This was a rainy Saturday morning and since we couldn’t play outside I decided to keep the tv off and find something fun to do inside. Well, what’s more fun than a fort?
A perfect hang out for a father & son. Just needs a sign like this:
Except for Mom, of course!
My coworker and his wife are from Louisiana and served gumbo one evening for us. His wife passed along this recipe and we have since made it several times Here’s the exact recipe she sent and below are some of our slight modifications:
Sauté one package of Gumbo mix frozen vegetables (there are several brands – just make sure that you buy one with onion, bell pepper, celery and okra – anything else added is just lagniappe). I like to sauté in about 1/2 stick of butter. In a separate pot, melt 1/2 stick of butter and add one cup of water. If you can obtain it – whisk in one cup of Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux (if not whisk in one cup of flour seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic powder). Whisk this continuously until it thickens a bit and remove it from the heat. Add two cans of chicken stock to vegetables and over heat whisk in the roux (flour mixture). Add one pound of polish sausage and one de-boned rotisserie chicken (no skin, just meat). If it looks too thick add a can of water and cook over low heat until everything begins to become unrecognizable. Season to taste. Serve over rice.
We like to make chicken and shrimp gumbo (my coworker has a seafood allergy). We have used the rotisserie chicken and also make it by boiling 3 chicken breasts in chicken stock. The liquid from this is used in place of water in the recipe. We buy celery, onion, frozen okra & bell pepper separately instead of a frozen mix. We have not found Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux so instead use the flour method.
Best to make this several hours in advance or the night before and let sit in the refrigerator overnight. The longer it sits the better the flavors. Enjoy!
Some of you are probably complaining about our wet rainy Spring, but I’m loving it and so is our grass. I must say that we really do have one of the nicest lawns in the neighborhood, but there have been a few bare patches.
Late March I started trying to grow grass. First I tried just putting grass seed down and watering it. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Then I bought some grass seed with pellets that soak up the water and also has a starter fertilizer. That did a little better, but still not growing well.
Finally I think I figured out the recipe for growing grass. I mixed 0.5 cu ft. of MiracleGro soil, 0.5 cu ft. regular topsoil, 0.5 cu ft. peat moss, the remaining grass seed with the pellets and another small bag of grass seed. I spread it in all the bare spots and then covered them all with a thin layer of the remaining 0.5 cu ft. peat moss.
I’ve really lucked out with the rain this past week and I’ve got sweet green grass growing! Yeah!
