The Healthy Tales

Posts Tagged ‘Cajun’

Crawfish is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with outside of onions. There is just so much you can do with crawfish besides boiling it or shoving it into some yummy etouffee. Crawfish can be used pretty much the same as shrimp – boil it, fry it,throw in pasta, rice, or a salad. This past weekend I decided to try a new crawfish recipe that was more summery than my usual crawfish etouffee. I came up with a Crawfish Casserole recipe from my favorite Louisiana cookbook, A Trim and Terrific Louisiana Kitchen by Holly Clegg. This recipe was fabulous and my husband ranked it a 5 out of 5 and he is pretty stingy with his 5 star rating. We will definitely be eating this on a regular basis. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Crawfish Casserole

1 tbsp light margarine
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb crawfish tails, rinsed
1 can 99% fat-free cream of XYZ soup
3 cups cooked rice
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper
dash red pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes and green peppers (aka Rotel)
1/2 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese

In a large pan, coated with nonstick cooking spray, melt margarine. Add onions, green peppers, and garlic. Cook until tender. Stir in crawfish, soup, rice, lemon juice, seasonings, tomatoes and green chilies. Mix well. Turn mixture into a shallow 2-quart casserole dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

As prepared: 281 calories, 136mg Cholesterol, 4.8 gms fat, 15.2% Calories from Fat

Happy Friday!  I am glad the weekend is here.  I’m heading home to visit my family so no cooking for me this weekend.  I am hoping to see if I can bring back some chicken rollups though as I haven’t had any in a very long time.  We’ll see though.

So this is my first week with Freezer Food Friday.  The purpose of this meme is to share a meal that you can make ahead and freeze to eat later.  So this week, my recipe is for Red Beans and Rice.  It is an old southern favorite and one that freezes very well.

Red Beans and Rice

• 3 cans of Green Giant Red Beans, drained**
• 1 small onion, diced*
• Smoked sausage, diced (use up to 1 pound)
• Celery, diced*
• garlic, minced (to taste)
• Cajun seasoning (to taste)
• Brown Rice

Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil.  Remove.  Brown the sausage in the same pan.  Drain sausage on paper towel (pat to remove excess oil & grease).  Put beans in a stock pot and then stir in the sausage, onion, celery, and garlic.  Add 2 cans of water to pot and let cook for 30 minutes.  Add cajun seasoning for flavor.  Serve over brown rice.

I tend to do 1/4 cup rice, 1/2 cup bean mixture.  You can serve with cornbread or muffins.  The Vitatop Corn muffins work well and they are only 1 WW point.

This recipe will make 6-8 servings depending on how you serve the rice/bean ratio and the points will be around 5-6 per serving depending on rice/beans.

*frozen, diced onion and celery will do.  If you have a Kroger, look for the Recipe starters bag that has celery, onions, and green bell peppers already diced and use that.  It saves time and money.

**any brand will do but they should be red beans if you absolutely cannot find them you can use Kidney beans but there is a taste difference.