Louisiana is known for their many Traditions. Good food, good times and great stories go hand in hand. The one dish that is most synonymous with Cajuns is Gumbo. If you have ever tried it you know that there is nothing like it anywhere and if you haven’t you don’t know what you are missing. Gumbo is a rich dark soup made with Roux.

You can add just about anything in it that your heart desires. The following recipe is simple and fun to make. It consists of Chicken and Sausage. You can also add some shrimp if you like.

1 head yellow onion
½ cup chopped green onion
4 tablespoons Roux
6 - 8 cups water
1 whole Chicken/Hen cut up
1 pound of Sausage
1 pound pealed and cleaned Shrimp (optional)

Throw everything in a soup pot and simmer over a medium fire for about an hour or until chicken is cooked. You may need to add more water if the soup becomes too thick. Likewise, if it is too thin, you may add a little more roux.

Serve over cooked white rice.

Here is a little secret about Gumbo…it is always better the next day! So if you are cooking for say a party, it can be prepared a day ahead of time.

To wrap up, we cajuns love our Music and Festivals and our Football here in Louisiana. But without our Gumbo it just wouldn’t be the same!

My Mother was a great cook and she taught me everything she knew. She would always tell me a story about my grandparents and Aunts and Uncles when they were young and the foods that they enjoyed. I loved hearing the stories. It made learning about the recipes that much more fun.

One of our families’ favorite recipes was Mom’s Cornbread. She and my Dad both grew up eating it. It’s great as a side dish to any meal especially Red Beans and Rice or Chilli but my parents would eat it with just milk in a bowl like you would eat cereal. They told me that growing up it was sometimes eaten as a main meal.

However you choose to eat this cornbread, I hope that you enjoy it as much as my family has.

2 1/4 cups Corn Meal
1 1/2 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2-4 tablespoons Sugar (as desired)
1/3 cup Cooking Oil
1 1/2 cups Milk or Buttermilk
3 Eggs

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a well greased Black Iron Skillet. Bake at 450 Degrees for about 25 minutes.

Like many of us out there I live a busy life and sometimes it isn’t always easy to find the time to cook but when I do I like trying out free recipes that I find online or cooking some old family favorites. All of the recipes that I will list in my blog are free and my own variations.

I am as Cajun as they come and have many cajun foods to share but I love other types of food too. So, you will find a wide menu of different food recipes here such as; Southern, Italian, Mexican and even some Chinese favorites.

Feel free to print these out and don’t forget to let me know what you think.