Food stuff
I love to cook. I guess it's my Cajun heritage, but I find that the older I get, the more I enjoy putting together a variety of foods to make a meal. My favorite television channel (after The History Channel and The Biography Channel) is Food Network. My favorite chefs on FoodTV are Sara Moulton and Tyler Florence.

Some of my favorite recipes:
(Stuff I have actually cooked)

Spaghetti for two
1/4 pound ground sirloin
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small jar of Prego spaghetti sauce
1 small package of thin spaghetti
powdered or fresh oregano
onion powder
garlic powder
cayenne powder
sugar

  • Cook half pack of spaghetti according to package instructions while preparing the sauce
  • Brown ground sirloin in a small skillet
  • Drain fat from ground meat and then add mushrooms, cook for a minute or so
  • Add Prego with liberal amounts of garlic, onion and oregano powders, a little cayenne and a pinch of sugar
  • Bring sauce to a boil, stirring frequently, then simmer uncovered until spaghetti is done
  • Spoon over cooked spaghetti and serve with grated parmesian cheese
Mushroom Bread
1 tablespoon of butter or margarine
1/2 cup of red onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups of fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup of biscuit mix
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black or red pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9-inch pie plate
  • In a small saucepan, saute onion, mushrooms and parsley in butter or margarine. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, lightly beat milk, eggs and biscuit mix together. Stir in the mozzarella, salt, pepper and sauteed mushroom mixture.
  • Pour into pie plate. Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.
  • Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool 10 minutes before slicing into wedges.
Crab-Cheese Buns
8 ounces shredded processed American cheese
1/3 cup butter
8 ounces crab meat (white crab meat works best)
6 hamburger buns

  • Melt cheese and butter in a saucepan over low heat.
  • Remove from heat and stir in crab meat
  • Place buns cut-side up on a broiler rack or cookie sheet and spread on crabmeat mixture
  • Broil with tops about 5 inches from the heat until they are brown and bubbly, which takes about 2 minutes
Crawfish Popcorn
2 pounds peeled crawfish tails
2 eggs, beaten
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons of liquid Crab Boil
2 tablespoons of milk
1 quart cooking oil

  • Combine flour, 1 tablespoon salt, black pepper, crab boil and eggs in large bowl, mixing well
  • Add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until batter is thick
  • Season crawfish tails with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cayenne pepper
  • Add crawfish to batter and let stand about an hour
  • Heat cooking oil in 2-quart sauce pan until hot
  • Drop in crawfish tails, making sure to separate them while they are frying
  • Fry until golden brown (about a minute)
  • Drain on a paper towel
Spiced Crackers
1 box, Saltine crackers (I like Nabisco Premium Saltines)
1 1/4 cup canola oil
1 pack, Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

  • Combine oil, dressing mix and pepper flakes. I use a measuring cup putting th oil in first.
  • Empty the crackers into a large plastic container with lid.
  • Drizzle the oil/dressing mixture over the crackers and then gently stir the crackers to make sure each is coated with the oil mixture.
  • Let the crackers sit for a few minutes, then put the lid on the container and gently roll the crackers around to coat them some more. Repeat several times with 10-15 minutes between "rolls."