We're having a great "Hometown Disneyland" summer vacation and having a blast. Every week we choose a land or two that we want to play in. We plan an activity to represent each ride and plan our menu around the restaurants and food we would find there. This week we're playing in Adventureland and New Orleans Square. Being from Arizona, I could eat Mexican food all day every day, but I'm not very familiar with New Orleans-style cooking, so I went searching for new recipes to try. The sensitive palates of my sweet family members are not big fans of spicy food, so cajun doesn't seem like such a great idea. I guess we'll see how this goes...
Dinner Menu:
Easy Louisiana Red Beans & Rice (recipe here)
Cheesy Squash
Fruit - sliced cantaloupe
Today we're at the French Market Restaurant in New Orleans Square trying a recipe for a healthy version of red beans & rice I found on Teaspoon of Spice. I followed the recipe exactly as written minus at least half of the cajun seasoning. We had to add a bunch of chicken broth near the end of the cooking time because all of the moisture had complete reduced out of the "sauce" and I knew we would need more liquid with the brown rice. Everyone dutifully ate their portion, but no one really liked it. It was filling and not gross, but it wasn't delicious either. We won't be adding this to the family favorite recipe book.
Our cheesy squash is really simple, but we all love it. I slice zucchini and yellow summer squash and steam it until it's tender. When I take it off the heat, I mix in a bit of butter (less than 1 Tb) and some salt & pepper. Then it's time to spread it in the serving dish. I sprinkle grated cheese over the top (usually sharp cheddar, but you can use whatever you like) and cover with foil to melt the cheese. It ends up looking a lot like this photo from Taste of Home minus the toasty brown spots because I don't broil mine. It's tasty and delicious and even my little ones love it. You can also add onions for even more flavor.
No comments:
Post a Comment