Low Country Boil for a Crowd {Recipe}

I recently visited my family farm in rural Alabama, where we gather up as many friends and family as possible for our annual Crawfish Party!

any guesses on how many people in this photo are my relatives?

The crawfish are actually cooked in Louisiana and brought to the farm the day of the party, but the low country boil is made fresh!

yummmm, crawfish!

My uncle bought the largest commercially available pot (40 gallons) for the yearly event - if you need a bigger one, it's a custom order.  It's even bigger than the one I saw recently on Duck Dynasty (those guys have nothing on us!).  It's so big that I can fit inside, with the lid on!

For the normal kitchen chef, however, a large pot will do.  You only need a pot like ours if you plan to feed 75 people from a single batch.  If you're cooking for Louisianians, it may be more like 35 :)  The cool part is that with only one batch, everyone gets to eat at the same time.

Ingredients:

• Red Potatoes (10 lbs.)
• Corn (50 ears) 
• Onions (1 dozen)
• Seasoning (2lbs. Zatarain's crab boil powder + 1 lb. Swamp Fire powder OR 1 quart of Zatarain's liquid crab boil)
• Lemons (optional)
• Kilbasa Sausage (12 lbs.)
• Shrimp (20 lbs.)

Method:

Fill your pot 2/3 of the way with water and bring to a rolling boil.  Our pot takes an entire hour and at least one tank of propane to come to a boil.  Also, the propane tanks freeze over, so they need their own bucket of water to sit in.  If it freezes up, the tank stops vaporizing and the fire goes out.

While you're waiting for the water to boil, prep the veggies.  The potatoes can go in whole or halved.  The onions should be quartered.  Remove the husk and silks from the corn, and snap in half.  Cut lemons in half.  Slice the sausage into bite-size rounds.  The shrimp go in whole, but it's a good idea to wash them first.

Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add the seasoning and start timing (or, if you like your potatoes and corn less spicy, add the spice later in the cooking process).

0 minutes: Add potatoes
10 minutes: Add corn
20 minutes: Add onions
25 minutes: Add sausage
30 minutes: Add shrimp
34 minutes: Turn off heat
37 minutes: Serve!

I know four minutes doesn't sound like much for shrimp, but overcooked shrimp get a gross texture and are also hard to peel.

Strain the water from the good stuff (we have an insert for our pot, but you could dump a small batch through a colander).  Using such a huge pot with so many pounds of food, we had to develop a special method for this step.  We have a 2x4 board with large hooks on it to get the pot out of the water - two people lift the pot.  A third person dumps the pot into aluminum trays - one for each table!

Serve immediately!

I like to dip my low country boil in a mixture of equal parts mayonnaise and cocktail sauce; others prefer cocktail sauce alone, or nothing at all!  It's up to you.  For the most part, nobody eats the onions or lemons - they're mainly there to flavor everything else.

When we have leftovers, we separate everything into baggies after dinner.  The potatoes make excellent home fries and are a delicious breakfast when paired with leftover sausage.  The shrimp can become shrimp cocktail the next night, or a Cajun pasta.  The corn freezes well and becomes a delicious corn chowder.

Lemon drop martinis or ice cold beer provide a welcome respite from the spice.  (And are best enjoyed in redneck wine glasses made from mason jars!)

I hope you enjoy our family recipe!

Bonnie Projects

Dinner Crisis!

By the way, I'm still not sponsored by anyone, I just want to share! 

I don't normally talk a lot about our personal life when it's not involving projects, but I absolutely have to share this one!  I guess it's kind of like a project...

Somehow getting married made us lose the ability to plan and make dinner.  I don't know why or how, it just happened.  Maybe it was the longer commute, the huge list of home projects, or simply the pretty view from the back deck.  Or maybe it's just another symptom of the decision fatigue I've been experiencing since about three months before the wedding.

In any case, we got to the point where we would either eat out, eat pizza, or eat cereal for dinner.  This wasn't good for our health or our wallets!

A friend of mine blogged about losing baby weight, and said she'd been using something called emeals.  I googled them, and sure enough, it's a real thing.

It's like this: I pay about $5 a month.  In return, I get a week of dinner menus, all planned out.  Each one takes less than an hour to prepare (more like 20-45 minutes).  They handle the nutrition and calorie balancing, I just follow the directions.  They also give me a complete shopping list that should cost less than $100. 

So is this actually working for us?  YES!

I now put zero thought into what we're going to make for dinner, what I'm going to shop for, and how much it's all going to cost.  That means more time and money for enjoying married life, and more time and money for projects!!!  And honestly, our back deck beats any restaurant in the area.  I'm also not throwing away all kinds of food at the end of the week because I couldn't figure out how to use it.

One week I spent $80 on groceries.  The following week I used the extra meat I froze, and we were only in town three days, so my groceries were $10.62.  Last week they were about $60.  Compare that to even one night eating out, and we're so far ahead it's crazy!

We're doing the "Clean Eating for Two" program.  All the recipes make exactly two portions, and consist of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.  We're eating some staples, like rice, tomatoes, beef, and chicken, mixed with some items we had eaten only occasionally before like shrimp, jalapenos, and limes.  We're also trying some foods we've never had before, like orzo, kale, and lemongrass, and you know what?  They're yummy!

They also offer programs for singles and families, for people with kids, for vegetarians or other dietary restrictors, and even programs that follow weekly store sales so you save even more money.  I signed up for three months, just to try it, and also found a nice coupon through retailmenot.  {by the way, if you're not searching Retail Me Not for coupons every time you buy online, you're losing out on lots of great deals!}

Here are a few of our recent meals:

Chicken Parmesan with Tomato Argula Salad

Lemongrass and lime shrimp stir-fry

Balsamic Chicken and Greek Orzo

So anyways, that's my new exciting thing I'm up to.  Just wanted to share in case it rescues someone else from the dinner blues!

A Summer Visitor's Guide to DC

Unfortunately, nobody pays me to write!  All opinions are 100% mine.

Washington, DC is the most touristy place I've ever lived!  It's been so much fun having friends move here for jobs long-term, and having friends and family come visit short-term.

I was recently asked to help out some friends with their itinerary for an upcoming trip.  My recommendation list turned out to be pretty extensive, so I thought I'd share it with you.

The qualifications were that they are a group of several adults and three teenagers, want to get a little off the beaten path, are staying in Crystal City, and don't want to go home broke.

What to pack:

• Comfy shoes - You can easily walk 10+ miles a day here without even knowing it
• Sunscreen - It's sunnier than you'd think!
• Water bottles - There are water fountains all over, but it's expensive to buy water from vendors.
• Hand sanitizer - The metro is germy.
• Subscribe to Dealery DC to get a consolidated daily email of all of DC's Groupon-type discounts
• Smart phone - Download the NextBusDC app so you know when the next metro or bus is coming, and use Google Maps for finding your way around.

Bonnie's Recommendations on DC Activities:

Touristy but worth it:

• Shopping in Georgetown, plus cupcakes from Sprinkles
• Newseum (the only non-free DC museum I've been to that I would pay money for)
• Segway tours (I know they look dumb, but this was the highlight of my parents trip here!)

segway tour of DC

• Botanical Garden (free!) (Side note - this was the ONLY thing open during Snowpocalyse 2010)
• Natural history museum (butterfly garden is free on Tuesdays)
• Renwick (less-frequented Smithsonian art museum, always has something unexpected!) 
• The Old Post Office Pavilion (the second-best view next to the closed Washington Monument, free, plus decent food court)

view from the Old Post Office Pavilion

• Zoo (free!)
• Nationals game (they're actually good this year!  Fireworks after Friday games, and several free concerts on Saturdays)
• Lincoln monument (very romantic at night, too...)
• FDR monument (very unexpected but lovely!)
• Jefferson monument
• Washington monument (but closed till 2014 due to the earthquake)
• WWII monument

Off the Beaten Path:

• Jazz in the Sculpture Garden (free!, can get crowded)
• Kayaking on the Potomac

See the monuments from your kayak!

• Shopping at Eastern Market for local crafts and food
• Bike riding - Our favorite way to get around DC! (There are rental companies and I think the bikeshare program has now been opened to tourists) 
• Kennedy Center (fun shows, especially Shear Madness and the National Symphony Orchestra.  Also have free shows all the time.  Fabulous 360 views of DC and Arlington)

Enjoying a view of Georgetown and the Potomac at the Kennedy Center

• Outdoor movies (in Crystal City, Navy Yard (near ballpark), the Mall, etc.) 
• Watching planes take off and land at Gravelly Point Park
• National Arboretum (especially their bonsai exhibit) 

My Dad with a white pine that's been in training since 1629

• Simply exploring the city

Bonnie's Recommendations on DC Dining:

Ok, dining in DC is expensive!  Don't go anywhere with "bistro" in the name or anywhere that makes tapas - you'll be broke!  If you want my real opinion, eat breakfast in your room, and make sandwiches for lunch.  DC simply isn't known for having good food.  It's alright, but definitely not worth the price and time it takes away from doing other awesome stuff.  These are my recommendations for folks trying to dine casually without spending a million dollars.  Maybe another time I'll do a post on the more posh DC restaurants worth splurging on)

• Eastern Market (food vendors, fresh fruit, delicious subs) <$10
• Matchbox is really yummy!  I like the one in Chinatown or on Barracks Row $15-$25
• Ethiopian (the ONE thing DC is known for, go to any near U street) <$20
• Ben's Chili Bowl (good prices, quick, metro friendly, very historical) <$15
• Vapiano (lots of Italian choices, but can get crowded with the happy hour scene on weekdays.  Decent prices and you don't have to tip like at a regular restaurant) $8-$15
• Mai Thai in Old Town - good Thai food on the Old Town waterfront $10-$18
• Paradiso Pizza in Old Town or Dupont $10-$20
• Sweet Green - they have 9 salads they serve, that's it!  $8-$10
• Pentagon City Fashion Mall (Loads of inexpensive options.  All the tour buses stop here)
• Native American Museum (they have real American Indian food that I hear is really good!  Can't get that outside of DC!) <$10
• Museums
• Cupcakes (DC is known for their cupcakes)
• Teaism (somewhat more ethnic and healthy food, plus huge tea selection) <$12
• Pork Barrel BBQ (in Del Ray in Alexandria) <$12
• Pat Troy's (very authentic Irish pub in Old Town) <$8-$20
• Nando's Peri Peri (Peruvian chicken, very delicious, awesome sangria) <$12
  
  
  
  
  Have a wonderful trip!  And say hi if you see me!

Vegetarian Lasagna

I joined a CSA this year.  It stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and you basically buy a portion of the farm, and pick up your "share" of the produce every week.  We started with greens and root vegetables in the spring, but now that it's the height of summer the bounties seem endless!

I only cook for myself (and sometimes Tommy); what to do with all these wonderful veggies?!?!

My share this week had almost ALL the ingredients for vegetarian lasagna, so I went with that!

I combined recipes from my friends Aliya and Eric with a recipe from my Mom (adapted from the Southern Living Complete Do Ahead Cookbook) to come up with this one below.  While it seemed like a substantial amount of prep, it was very tasty and provided lunch for a week!  I discovered it's crucial to saute all the veggies first so the final product isn't too watery.  Tommy really looked at this askance when he realized I substituted noodles with zucchini and eggplant, but he ate two huge servings, so it must have turned out pretty well!!!

Vegetarian Lasagna:

Prep time: 1 hour, Total time: 2 hours
Serves 12

Ingredients:
2 large zucchini
1 eggplant 
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced 
1/2 c roasted red bell pepper, chopped 
1 c grated carrots
2 cloves garlic 
1 c chopped onion 
2 T melted butter
3 T olive oil 
2 c ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
3 T fresh parsely
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t dried basil
15 oz. jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
6 oz. can tomato paste (I used roasted garlic flavor)
2 roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Peel eggplant and slice thinly into large sheets (these and the zucchini become your noodles).  Salt and let sit in a colander for about 20 minutes.  Rinse and pat dry.

2. Peel zucchini and slice thinly into large sheets.

3. Saute eggplant and zucchini in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Set aside when done.

4. Saute mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper, carrots, garlic, and onion in butter and 1 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until tender.  Drain and set aside.

5. Combine ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsely, oregano, and basil.  Stir well and set aside.

6. Preheat oven to 350.

7. Combine spaghetti sauce and tomato paste, stir well.  Spread half of this mixture into the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.  Arrange eggplant "noodles" in a layer over the sauce.  Spread half the mushroom veggie mixture over the eggplant.  Spoon half the cheese mixture over this.  Repeat, but this time use zucchini instead of the eggplant.

8. Sprinkle chopped tomatoes over the top

9. At this point you can cover the dish and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.  Or you can immediately bake.  To bake, put in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  After the 40 minutes, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes until bubbling and melty.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

(btw I generally think food pictures are gross, 

but I felt like I had to share to show it came out looking pretty normal)

 

Project Eggplant

I've been getting pounds of eggplant in my CSA share, which for me begs the question - is eggplant really worth messing with?  My CSA donates extra vegetables to a local food bank, so I could easily just not take the eggplant part of my share and let someone else try their luck.

However, the adventurous side of me thought maybe, just maybe, there's something tasty that can be made from an eggplant.  And thus was born Project Eggplant.  I found four promising recipes and invited a few good friends to the party.  (I should interject here that more than a few people found really creative excuses not to come to the party - which is understandable.  But they totally missed out!)

The bounty

I made four dishes - Eggplant Dip, Eggplant Fries, Creole Aubergine, and Eggplant Parmesan.  All of the recipes are listed below, but I'll talk about them and show pictures first.  After making all these, it seems like the real secret to eggplant dishes is to salt the eggplant first so it sweats out the bitter taste and is better able to absorb flavors from your dish.

Creation 1: Eggplant Dip

I made the eggplant dip ahead so that my friends wouldn't starve when they first arrived.  It turned out ok, but we all decided that 1) if you have an eggplant, there are better uses for it, and 2) if you want a dip, there are better ones out there.  But if you have eleven eggplants and are trying to be creative, it's not a bad choice.

Eggplant Dip with Multigrain Crackers

Creation 2: Eggplant Fries

Everyone loved the eggplant fries!  Like the dip, I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase an eggplant just to make fries out of it, but if you happen across one, this is a fun way to prepare it.  The prep was fairly minimal for this dish, but like all things fried it took a while to cook everything, since you have to do it in batches.  

Eggplant Fried with Ranch Dressing

Creation 3: Creole Aubergine

I picked this recipe just because it had "creole" in the name and I'm from Louisiana.  This was by far my favorite dish of the night!  It took a good bit of prep, but the prep was in spurts.  You didn't have to monitor everything constantly, but you had to be in the vicinity for a good chunk of time.  This recipe was super flavorful.  I would even go out of my way to pay money for an eggplant just to make it again.

Creole Aubergine

Creation 4: Eggplant Parmesan

If you've ever eaten eggplant before, it's likely been in the form of eggplant parmesan.  This recipe was the top hit in Google, and had a 4.5 star rating on allrecipes.com from 1500 ratings.  I liked that it was baked, not fried, but I'm sure it's still incredibly unhealthy.  The prep on this one was intensive, but came in spurts like the creole aubergine.  My taste testers decided that this one also deserved of a rating of "I would pay money for an eggplant just to make this dish".

Eggplant Parmesan

And now for the recipes!!!  The Eggplant Parmesan was from allrecipes.com and the others were from eggplantrecipes.com.

Also thank you to my adventurous friends for trying out my "projects", as well as accessorizing our meal with local wine, a delicious death-by-chocolate cake, and juicy gossip!

Eggplant Dip

Ingredients:

1 eggplant (I used two of the long skinny purple ones and one white one)

4 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 T tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Slice eggplants in half lengthwise.  Brush a foil-lined baking sheet with olive oil and lay eggplants face down.  Bake at 350 until peeling away from the skin (took me about 20 minutes)

3. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent

4. When eggplant is soft, scoop out the flesh and add with tomato paste and lemon juice to the skillet.  Simmer 20 minutes over low heat.

5. Allow to cool slightly and add to a food processor.  Process until smooth.

6. Season with salt and pepper as desired and serve at room temperature with crackers or pita chips.

Eggplant Fries

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants (I used 3 white ones), peeled and sliced into french fry shapes

Salt

1 c milk

2 eggs

3/4 c flour

3/4 c self-rising corn meal

1/2 t salt

Vegetable or canola oil for frying

3 T Ranch seasoning mix (I used Tony Chachere's)

Ranch dressing

Directions:

1. Salt eggplant sticks thoroughly and place in a colander to drain for 20-30 minutes.  Rinse with cool water and pat dry.

2. Mix milk and eggs in a medium bowl.

3. Combine flour, corn meal, 1/2 salt, and ranch seasoning in a shallow bowl.

4. Dredge eggplant sticks in egg mixture then cornmeal mix and carefully place into hot oil.  Fry until golden brown.

5. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with ranch dressing.

Creole Aubergine

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, cubed, sprinkled with salt, and placed in colander for 20 minutes (I used one large purple one)

2 T vegetable oil

2 T onions

3 T green bell peppers

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 c sliced mushrooms

1 can diced tomatoes

6 oz. can tomato paste

1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

1 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried thyme

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1/2 c cheddar cheese

1/2 c seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Saute onion and bell pepper in oil over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook an additional minute.  Add tomatoes and tomato paste to skillet and simmer 15 minutes.  Add herbs and simmer an additional 15 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. Bring water to a boil in a pot.  Rinse eggplant cubes and drop into boiling water.  Parboil 8 minutes or until tender.  Drain in colander.

4. Arrange half the eggplant in a 10x10 casserole dish.  Cover with half of the tomato mixture.  Repeat.

5. Sprinkle cheddar and seasoned bread crumbs over the top.

6. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants (I cut up two of the big purple ones, and didn't even use all those)

2 eggs, beaten

4 c seasoned Italian bread crumbs

Large jar (3 lbs.) of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used Prego mushroom)

16 oz. mozzarella cheese

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

1 T fresh basil

Directions:

1. Peel eggplant and slice into large medallions.  Salt thoroughly and let drain in a colander about 20 minutes.  Rinse with cool water and pat dry.

2. Preheat oven to 350.

3. Dip eggplant slices in egg then coat in bread crumbs.  Place in a single layer on baking sheets and bake 10 minutes on each side.

4. In a 9x13 baking dish, spread spaghetti sauce to cover bottom.  Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce.  Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Repeat these 3 layers until all eggplant used up, ending with cheese on top.  Sprinkle basil over the cheese.

5. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.