Swamp Party: The Food

Hey Peeps!!

It's Wednesday and I've got the main courses lined up for you today.
Like I said the other day, I catered out as much of this party as I could because I wanted to enjoy myself. Good thing I did because the 10x20 tent we were trying to set up became a kite in the 40 mph winds and I would never have gotten the food ready in time.

I apologize now as there are few photos of the food.  I'm not sure what happened to the photographer. heehee  I'll show you what I got and I've included links for you as well.  You know so you can plan your own Cajun Shindig.

First menu item:  Muffuletta's
If you are familiar with this Louisiana delicacy then you know that there is only one place to get the best & original muffuletta and that is Central Grocery in New Orleans.  It is the first stop the Hubster wants to make when we head down to NOLA and I totally surprised him with these at the party.

We didn't even know you could order these to be shipped... I just went on a hunch and called.

Try not to cringe when you find out how much the shipping costs and just remember how great they taste.  Or you could just go to New Orleans and get one.

Oh they come in a box of 6 or a box of 4.  We had about 35 people at the party and we ordered 10. This was plenty with the other food and it also allowed some culprits to hide a couple in the refrigerator in the house for the next day of football watching.

Next Louisiana menu item:

These are Zapp's chips and are so yummo it's crazy.

This is the link to the Zapp's website.  You can go there and order yourselves a nice 25 mixed bag of chips.  My personal fave is the VooDoo chip, I love it but not near as much as Court loves it.

If you want to make that girl smile, give her a bag of VooDoo chips, she'll love you.

The next item is a condiment but something no Louisiana native can live without:

Yes...it's Tabasco!

I ordered these tiny bottles straight from the Tabasco Country Store.

You can order from other places say if you want like a bazillion of them.

Tabasco let's you order exactly the number you want.

Also catered out was the Hubsters always requested birthday meal:

Popeye's Chicken. That man loves himself some Popeye's.

We ordered strips (spicy & not), biscuits, mashed potatoes & gravy and coleslaw.

And yes, he ate himself silly that night but when it's your birthday it's ok.

Last items on the menu were the ones I actually made.  It took me 3 days to cook these things properly but it was darn worth it!!   I impressed myself!!

Red Beans & Rice and a Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice.

The traditional Red Beans were made from none other than Emeril Lagasse's recipe.

I followed it pretty close but I'll tell you the things I did:

It calls for tasso or chopped ham..... I don't know what tasso is so I used some cubed ham.

I did use the Andouille sausage that is preferred and I found Emeril's brand at my local wallyworld.  The Hubster loved the sausage too.    I followed the recipe exactly except cooking them MUCH longer and MUCH slower than the recipe called for.  I also added a bit of Tony Cachere's seasoning and some Tabasco into the beans.   mmmmmmm, so yummy

Now for the Vegetarian version.  I searched high and low and found this version which looked to be a good one. Red Beans & Rice (Sans Animaux)  I followed the recipe pretty closely but I did bump up the amount of liquid smoke and added some Tony Cachere's to this as well.  Once again, cooked them longer and slower.  I had to use the immersion blender a little more heavily on these beans to get them to that honest to goodness Louisiana state of beandom.  The vegetarians seemed pleased with them as well.    Of course both beans were served with that crazy good Absolute Most Perfect Rice Ever that I told you all about on Monday.  By the way, we still have some rice in the refrigerator and it's still good!

Tomorrow peeps we start on my favorite part of the party...the decorations!!!!

I had so much fun with those!

Peace, Love & Cajun Yummies!

Swamp Party: The Cake

Good chilly morning peeps!!
It was 80 degrees last week and we were down to the upper 20's last night.  brrrrrrr

So normally Tuesday is reserved for Tuesday Tumblings where I upload my phone pics and give you the highlights of the week but because I've been so busy lately and my posts have been well rather absent I'm flooding you this week of the Bayou Bash Swamp Party photos and recipes from the Hubsters 50th birthday party.  Sorry, that was kind of a long running sentence.  Today we are featuring one of the few things I actually made for the party myself.  The cake!!!



This is it:

go ahead...ooh and aah over it

Here's the thing...it tasted as great as the decorating turned out!!!

I took a cue from the ole' Pinterest and bought a good Betty Crocker white cake mix (cause that's the Hubsters cake of choice) and I changed these things from the box instructions:

Instead of 3 egg whites I used 4

Instead of the 1/3 cup oil I used 2/3 cup melted butter (cooled)

Instead of water, I used half & half

That's it for the cake mix and then baked per the box instructions. 

WOW!!! You can seriously pump up the flavor and moistness in the box mix by doing this.

Just add 1 extra egg than it calls for

Double the amount of oil and use melted butter

Use milk instead of water

It was a Bayou Bash so there were lots of alligators.

This is how the cake was displayed.

Yet another idea I adapted from a Pinterest find.

Now the frosting.  Found on Pinterest was supposedly the "The Best Frosting".

She warns in the beginning that this frosting takes some advance planning and coordination but believe me, it's worth it. So just click on the link and follow her very awesome instructions!! Thanks Mel's Kitchen Cafe for sharing with your readers this awesomeriffic frosting!!

The Best Frosting

Now we also had to have us a King Cake because well my Louisiana man got only the best from his home state at this party.  He LOVES the King Cake's made by Paul's Pastry shop.  Since we know they ship, I got his ordered and here for the party. 

Here is the link for the bakery. You will not be disappointed, Paul's Pastry

Also inspired by Pinterest I put together this tiered serving tray out of cake pans and mason jars.

Perfect a mundo for serving these Louisiana favorites

Yep, we had chocolate, vanilla and banana moon pies.

I found lots of folks saying they'd never had a moon pie OR they hadn't had one in forever.

Either way you should get some and hey if you can find RC cola in the bottle, then you just might be accepted as a Louisiana native.

And the last item of sweets for the party, pralines.

That's prah-leans people not pray-leans.  I've been corrected numerous times.

These were from one of our favorite spots in New Orleans to get them.

Here is the link to visit their site, Southern Candy Makers

And yes, they ship.  

That was the sweet treat part of the festivities and we'll continue through the menu and decorations through the week.

I think we can tell this was yummy

and so was the cake. 

Nothing left but the licking of the forks.

Tomorrow we talk about the regular food!

Peace, Love & Yummies