can omit the pasta if you don't like/have any. You can substitute roasted cashews or friend wonton strips instead of chow mein noodles.

Recipe adapted from a much more involved one in Every Grain of Rice by Ellen Blonder & Annabel Low

Why I Love HEB

An item I found on CNN's website today:

Araceli Garcia's quarter-mile trip to the grocery store Tuesday morning took 2 ½ hours. She came away with $72 worth of food from the H-E-B supermarket and considers herself blessed.
"I got my eggs," the 32-year-old Humble, Texas, resident said. "I don't know how they're doing it."
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the supermarket was letting in just 20 people at a time, she said, and the long wait didn't annoy customers just happy to have a place to buy basic needs. Of Kroger, Target and Wal-Mart near her home, Garcia said, only H-E-B was fully functional.
"H-E-B is going to be the hero of the day," Garcia said.
The company said on its Web site it had brought in 500 employees from across Texas to get its Houston area stores up and running.

H-E-B stands for "Here Everything's Better." It's true! I'm so proud to be a an HEB shopper!

Thank God for companies like HEB that go that extra mile (or more) to serve our communities. During a crisis like this, we are all so vulnerable in so many ways. Just being able to buy something to feed your family becomes an ordeal. Very humbling. I feel so lucky to live away from the hurricane's path.