Years ago, in New Orleans you could find many Po-Boy shops at just about every other corner neighborhood grocery store. Many of these mom and pop corner stores would prepare other sandwiches and hot meals too, and one of the “other” popular sandwiches was the “Shrimp on a Bun”, which typically consists of small 70-90 count shrimps that are battered and deep fried then served on a bun and “dressed” with lettuce, tomato, pickle and choice of mayonnaise too. If you are not from or have never been to New Orleans then a little explanation is in order on “dressing” your sandwich.

In New Orleans when you order a sandwich the counter person will ask if you want it “dressed”. This is the local colloquialism for “would you like it with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise”, you see, “dressed” just sounds better and is so much easier to say. I am not sure historically how this term came to be, but it has been and is still the way to order your sandwich in New Orleans.

This recipe is a variation of a Weight Watchers item that called for catfish, and since none was available at the seafood counter, we opted for shrimp, which takes us back to the original story. In addition, at only 353 calories for the catfish recipe version, this shrimp version would actually be less in calories. So let’s do the math, four ounces of catfish cooked is approximately 271 calories according to the Prevention.com health tracker for foods, compared to four ounces of cooked shrimp at 163 calories. Therefore, with a calorie difference of 108, the shrimp version of the recipe total for the calories comes to 245, since all the other ingredients in the recipe remain the same, this recipe calorie re-calculation is logical.

Yield: 4 servings

A guest blog post by Lindsay Fraser, aka The Chickenless Chick

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Lindsay Fraser, also known as the Chickenless Chick. Lindsay values hard work and creativity in the kitchen and though the following recipe has Louisiana roots, she dabbles in various regional styles, often juxtaposing traditional methods with nontraditional ingredients. Her blog The Chickenless Kitchen, where her motto is “Don’t be a culinary wuss!”, she provides tutorials, recipes, exercises, and challenges to inspire cooks and encourage culinary improvisation.

You can find her online through several social networking sites such as “The Chickenless Chick” on Foodbuzz, “Chickenless” on Twitter, and “thechickenlesskitchen” on Delicious. Also, because many people around the world do not have the luxury of being bored with their food, Lindsay is proud to join Cajun Chef Ryan and numerous others in the Blogger Aid community, an organization that raises funds to fight famine around the world. She lives in Orlando, Florida with her loving husband and cat (though the cat pictured is her mother’s).

If you like this recipe, feel free to visit The Chickenless Kitchen for more from Lindsay Fraser.

Now, on to Lindsay’s guest post recipe…

Burgers with Blackened Barbeque Rub

Some folks mistakenly believe that blackening goes back to when the first Acadian deportees (the descendants of whom would be called “Cajuns”) arrived in Louisiana. However, as Chef Ryan has previously mentioned on this blog, the first blackened dish was invented in the late 1970s and popularized in the early 1980s by Chef Paul Prudhomme of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. While hardly a longstanding tradition, blackened seasoning has wedged its way into the repertoires of most Cajun-influenced cooks.

My blackened barbeque rub combines the savory kick of Cajun seasoning with bold sweet notes. It’s best with red meat, pork, or dark poultry meats. Here I’ve used that tried-and-true staple of American cuisine, the hamburger. It may be the dead of winter, but here in the South, we know grilling season is just around the corner! In addition, if you live in an environment where there’s six feet of snow on the ground until June, there’s always broiling.

You may use an equal amount of pre-mixed Cajun seasoning in place of the first seven rub ingredients. (It comes out to approximately 2 Tbsp.) Chef Ryan is being modest and hasn’t mentioned this in awhile, but his own special Cajun spice blend is available at his General Store and is an outstanding pantry staple for those of us who could often use a delicious meal quickly.

I use ground chuck because, to my taste, it’s moist enough to serve on a toasted bun without additional sauces. However, I recommend serving mayo or remoulade on the side in case your guests like it extra juicy.

Yield: Serves 6.

A warm Thank You goes out to Cajun Chef Ryan for allowing me to guest on his blog. I have been a fan since we first met on Foodbuzz. It is my privilege to be here, and I hope you all enjoy my recipe. ~ Lindsay Fraser

Thank you Lindsay for this wonderful blackened burger recipe! Your sweet and savory rub mix is a unique blend of spices and seasonings, sure to please any palate, including this Cajun tongue of mine! Aieeeeee……

CCR
=:~)

In addition, they make for a perfect Mardi Gras parade-watching treat.

Therefore, today I share with you a few recipes and a little Mardi Gras too. Along with Drick Perry and his Drick’s Rambling Cafe foodie blog site, we are continuing our focus of several Mardi Gras related blog posts in the forthcoming weeks and leading up to the famous “Fat Tuesday” event. His blog is focused on the Mobile, AL Mardi Gras traditions and mine is on the New Orleans, LA side of the coin.

These are recipes that Monique has made for years, over nine years in fact, and is another one from the Weight Watchers magazine “Six O’Clock Solutions”, and found on page 13. It also is served with a side of Sweet Potato Sticks, a recipe found in the same book on page 68. These hearty and tasty sandwiches are wonderful and the homemade barbecue sauce that binds the ground meat with the onions and peppers is fantastic. This sauce base has become the inspiration for a special barbecue sauce that I am still perfecting for possible en mass bottling in the near future. With the side of sweet potato fries, this is another 2-for-1 recipe special today. These two menu items adapted from the WW cookbook combine for a total of 411 calories, perfect for our 400 calorie per meal diet plan.

We sit together as a family for dinner just about every evening and when Ben finished his meal before Monique and I even seem to get started we knew it was “goooood”! Ben is our litmus test for all things that are tasty and I can assure you that your kids will love this sandwich and oven baked fries every time.

The Krewe of Thoth

If you have the fortune to live in a neighborhood on or near a Mardi Gras parade route then you know how much fun it is to host a party from your house and watch a parade from your front porch. I had that fortune many years ago when living on Henry Clay Avenue in Uptown New Orleans to see the Krewe of Thoth line up on the Sunday morning before Mardi Gras day in front of our porch steps. This year the parade is scheduled to roll on Sunday, February 14, 2010 at noon.

Parade route image and following text excerpted and provided by Mardi Gras Parade Schedule.com

The Krewe of Thoth was founded in 1947, has a membership of 1,200, and is named after the Egyptian god of wisdom. He is the inventor of science, art, and letters. The body of a man and the head of an ibis traditionally represent the god Thoth. His mythological counterparts were the Greek Hermes and the Roman Mercury.

The Krewe of Thoth was organized in 1947 in the uptown neighborhood. It presented its first ball and five-float parade with 50 members the next year. Because it designs its parade route to pass in front of 14 institutions that care for persons with disabilities and illnesses, the men of Thoth have become known as the “Krewe of the Shut Ins”.

The official website for the Krewe of Thoth is http://www.thothkrewe.com/. The website features a greeting from the Captain, a history of the Krewe, a route map, and a photo gallery of past parades and balls.

On to the recipes, and here is a preparation suggestion for the seamless orchestration of this meal!

TIP: When preparing both of these recipes together prep the sweet potato sticks first and have them ready to go on the sheet pan, but wait to put them into the oven. Then preheat the oven to 425° F, and start the prep on the onions, green bell peppers, and the sauce for the Sloppy Joe recipe. Put the sweet potatoes in the oven when ready and start browning the beef, onions, and peppers in step 1 of the Sloppy Joe recipe. This should ensure that the sweet potato fries are ready when the beef mixture is ready to go. This helps with not having to wait around for one or the other recipes to finish.

Sloppy Joe’s

Yield: 8 servings.

Procedure Steps
1.	Coat a nonstick sauté pan with cooking spray and heat over a medium-high burner until hot. Add the beef, onion, and bell pepper, and cook until beef is completely browned and no pink remains. Stir often to crumble the beef. Drain in a colander and set aside. Use a paper towel to wipe the sauté pan clean.
2.	While the beef mixture is browning in a separate bowl, combine the tomato sauce, ketchup, dark brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, yellow mustard, garlic powder, and the black pepper. Then pour this liquid mixture into the sauté pan.
3.	Turn heat to a medium high and then add the drained beef back to the sauté pan with the sauce ingredients. Heat through for 10 minutes on a medium-low heat setting, stirring periodically.
4.	Spoon the beef mixture evenly over the bottom halves of the whole-wheat buns then cover with the top halves of the buns. Serve with pickles and the sweet potato fries.

Sweet Potato Fries

Yield: 8 servings.

Procedure Steps      Note: Preheat oven to 425° F.
1.	Cut potatoes lengthwise into ½-inch-thick slices. Cut slices into ¼-inch-wide strips.
2.	Place the strips in a large bowl and drizzle with the olive oil, tossing them to ensure even spread of the oil on all pieces.
3.	Add the cheese and toss again to ensure even coating. Then transfer the potato sticks to a coated cookie baking sheet in one even layer.
4.	Bake in the preheated 425° F oven for 35 minutes or until crisp and slightly browned. Turn the fries over every 10 minutes or so to assist in even cooking. Serve with the Sloppy Joe’s.

According to the Weight Watchers recipes the nutritional values for each:

Sloppy Joe’s: Calories 272, Protein 22.1g, Fat 6.7g, Carbohydrates 30g, Fiber 2.9g, Cholesterol 54mg, Iron 3.2mg, Sodium 673mg, Calcium 43mg.

Sweet Potato Fries: Calories 139, Protein 3.1g, Fat 3.1g, Carbohydrates 25.1g, Fiber 3.1g, Cholesterol 3mg, Iron 0.7mg, Sodium 75mg, Calcium 71mg.

With the holidays and family visits behind us, Monique and I have taken to focusing on our eating and exercising habits again. Therefore, this weekend Monique developed a weekly menu and shopping list based on the menu plan, we are now limiting our three main meals to only 400 calories, or 1,600 calories per day with two 200-calorie snacks. Note: Click on images for a larger view.

For Saturday and Sunday breakfast, Monique made from scratch two different drop biscuit recipes, both from the Weight Watchers magazine “Six O’Clock Solutions”, a cookbook we have been using since 2001. I must say these recipes are actually quite good and healthy too.

You will find after reading through these two recipes that there are similarities between biscuits, and that is typically that butter or fat is cut into the flour and rising agents creating what is known as the “dry” ingredients. Then a separate bowl of “wet” ingredients is prepared. Once both sets of ingredients are ready, they are combined to form the biscuit dough. In the two “drop” biscuit dough recipes here they are ready to place on the sheet pans, no rolling and cutting is necessary, just use two large spoons to scrape off tablespoon portions and “drop” them onto the cooking sheets.

Oatmeal Drop Biscuits

On Saturday Monique made the Oatmeal Drop Biscuits found on page 16 and in keeping with “drop biscuits” these are literally dropped from a spoon rather than rolled, creating a rough, cobblestone-like appearance, and are so easy to make. We have made a few modifications from the original recipe, we use only butter, but the recipe calls for margarine. Another modification we made in the recipe is it call for baking for 8 minutes, we found this too short a time for our oven and baked them for 14 to 16 minutes.

According to the recipe these biscuits are 2 points each, contain 99 calories, 0.9g fiber, 3 grams fat, and 2.7 grams protein. If you wish to follow these nutritional informational’s you will have to use margarine in place of the butter.

Yield: 16 biscuits

Orange Drop Biscuits

On Sunday Monique made the Orange Drop Biscuits found on page 66 and we modified the recipe a bit here by following the similar food processor technique from the previous biscuits, even though this one has your hand cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or 2 kitchen knives. The food processor method is so quick and achieves the same results. The orange marmalade in these biscuits really adds a great flavor, and they do not need any added butter or jam, perfect with a cup of fresh coffee in the morning. Again, several of the ingredients we changed out so the nutritional information may not exactly match those listed below from the original recipe, but it gives you an idea of where it has been modified. The margarine in the original recipe was traded out with butter, the original 1% low-fat cottage cheese was traded out with 2% low-fat cottage cheese and we omitted ¾ teaspoon of grated orange peel from the original recipe, but I am sure it would add even more orange flavor in addition to the orange marmalade.  We also doubled the cooking time from 8 minutes to 16, our oven took longer to get them to a nice golden brown on top, and your mileage may vary.

According to the recipe these biscuits are 1 point each, contain 38 calories, 0.2 g fiber, 1 gram fat, and 1.3 g protein. If you wish to use these nutritional informational’s you will need to use margarine and 1% low-fat cottage cheese.

Yield: 24 biscuits