Ingredients

1 lb dried red beans, rinsed and soaked overnight, drained

bacon grease

1 medium chopped yellow onion

4 stalks chopped celery

1 chopped green bell pepper

salt and pepper

pinch cayenne

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

1 pkg smoked Andouille sausage, sliced

2 smoked ham hocks

4 cloves chopped garlic

10 cups chicken stock

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cooked rice

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Directions
In a large pot, heat the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery and bell peppers to the pot. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the bay leaves, thyme, sausage, and ham hocks, to brown the sausage and ham hocks, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the beans and stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 hours.

Remove from the heat and with the back of a heavy spoon, mash about 1/4 of the beans against the side of the pot. Continue to cook until the beans are tender and creamy, 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Serve over rice.

This recipe won’t have too many measurements.  Most are “to taste.”

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Ingredients

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Crab legs, washed

Seasoning salt

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Paprika

Cayenne pepper

Gumbo file (2 tsp plus 2 TB)

Celery, chopped

Bell pepper, chopped

Onion, chopped

Garlic, minced

Chicken legs

Sausage (andouille is good)

Gravy (in a jar)

Corn starch (1 TB dissolved in 1 cup cold water)

Shrimp, cleaned and deveined

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Place crab legs in a huge, deep pot and add water 3/4 full.  Put on high heat to boil.  Once it begins boiling, turn down to medium-high heat and add seasonings including 2 tsp of the file.  Add vegetables and boil another 30 minutes.  Add chicken legs and sausage and boil another 45 minutes.  Add 2 TB of file, stir and scrape.  Add gravy and corn starch, stir.  Add shrimp and turn off heat.  Serve with rice.

TBD

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat (hamburger or turkey) (you can exclude meat to make it vegetarian)

Appx 10 c spaghetti sauce (recipe below)*, but you can use your favorite pre-made sauce)

5 large zucchini, sliced thin (or 1 box lasagna noodles, al dente)

4 c mozzarella plus 1 c separated

3 eggs

24 oz small curd cottage cheese

3 TB fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

salt & pepper

5 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Brown ground meat in a large skillet, add sauce and simmer covered.  Mix the 4 c mozzarella with the eggs, cottage cheese and parsley until well blended.  Salt and pepper to taste.

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Assemble the lasagna by using a 13x9x2 lasagna pan and adding layers.  Start with a layer of the sauce, then a layer of zucchini (or noodles), then a layer of the cheese mixture.  Repeat this until near the top where the last two layers will be the zucchini then sauce on top.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and cover with foil.  Place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and sprinkle the remaining cup of mozzarella cheese on top.  Place back in the over for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Remove from oven and let cool at least 20-30 minutes.  Cut into squares.

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Spaghetti Sauce

1 pound mushrooms of choice, sliced

2 large white or yellow onion, chopped

2 large green bell pepper, chopped

2 zucchini, shredded

2 carrots, shredded

8 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

4 TB tomato paste

1 c dry red wine

2 28-oz can whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

6 14-oz cans tomato sauce

3 TB fresh basil, chopped

1 TB fresh oregano, chopped

Salt and pepper

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Heat up large skillet and olive oil over medium high heat and saute mushrooms until brown.  Add onion and bell pepper and saute for about 3-4 minutes.  Add zucchini and carrots and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.  Add garlic and saute another minute.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add tomato paste and cook another 2 minutes or so, stirring constantly.  Add wine to de-glaze skillet.  Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, then season again with salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and turn down low to simmer.  This can simmer as long as you’d like it to.  The longer, the better, just make sure to stir it once in awhile.  Add the basil and oregano.

TBD

TBD