Fennel Sweet Apple Beet Juice

So this juice tasted and looked a little like Good & Plenty candy product of Hershey, PA: "tasted like," because of the licorice flavor of the fennel, and "looked like" because of the bright happy color. Very interesting combination for a chewable juice with fibrous pulp galore.

Fennel Sweet Apple Beet Juice:

1 Cup Chopped Fennel

1 Quartered Golden Delicious Apple

1 Chopped Red Beet and Greens

Poached Chicken With Fresh Berries Over Napa Cabbage

This salad came to my mind shortly after I returned home from the grocery store with a bunch of great whole fresh ingredients! I did not let the fact that I didn't know what one of the ingredients was deter me from creating a fabulous salad. I mean, I could ball park the ingredient. It was definitely in the cabbage/ greens/ lettuce family. I thought it might be Swiss chard or Chinese cabbage. Anthony and I had just watched an episode of Iron Chef America on Amazon recently, and  the "secret ingredient" on that episode had been Swiss chard. I made our salads for lunch still not completely knowing what our mystery item was.

After lunch I googled Swiss chard. That was not our item. Then I googled types of cabbage. I saw pics of Chinese cabbage and Napa cabbage that looked similar to what I had brought home from the store. Taking a closer look, a certain Buzzle article clarified for me that what I had just used for our salads was indeed Napa cabbage. I told Anthony of my discovery. I laughed as I told him that I had seen Napa printed on the big twisty tie wrapped around my Napa cabbage, and that I had just thought that it said Napa like oranges say Florida, or some produce says California.

Poached Chicken With Fresh Berries Over Napa Cabbage:

1 Raw Chicken Breast

1/2 Head of Napa Cabbage

4 Large Strawberries

Handful of Blackberries

1 Lemon

Black Pepper

1. Drop raw chicken breast into boiling water. Turn heat down a little. Cook until done.

2. Cut cabbage and strawberries. Arrange first four ingredients on two plates.

3. Cut lemon in half. Squeeze lemon juice over salads. Sprinkle salads with black pepper.

  

Milk Chocolate Waffles

Anthony made us an early midnight snack around eleven. The milk chocolate waffles from scratch that he made for us were amazing. I had a little maple syrup for dipping sauce. He spread some peanut butter on his.

How To Get Anthony To Eat Raw Strawberries

Last night was like many other nights, we needed our midnight snack. I thought maybe we could eat some bowls of berries but Anthony said he doesn't really like eating them raw, that they are too tart. I asked him if he had ever eaten strawberries and cream with brown sugar. He said he hadn't. I told him that my family and I first fell in love with the dish when we were at Disney World in Florida. Quite a few years back, we had eaten strawberries and cream as an appetizer for breakfast a number of times at one of our favorite breakfast spots there. Anthony agreed to give the dish a try.

I used milk instead of cream. One, because it's healthier, two, because that's all we had on hand, and three, now that I think about it, because to me it tastes better. We both enjoyed our lovely snack. The berries were sweet enough with the milk and sugar for Anthony to enjoy! I really liked the dish presentation that I fashioned. The pattern I made with the strawberries on our plates reminded me of Amish quilt squares.

Strawberries & Cream

6 Large Strawberries

4 Tsp. Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup of Milk

1. Sprinkle brown sugar on two plates.

2. Cut strawberries in half and arrange on plates.

3. Pour milk slowly on to plates.

Shari's Colorful Crawfish Etouffee

I came across a bunch of pics for crawfish etouffee while I was googling "crawfish boil." I was so excited after my crawfish boil that I had plenty of crawfish leftover so I could make crawfish etouffee! My husband and I really enjoyed both my crawfish boil and my crawfish etouffee! This week was my first time making both dishes. The way I came up with my recipes was that I looked at a bunch of recipes online, and then I made up my own recipes from ingredients that I had on hand that were similar to those that I had seen in recipes online. 

Shari's Colorful Crawfish Etouffee:

1 Lb. Shucked Crawfish

1 Tsp. Minced Garlic

1 Tb Ketchup

3 Mini Sweet Peppers

1/2 Cup Leftover Onion & Habanero

1 Cup Seafood Stock From Crawfish Boil

1 Cup Water

2 Tb Flour

Few Dashes of Cayenne Pepper

Shari's Sweet Potato Habanero Crawfish Boil

I had some crawfish kicking around in my freezer at home because I randomly discovered them and bought them on my last grocery shopping trip. I thought of making the crawfish for Valentine's Day since they are red, exotic, and fun. I was so excited to make them however, that I could not wait until then.

I had so much fun planning it all, making it all, and eating it all. Of course, it would not have been the same without my dear husband Anthony and his good nature humoring me in feasting on this dish with me. I think I had a little too much fun with the whole event. When we sat down to eat Anthony asked me how we were supposed to eat them. I said I had posted a YouTube crawfish eating demo video earlier on my Facebook page that day saying that he and I were going to need it soon. I told him maybe he could look up the demo video on his phone for us both because I had never eaten crawfish before either. We laughed, looked up the demo video, and followed the instructions.

When we ripped the meat out of the crawfishes, I was surprised to see yellow. I thought maybe I hadn't cooked it all of the way. I googled a few different words and thoughts before finding a few pics that helped me determine whether our crawfish were indeed cooked. They were. The yellow that I had seen was guts, and I just had to pull some more of the meat out on the other side to get to the meat of the matter. Phew!

As for my recipe, I decided to just work from ingredients I had on hand after reviewing multiple crawfish boil ingredient lists online. Most of the lists included: crawfish, potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, garlic, sausage, lemons, water, and seasonings. Some even included mushrooms, or shrimp, or crabs. I wanted my crawfish boil to be original so it just worked out that I didn't have exact ingredients for the recipe. Below you'll find a list of the ingredients that I used to create my own original crawfish boil.

Shari's Sweet Potato Habanero Crawfish Boil:

1/4 Cup Cajun Seasoning

6 Quarts Water

2 Lemons

2 Onions

2 Sweet Potatoes

2 Habaneros

1/2 Lb. Cooked Ham

2 Lbs. Cooked Crawfish

1. Bring water and cajun seasoning to boil in a large pot.

2. Quarter lemons, squeeze juice into pot, and then drop lemons into pot.

3. Chop onions, sweet potatoes, and habaneros. Drop them into the boiling pot. Cover and cook 15 minutes.

4. Add ham and crawfish. Cover and cook for ten minutes.