Feline Neutral Fusion Gumbo

No, that is not the ingredient list for the Gumbo. Just the order of this post. The new kitty has adjusted perfectly. It took under a week and he is now sleeping with our other cat, and both are happy. He's so sweet when he's asleep, it is hard not to wake him up to snuggle!
Before I get to the requested Gumbo recipe, I'll show some of the quilting I am doing on a smallish quilt - 30"x36". It is for the Neutral Fusion exhibit that will be at MQX in April. They way this quilt works is we were sent 8 fat quarters of these kind of hideous neutral fabrics. The same pattern will be done by all people - it's alternated snowball and 9-patch blocks, and then a colored 1" border of our choosing, and a 5" outer border of our choosing, but from the neutral fabrics. The neutrals are seriously hideous. Many have more paint than my walls and are SO hard to quilt because you cannot see anything. Oh yea...the thread has to be neutral and coordinating as well. I will be blind when I am finished. I have chosen to ignore the piecing and treat the smowballs and 9-patches as a single unit for the quilt's center. I think that this is looking ok, but I waffle on this each day. Just as I question why on earth I chose to make the narrow 1" border from many pieces of yes, pink, fabric! Seriously, my other 2 quilts going to MQX are much better! ...but this is a fun process anyways (even if this small quilt has already wasted 7 hours of quilting time!)

So, I was born in Maine, but never lived here until 15 years ago. I spent my formitive years in the South, and aside from the 3-toothed rednecks that are there, I relate to the culture well, even still. So my love of Gumbo, fried shrimp and other things like Jumbalaya all stem from having lived the Southern life for a long time.

Gumbo...

This is my 5 quart dutch oven, and it works perfectly. First make a roux...1 stick of butter, 1/4C olive oil and 1-1/4 C flour. You'll need to cook this, stirring constantly until it is brownish like this. It will take nearly 45 minutes.

In another pan, saute 1 chopped green pepper, 1 chopped sweet onion, 1C chopped celery, 2 cloves of garlic. Remove from the pan. Saute 2-3 chopped chicken breasts, 2-4 Andouille sausages (more will make the Gumbo more spicy). Drain off the sausage fat.

Chop a pound of fresh (preferably) okra. I have used the frozen bag variety too. It worked just fine.

Add 6-8 cups of chicken stock to the brown roux. Add 1t of crab boil, 1t cayenne, 2t of each parsley and thyme, 2 bay leaves, 2T tomato paste and however many shakes of hot sauce you like. Add the drained meat, cooked veggies, and 1 large can (or 2 if you like) of lump crabmeat. At 30 min from dinnertime, add the okra. Continue simmering . Five minutes before you want to eat, add a pound of shrimp (peeled), and turn off the heat.

Serve over white rice with chopped scallions on top and garlic bread. Yum! Ya'll enjoy, now, ya hear?!

Making Kitchen Messes

It's hard to keep enough cookies in the kitchen for Santa with 3 kids (and a husband) around. I made 2 kinds last week (peanut butter w/ Hershey kiss and chocolate shortbread) and my husband made these really good spiced coins, but the stock has gotten low so we had a few more to make up. I got lazy of these and just got the slice-n-cook sugar cookie dough. They really prefer the decorating to the mixing, and they are WAY less messy if you don't have to make them!
Looks like it's time to replenish the Christmas colored sprinkles, as the cookes more look like Easter eggs.

This arrived last week...It's got to be a pound and a half or so. Its awesome to be on Handi Quilter's mailing list I tell ya! But personally, I am a dark chocolate gal (not to fear, the kids will most definitely help with this gigantic bar!), so I am using this for some cookies.

I saw these Rudolph cookies on some website this. They were supposed to be made with nutter butter cookies, but Hannaford didn't have them. We improvised...

Most of them got the eyes where they were intended...

And in a generous moment (no I hate cooking nearly as much as I hate cleaning up after cooking), I told Miss S we'd look for one more fun holiday cookie to make - something we hadn't made before.

Snowflakes!! and a few snow balls when only because the piping bag was getting slippery from overflow. Maybe not the tastiest, but the kids thought they looked good. I should add that I have also made a banana bread today, and mixed up the dough for gingerbread men, to be cut and decorated on the weekend. And we'll still probably have another type of cookie to do mid-week!