Monthly Archives: October 2017

Holiday Perfect, Keto/low carb, Uncategorized

Twice baked cauliflower casserole

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Now, one of my former favorite side dishes to make has always been my “special potatoes”. Love, love, love their cheesy, creamy deliciousness and I used to crave them but now that I am following the ketogenic diet, I choose not to eat potatoes. This way of eating is my choice and I am certainly better for it. So I had seen mashed cauliflower recipes and this and that but none of them really caught my eye. Far as I am concerned, I may as well just do without boiling cauliflower to make it like potatoes. I’ll eat my favorite creamed spinach or some asparagus with my meat and keep on rolling. I get why people do it and certainly does give you some options for sides, but it is not something I have to have. BUT Big Daddy had bought some cauliflower a few days ago and he took some ribs out to smoke this weekend and I needed to come up with a side. I made deviled eggs (a keto no brainer and I even made enough to have for lunch tomorrow!! I had saved this twice baked baked cauliflower casserole a few weeks ago annnddd I had cauliflower so today was our lucky to try it!! So glad I did! It is fantastic! It is creamy and cheesy and the texture is just right! The only thing I think I might try next time is to beat it until it is creamy with my mixer. I mashed it as the original recipe from Kayln’s Kitchen had called for this time just to see how it was and all in all the texture was fine. We had a friend come over to eat supper and he thought it was fantastic. Big Daddy was so excited about it (the man will literally eat a boot if it is smothered in gravy and not complain but he genuinely enjoyed this!!). It is definitely a good side option if you are following keto WOE or living the low carb life!

Twice Baked cauliflower casserole

Stuff you need~

One head cauliflower

1/2 cup sour cream

4 ounces cream cheese, cubed

Green onions

6 slices of bacon, cooked until crispy and then crumbled

1 cup shredded cheddar

What to do with the stuff~

Cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Remove the core/stem. Boil in salted water until fork tender.

Drain well and then mash with a potato masher. The original recipe said to leave some chunks in it.

Now, add all ingredients except the shredded cheddar to the mashed cauliflower. I added some Himalayan pink salt and cracked black pepper and some Tony’s to it.

Mix well and then transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish. I used a slightly smaller dish and it was fine. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the shredded cheddar all over the casserole and some more crumbled bacon if you did not eat the extra like I did (😏 🥓) then return to the oven until cheese is melted. Enjoy without the guilt! Yum!!

Here are a few pictures my friend Natalie, who is a mom boss who runs Soul Rebels Photography took for us earlier this month. These pictures make me happy on so many levels. Check out more of her work at http://www.soulrebelsphotography.com. She is so very talented and a wonderful person to work with! My family is changing everyday and my kids are growing up so fast, but for a moment she captured us in that moment in a cotton field just before the sun went down. It was a magical evening and the pictures turned out so well.

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Keto/low carb

Cajun Mama Goes Keto…Jalapeno popper chicken!

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Hey my friends!! I am coming straight at you today with a bomb chicken recipe that will make your taste buds tingle! You might have read in my previous post that I have been following the ketogenic diet and I am feeling amazing! Better than I have in a long while! The ketogenic diet basically is a high fat, moderaten protein, low carb way of eating and I love it! I am not a doctor nor a nutritionist and I don’t claim to be an expert on health, but this way of eating has done wonders for me and I am currently into finding new recipes that fit in with my lifestyle. I’m not selling anything, but I am promoting the idea that foods can improve our mindset and enhance our lifestyle. So take that with a grain of salt and just know that many of the recipes I blog about these days will likely have a low carb twist to them. I am still Cajun Mama, just a little lighter (well 40 pounds plus some lighter if anyone is keeping track lol!!) This chicken recipe will make you forget that it is low carb. It is so very tasty. It’s got a hint of spice and is just so cheesy that it will become a new favorite comfort food. Trust me!! I found it on Facebook and here is the original link. It’s from Aunt Bee’s Kitchen. She says it is her most popular post and I totally get why!! Hope y’all make it and enjoy! Let me know if you do! This chicken is proof that change can be good!

Jalapeño Popper chicken

Stuff you need~

6 chicken breasts (I used 3 big breasts and cut them in half then pounded them a little flatter. Worked perfectly!)

Salt and pepper

5 slices of bacon, chopped up

1/4 cup diced onions

8 ounce package cream cheese

1/4 cup sliced jalapenos (the kind in the jar, like what you use for nachos)

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 cup mayonnaise (full fat if you are doing keto)

1/2 cup Kraft grated Parmesan (the kind you grew up shaking into your spaghetti or at least I did! My kids call it shaky cheese. Lol!)

4 tablespoons butter, the real stuff please

2 ounces pork rinds, crushed

1/4 Kraft grated Parmesan

What to do with the stuff~

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken busoms in a baking dish and sprinkle with Himilayan pink salt (my favorite go to nowadays) and cracked black pepper. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes or until cooked.

Fry the bacon pieces in a big ole skillet until crispy. Drain on a paper towel and set aside. Sauté your onions in the bacon grease until tender. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, onions, bacon, cheddar, jalapeños, and mayo.

When chicken is cooked, spread the cream cheese mixture all over the top of the cooked chicken. Return to oven for 15 minutes or so, just until the cheese is all bubbly and melty perfection.

While the chicken and cream cheese mixture are baking together in harmony, crush your pork skins, melt the butter and stir together. Throw in the grated Parm. When the cream cheese is all melty and bubbly, sprinkle the pork skin/butter/Parm mixture all over the top of the cream cheese. Hold your horses. You can devour it soon!!

Broil on high for about 3-4 minutes or until the pork skin butter Parm layer is browned just right. You will know. And it will be so right.

And there you have a keto lover’s dream!! It will break that mealtime monotony! If you love the fact that Cajun mama is shaking stuff up a bit and posting Keto/Low Carb recipes…Drop me a line In the comments please! Please be nice and if you are not a fan, it is ok to keep that to yourself. Thanks for all of your support during this exciting time!!

Traditional cajun faire, Uncategorized

Round here these days…a round up of two Cajun recipes and life in the fast lane!

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Well life has been really busy on my home front. Back in May I took a long term substitute teaching position at my kids’ school and life has gotten busier than I can imagine. On top of that, between 2 middle schoolers and 2 elementary school kids, their student council business, horseback riding lessons, football practice, cheer practice and tumbling lessons, I feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off. We’ve celebrated 4 birthdays, went back to school, took on an LSU game, on and on! It has been WILD!!

I am loving these little 1st graders I have had the blessing of teaching for the past few weeks though and I definitely feel like they have taught me so much. So we are taking a little road trip and my baby was studying some Louisiana history and one of the questions was “foods Louisiana is known for…?” Of course one of those was jambalaya! And that prompted him to ask when I’d make Mrs. Donna’s again. And then ask when I would make Mammaw Dianne’s crawfish étouffée again. It’s kind of like “if you give a mouse a cookie…” cajun style. If you give a Cajun kid jambalaya, he will probably ask for crawfish etouffé! So of course, this Cajun mama said “next week baby. I promise. I’ll make both!!” I’ve been doing the ketogenic diet for the past 3 months and I’ve lost over 40 pounds (and I feel amazing!!) so my jambalaya and étouffée has been non existent but I’m due a cheat meal soon and that sounds just right! So I thought to myself, I know my readers love both of those recipes and that would be so good to have the links to them both in one handy post. And for my new readers who might have missed those…that would be really fun! And useful! So it’s not a new recipe but it is a place where that fantastic jambalaya recipe and that amazing étouffée recipe can exist together in Cajun harmony. Just add some garlic bread and a green salad and oh mop tit (ma petite to my new readers. My Momee said ma petite all the time but it sounded like mop tit to my sisters and I and that’s what we thought it was until she corrected us one day! Lol!!) However you say it, whoever you make those recipes for…it will be divine!!!

Here is the link for the crawfish étouffée…

Dianne’s Quick and Easy Crawfish Étouffée | cajunmamacookin’s Blog

https://cajunmamacookinblog.com/2014/03/16/diannes-quick-and-easy-crawfish-etouffee/

Here the link for THE jambalaya

Donna’s simply divine jambalaya and have circus, will travel  | cajunmamacookin’s Blog

https://cajunmamacookinblog.com/2017/06/04/donnas-simply-divine-jambalaya-and-have-circus-will-travel/