Pace Picante Shrimp Dip

Cream Cheese & Sour Cream Dip with Shrimp & Picante Sauce

This Picante Shrimp Dip recipe was born out of leftovers from that New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp I posted yesterday.  Besides being a lover of all things dip related, I especially love cooking once and getting multiple meals out of something.

In this case, not only did we have the BBQ Shrimp, we also got the scampi I posted at the bottom of the shrimp post, made from the leftover BBQ Shrimp. Next up was this fantastic dip, all of which really fell into place thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program and my receiving a sample of Pace Picante Sauce to try. I promise you will love this addition to your Super bowl menu, or any party menu, and let me tell you.  EZ-peasy y'all - gotta love that!

You'll combine the base - cream cheese and sour cream - with a packet of dry Italian dressing seasoning mix, then add in some shrimp. I used chopped, leftover shrimp, but a couple cans of well drained shrimp are perfect for this. Add in a jar of Pace Picante Sauce and you've got one awesome dip. Since the sample I received was mild, y'all know I added some of my favorite Cajun seasoning!

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New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp

It is said that the recipe for New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp was born many, many years ago at Pascal's Manale Restaurant - a nearly 100 year old eatery located on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. How the name came to be though, well, nobody really seems to know, because New Orleans Style BBQ shrimp are not smoked, or cooked on a grill, and there is never anything remotely resembling a barbecue sauce that ever touches them.

The name probably comes from the smokey flavor that the shrimp gets from the Worcestershire sauce and the spicy, peppery seasonings. Instead of a roll around in a hot tub of spiced up water, these shrimp are juked up in a spicy, heavy on the butter, yummy sauce, that is loaded with flavor and a proper southern kick. Oh yeah.

To get the true experience of New Orleans style BBQ shrimp, try to use whole, raw, head on shrimp, if at all possible, because there is a lot of flavor that comes out of the shells and natural fats of the shrimp heads. That said, even for me with a shrimping husband, extra large head on shrimp is hard to come by except for right off the boat. In fact, I was waiting all last winter and spring for The Cajun to go shrimping so I could get some nice shrimp big enough for this dish when, of course, BP interrupted those plans.

Last year the season opened early before any oil entered our shrimping waters so we ended up with smaller shrimp and no extra large ones most appropriate for this dish. Recently when The Cajun and I were passing by the big seafood market I like, I went in search of some bigger ones, but even those were all already headed. I would like to have gone even larger on the shrimp, but to be honest the price on shrimp right now, yes, even for us, is a little high for my liking. Anyway, while you can certainly get a great dish of saucy shrimp made with headless shrimp, and even with already peeled shrimp, flavor-wise, the real deal is made using those very large, head-on shrimp, so grab those for this dish whenever you can. The heads really do make a difference.

I have always prepared my BBQ shrimp in the oven, but you can do these on the stovetop in a large skillet too, which honestly may be the way many restaurants prepare individual servings anyway. Use a large, wide skillet though and do batches. Bring the sauce up to a boil, reduce the heat, toss in half of the shrimp and simmer them at medium until they are done. Remove those, do the next batch and then combine them all back together to warm them all back through. I prefer the slower method of the oven, tossing them a few times, and letting them just slowly grab up all that buttery seasoning in between those shells.

The recipe is very simple and very rich. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then, melt up a pound of butter... what? Yes. Don't faint. I did say a POUND of butter y'all. Hey, look up any good New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp recipe and you'll see butter. Lots of butter. Soooo, let's just accept it and move along shall we? You won't actually be consuming all of that butter anyway, not really, so it's all good. You melt that butter up with some olive oil, Worcestershire, garlic, salt, Creole seasoning, and a little beer if ya like - The Cajun doesn't consume, so I don't add it.  Lay them pretty shrimp out on a rimmed baking sheet. 

Pour that rich sauce all over the shrimp and toss 'em around a bit.

Squeeze a lemon on top and crack fresh pepper all over the top. A lot of black pepper. All over.

Slice up another lemon and scatter those on top and bake at 375 degrees F about 10 minutes. Remove, turn, and bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. You don't want to overcook. Remove and toss again.

Spoon the shrimp into a platter, pour the sauce over the top and scatter some green onion all around. I like to lay out a tablecloth of newspaper, with a couple of rolls of paper towels scattered around the tabletop, and serve these up in big soup bowls with plenty of juice in the bottom. Add a couple loaves of hot and crusty French bread to sop up that juice, and some high quality and very cold bottled beer.

Similar in appearance to boiled shrimp, but much messier, you'll need both hands, all your fingers, and rolled up sleeves to indulge in this dish, but it's worth all the lack of formalities - just don't wear your good clothes for his feast. Shells go right on the newspaper, and when you're done, you can just remove the bowls, roll up the paper and toss.

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New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

5 pounds of large (21-25 count or larger) head-on
   shrimp, unpeeled
1 pound (4 sticks) of butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons of hot sauce
4 whole garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 tablespoon of big flake Creole seasoning (like Zatarain's
   Big & Zesty - see note)
Couple/three glugs of a good bottled beer, optional
2 lemons, one juiced, the other sliced thin
Freshly cracked black pepper
Hot French bread, for dipping in the sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap the french bread in aluminum foil and set aside. Drain the shrimp and then transfer to a large jellyroll pan.

In a saucepan, melt the butter together with the olive oil. Add in the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic, salt, Creole seasoning and beer. Simmer for about 15 minutes and set aside to cool slightly.

Place the wrapped bread in the oven. Spread the shrimp out on a jellyroll pan in one layer and pour the butter sauce all over the shrimp, tossing to coat. Squeeze the juice of one lemon all over the tray of shrimp. Heavily coat the shrimp all over with freshly cracked black pepper and toss slices of lemon across the top. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway.

Remove the bread and slice. You can keep the bread soft and slice it as is, or unwrap the bread the last 5 minutes of cooking to crisp it up slightly.

Serve the shrimp in large soup bowls, with plenty of juice, and slices of the hot French bread to sop up the juices.

Note: I used 3 pounds of headed shrimp, in the shell, Slap Ya Mama Hot Pepper Sauce and Zatarain's Big & Zesty Garlic Herb Creole Seasoning, which as you'll see in the photo below, is a big flake Creole seasoning. If you don't have a big flake Creole seasoning like this, use 1 teaspoon of regular Cajun or Creole seasoning and add 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, rosemary, and thyme and a dash of dried, hot pepper flakes.

When you're done, sop up some of the left behind juices with another piece of French bread if you like, remove the dishes and roll up the newspaper.

Tip!  Leftovers make a pretty darned good shrimp scampi.  Prepare pasta according to package directions - spaghetti, linguine, even vermicelli all work fine. To a large skillet, add 1/2 cup of white wine and 1 garlic clove, minced fine. Bring to a boil. Toss in the shrimp and stir just to warm the shrimp through - remember they are already cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste; add a sprinkle of parsley. Add the drained pasta and toss to thoroughly coat. Garnish with another light sprinkle of parsley. Serve immediately.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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An easy crockpot BBQ pulled pork perfect for sandwiches, shown here with Sweet Potato Fries.

Spicy Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork

I purchased a pork shoulder, just under 9 pounds, at the Commissary the other day with the intention of making some kind of crockpot cheater pulled pork with it. I had seen Sandra Lee do a substantially smaller pork butt on Food Network recently, cooking it in a mixture of barbecue sauce, chicken broth and mustard. It looked really good, though I wondered if using a sauce with all that fat produced from the pork would really make a difference.

I pulled out my 6-1/2 quart oval crockpot to cook this monstrosity in, and let me tell you, it pretty much filled up that pot! A big piece of fatty pork in a crockpot did make me a little nervous about overflow to be honest, especially since I was cooking this overnight, so I set the crockpot onto a rimmed baking sheet, just in case. Thankfully my fears never manifested, although I admit my sleep did suffer a bit!

Here's how to make it.

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Chicken thighs, slow cooked in a seasoned Creole sauce with The Trinity, and served with fettuccine noodles.

Crockpot Creole Chicken

This Creole Crockpot Chicken recipe was born out of me still trying to learn to love my crockpot, especially for chicken. I'm a low and slow oven kinda gal, and you see, chicken in a slow cooker, even dark meat chicken, that goes longer than it should, well... it can easily transform to the shredded stage, kinda like this...

More like pulled chicken. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It was still good.

With that particular recipe I ended up getting distracted with time and figured it wouldn't matter if I let the chicken go longer before I got to it. Well, when I tried to take it out, it all just fell off the bone.  I ended up fishing out the bones and stirring it all up, and making some pasta to spoon the chicken over.  Lesson learned.  Not at all bad. It's just that I kind of prefer my chicken end up identifiable!

My experience with chicken breasts in the crockpot in the past hasn't been much better either, often ending in dry and tasteless, chewy chicken. Chicken breasts in a crockpot, especially boneless, skinless chicken breasts, generally take a very short trip, even on low. Not all that helpful for a working man or woman who is away from the house for 9 or 10 hours.

So... I guess as far as using a slow cooker, I'm still a work in progress.

For this recipe, I whisked together a cup of Coca Cola Classic with some tomato sauce since I thought the Coke might help to boost the flavor like with my Crockpot Coca Cola Roast Beef. Then I added a healthy dose of Creole seasoning, and some basil and garlic powder, and tossed in some chopped onion, celery and coarsely chopped green bell pepper.

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A hardy soup of navy beans with a mirepoix of veggies and plenty of bacon flavor.

Bean with Bacon Soup

I've had this Bean with Bacon soup on my mind for awhile now since the canned version of Campbells is one of The Cajun's favorite. Since the dry beans had been hanging around the pantry waiting for me to write this soup recipe, I decided to go ahead and make it this weekend.

Now, fair warning. This is a bean with bacon soup, so seeing as bacon is a primary ingredient, well... I used nearly a full 12-ounce package of bacon for a pound of beans. I wanted PUH-lenty of bacon flavor, so don't go scoffing at me okay? Use what you want - even 4 slices would probably still make a nice flavorful soup.

While I'm on this thought, isn't it super aggravating how some manufacturers have changed the familiar one pound package of bacon to 12-ounces so that it still looks like we are buying a pound of bacon? We're actually paying what we used to pay for a full pound and getting less and guess what? It's happening with a lot of the products we buy and it infuriates me. Do they seriously think we consumers don't notice this?  {tucking away the soapbox now}

I also used 4 cups of frozen pork broth that was leftover from the last time I made the cheater pulled pork (the boiled version, not the crockpot one) for part of the water.  I can't exactly call it a stock since I didn't use any aromatics or anything, but I just couldn't see dumping that water out and knew it would come in handy for a soup or stew, or something on down the line. It really did boost the pork flavor for this soup. Another good reason to do a cheater pulled pork that way! You can certainly use plain water or even a combination of water and a vegetable or chicken broth.

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Banana Pudding made with Moon Pies & a decadent filling!

Moon Pie Banana Pudding

From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Published: January 22, 2011
Moon Pie Banana Pudding. No I haven't lost my mind! Nor have I thrown my Old Fashioned Homemade Banana Pudding to the wayside either... but, let me just back up here for a second.

New Year's Eve passed recently with a dropping of a giant illuminated one in Mobile, Alabama, and with Mardi Gras upon us, pretty soon they will be flying off of floats all over the Gulf Coast region.  The rest of you around the country are probably thinking "what the heck is she talkin' about?"  Why, yes - MoonPies! They are a well-loved southern icon, that's for sure.

MoonPies are a marshmallow sandwich cookie originating from Chattanooga Bakery in Tennessee. In the early 1900s, a bakery salesman, Earl Mitchell, Sr. was visiting a bakery that catered to coal miners, and spoke with some of the miners who told him they were looking for a workday snack. It needed to be one that would be solid and filling and easy to carry for the times they weren't able to break for lunch. When Mitchell asked how big, a miner held his hands up to frame the shape of the moon, and said "about that big."

Later, when Mitchell returned to the bakery, he noticed some of the workers had created a snack by dipping graham crackers into marshmallow, and then laying them out in the sun to harden.  He married those two ideas together, added another cookie, dipped them in chocolate, tested samples, and the MoonPie brand was born! Paired up with a 10-ounce RC Cola for only ten cents, it quickly became the south's working man's lunch, and even inspired a country song "Give Me an RC and a MoonPie" in the 50s.

So anyway, for awhile now, I've been eyeballing Paula Deen's Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding because I liked her idea of combining whipped cream, sweetened condensed milk, and cream cheese with instant banana pudding. I mean that's jazzing it up for sure, if you're not gonna go to the trouble of making a homemade custard.  And then I saw Southern Living's Over the Moon Banana Pudding from way back in 2003, so I took part of the concepts from both, changed things up a little bit, and married the two together. The result was a delicious, over-the-top, and extremely rich banana pudding, perfect for a potluck, church supper, as a funeral food dessert, and fits right in our Sunday Suppers series.

Now. On to this decadently rich marriage of MoonPies and Banana Pudding.

For this recipe, I used the Double Decker Chocolate MoonPies, but the regular MoonPies would work also. If you can't find MoonPies in your area, you can order them online.

You start by mixing a block of softened cream cheese with a can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated!) and stir until blended.  In a separate bowl, whisk the pudding mix with the milk until blended, then combine the two. Put about a cup into the bottom of a bowl.  Take 3 of the MoonPies and cut them up. Mine were a bit crumbly, but don't worry about that. We're gonna save those crumbles for the garnish. Put the crumbles in a zipper storage bag and set aside.

Throw a layer of the MoonPies on top of the pudding in the bowl and add a layer of 3 sliced bananas on top of that.

Pour half of the remaining pudding on top of that and repeat the layers with the MoonPies and the remaining bananas. Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Just before serving, sprinkle the reserved crumbs all over the top, and if desired, garnish with a few extra MoonPie wedges.

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Moon Pie Banana Pudding
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
   at room temperature
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not
   evaporated milk)
2 cups milk
1 (5.1 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding
6 Original or Double-Decker MoonPies, cut into
   squares or wedges
6 bananas, sliced
1 (8 ounce) Cool Whip, thawed or equal amount
   of whipped cream

Cream the cream cheese until smooth; add the sweetened condensed milk and stir until blended.  In a separate bowl, whisk the pudding mix with the milk until blended. Combine the two and mix well.

Cut three of the MoonPies in half and then into three slices, for a total of 6 pieces, reserving any crumbles and storing them until needed for garnish. In the bottom of a 2-quart bowl, add about 1 cup of the pudding mixture, the 3 chopped MoonPies and slice three of the bananas on top.  Repeat layers with about half of the remaining pudding mixture, 3 more chopped MoonPies, 3 more sliced bananas, and top with all of the remaining pudding mixture. Spread the pudding across the top, add the whipped cream or Cool Whip on top, and carefully spread it evenly on top. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Scatter the MoonPie crumbs all over the top as a garnish, and add extra wedges of MoonPie, if desired.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup with Black-eyed Peas

A beef broth and tomato based soup made with smoked sausage, sweet potatoes, and black-eyed peas.

Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup

This fantastic soup was inspired by a recipe I saw while flipping through an old cookbook of mine, Is It Soup Yet? - A Cookbook for Soup Lovers. Actually it's a 1998 cookbook and not really all that old, but I guess in terms of a cookbook, it's practically vintage these days.  

It's out of print now, but available pretty cheap used at Amazon if you're interested.  The reason I bought it, besides the fact that I love soup of course, was for the pretty illustrations it contained.  I think I love these kinds of cookbooks as much, maybe even more, than the ones that are beautifully photographed!

The illustrator here is Shelly Reeves Smith and I think her work is beautiful, don't you? I have a couple that she has illustrated, but her latest was At Our Table: Favorite Recipes to Share with the People You Love, issued last year. Check out the link if you want to see some other illustrated cookbooks, but be careful. I can't promise they won't hook you too. I just think they're lovely and they make me smile so thought I'd share these treasures with y'all!

Anyway, when I saw the combination of sweet potatoes with sausage in a soup, I have to say I was intrigued. Y'all already know I am pretty much a soup kinda gal anyway, but I have to say I absolutely adored this one. It will definitely be one for the regular rotation of favorite soups in my kitchen.  The smoked sausage, sweet potato and black-eyed peas really are a fantastic combination of complimentary flavors I think you'll love.

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Southern Pecan Pie Muffins

I had a taste for these Pecan Pie Muffins the other day, so while it's practically a no-recipe, recipe that is in most every southerner's recipe box, here they are. They are rich, chewy muffins that tastes a lot like a piece of pecan pie. They really do!

They are a little bit sticky and delicate though, so until you make them a few times I advise using paper liners in your muffin tin just for ease of removal. Lightly spray the paper cups with non-stick spray though so that the muffin doesn't try to adhere to the paper making them crumble to pieces when you pull the paper off.

Look how nice and tender these are and of course, there's plenty of pecan. Personally, I love the little crunchy edges that spill over on to the top of the muffin tin.

Common on the potluck, funeral food and other social event circles, these delightful muffins are always a hit no matter where you take them, so be prepared to offer up the recipe, just in case somebody doesn't have it. It's super easy too - 5 simple ingredients is all there is to it.

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Southern Pecan Pie Muffins
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1 cup of dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of White Lily self rising flour
1 cup of chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin liners and spray the liners with Baker's Joy non-stick spray. 

Cream the butter until smooth; add the sugar and beat until blended.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat in. Add the flour and the pecans and fold in gently until blended.  Spoon the batter into the muffin tins a little more than halfway full.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center muffins comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Doubles great for 24 muffins.

Variation:  Can use light brown sugar.  Can also do bite sized mini-muffins, perfect for parties, but start checking those at about 12-15 minutes. You'll get about 2-1/2 dozen.

Tip: If you aren't using liners, allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing, unless you are making mini-muffins. Remove those as soon as you can easily manage them and set on a cooling rack.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Sunday Suppers: Oven Braised Pot Roast with Vegetables

Chuck roast, braised low and slow in the oven in a light roux with pot roasted veggies - it's a classic Sunday roast.

Oven Braised Pot Roast with Vegetables

This oven braised chuck roast rocks. That's it. I seriously could just end the post there to be honest. It is just simply the best roast you could ever possibly want to eat. For real y'all!

Essentially my Old Fashioned Pot Roast, except revised a tad for the oven, and adding in the classic two pot roast veggies, potatoes and carrots. I decided to call it a Sunday Oven Braised Pot Roast because it reminded me of just that. The kind of roasts our mama's and grandma's would sear off and then stick into a low oven to cook nice and slow while we all headed off out the door to church.

I know that just brings back wonderful memories for many of us, coming home to that welcoming aroma and gathering around the family dinner table shortly after every Sunday. There was a time when we were expected by our Mamas to be at that dinner table every single Sunday, at a certain time, without exception. I truly do hope this tradition sees a revival because frankly, I think we all need that reconnection with one another in the world of technology we live in now. Family dinner around the table - what a concept!

My meat and potatoes lovin' Cajun literally raved over this roast folks - even the leftovers. It really is that good.

Let's start. Once again we practice my motto for Deep South Cooking - building layers of flavor!

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Homemade French onion soup made with a beef bone enhanced broth, caramelized sweet and yellow onion, and finished with croutons and cheese.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup is a well loved winter favorite, and it's as loved in The South as it is anywhere. But... it does take patience to make. It is so worth every single second of the time. Caramelized onions simmered in a deep, rich beef stock, and topped with crusty bread or croutons and gooey cheese. I wish I could convey to you how delicious this soup is. I truly say it is the best French onion soup I have ever made. Is your mouth watering yet?

I believe it earns the name French onion soup when it has the cheesy topping, traditionally Gruyere, though you can certainly use whatever cheese you prefer. Don't hold me to that name thing, since I've never dipped a single toe in French territory myself.

While it is certainly easiest, and less time consuming, to make this soup with onions stewed down and simply added to a store-bought broth - the way that I've made it myself in the past - if that is the only way you've ever had French onion soup at home, you have been missing out. I learned that indeed making it at home is a process, and a weekend process for many, but the time you put into it is so very worth the outcome.

I decided to still use a commercially prepared broth to save a little of that time, since making a full blown, rich beef stock would only add hours to this process. I just felt this soup deserving of a much richer base than broth alone, so I decided to enhance it. I thought the best way to do that would be to utilize some simple soup bones. The best way to bring out the flavor in those, in my opinion, is oven roasting them. A drizzle of oil and a roast in the oven. Simple, but a remarkable layer of flavor. You can find beef bones at your local market.

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

Olivia's Croutons

You may have recently seen the soup round-up of some of my favorite soups in honor of National Soup Month and January has certainly proved soup-worthy just about everywhere around the country.  I say this even as I sit here now on our coldest night yet this season, with my Snoozies on my feet and my Snuggie on my body trying to stay warm, sipping hot cocoa. I kid you not! Well, one thing you may not have considered as a fantastic garnish for the soups you indulge in this month, are croutons!

I recently had the opportunity to try Olivia's Croutons and received packages of Multi Grain & Garlic and Certified Organic Garlic & Herb croutons.

Along with Butter & Garlic, Parmesan Pepper, and Vermont Cheddar & Dill croutons.

Olivia’s Croutons are made in small batches, on a working farm in Northern Vermont. The company was born in 1991, in the home kitchen of Francie, the young mother of then 3 year old Olivia, and 2 year old David. Within four months, demand for the croutons grew from an initial order of 20 bags, to selling them in stores, signing their first big store and doing a demo that resulted in 200 bags being sold in just three days.  Within two years the operation moved into a basement commercial kitchen of its own and continued growing until Olivia's moved into their own building in the next town. After the purchase and extensive renovations to a 1912 dairy barn, Olivia’s moved into it’s current home on a 50 acre homestead, where the owners grow the wheat for their croutons and produce their products in the cleverly concealed insides of the historic barn.

All of Olivia's products are baked with fresh, made from scratch, Vermont breads baked right on the property, many from wheat grown right on the property. The bread for the croutons is then rested overnight and cut the very next day.  Special seasonings are applied, the croutons are spread on trays and baked in small batches, cooled and packaged. There are no preservatives or artificial anything used in Olivia's products. It's really a pretty cool process, not much different than if you and I were making these fresh, right in our own homes, but on a slightly larger scale. Check it out!

Olivia's carries all of the products shown above, and recently added two flavors of Stuffing. The traditional stuffing is made from a combination of their French and Multi Grain breads and seasoned with lots of traditional, all natural, poultry seasonings. The cornbread stuffing is made with old fashioned unsweetened cornbread and a combination of traditional poultry herbs and spices, plus a bit of marjoram and nutmeg to give it a classic flavor with a twist.

Croutons are a classic topper for salads, of course, and this salad below features the multi-grain croutons. It's a great way to add in a bit of extra fiber with your salad. And, of course they are perfect for a panzanella salad.

But what else can you do with croutons?

Well, since it is National Soup Month, why not top your favorite soups with them? You may recall seeing them on this Greens and Black-eyed Pea Soup that I served up on New Years Day. I used the Butter & Garlic croutons - an award winner - with this soup. Fantastic crunch, nicely seasoned, buttery garlic flavor, these were just delicious.

And, I used the Parmesan Pepper croutons - another award winner - on this soup. Loved these! Made from freshly baked French bread, coated in quality olive and canola oils, and tossed with just enough cracked black pepper to give it a nice bite, plus fresh garlic and imported Parmesan, I don't mind telling y'all these are an awesome snack too.   Can you tell what soup this is the makings of?

Yep - that'd be French Onion Soup, topped with Olivia's Parmesan Pepper croutons and lawdy mercy is it ever good!

Got this Sausage and Sweet Potato Soup coming to you next - this one is topped with Olivia's Multi Grain. Oh my gosh is it good!

Throw some of the Vermont Cheddar and Dill croutons into a bowl of tomato soup, or in a spinach salad. 

But, croutons can also be used in other ways - ways that you may not have thought of before.

You can also use them as a stuffing base in squash and other vegetables, or in chops, chicken, stuffed steak or fish. Crushed croutons can also be used as a topping on a casserole, a coating for virtually any protein, or to stir into soups and pastas to add texture and body.

Try the Vermont Cheddar and Dill croutons crushed and coated on baked fish, or use crushed Multi Grain and Garlic croutons to stuff pork, or chicken.  And, being the bread lover that I am, I found that they all were perfect for snacking too.  Those Parmesan Pepper ones made an awesome snack.

Just think outside of the salad plate!

Check out the recipes at Olivia's site, but if you follow them on their blog, you'll find even more recipes and some interesting facts. Like, did you know some crouton manufacturers spray flavoring on their croutons? Olivia's doesn't do that. Their croutons are made by hand-seasoning freshly baked bread with delicious oils and butter and plenty of fresh garlic, grated cheeses, herbs and spices baked into the crouton.

Olivia's Croutons are widely available in supermarkets, specialty food shops, and on the web. Next time you're in your store, look for them!

Follow Olivia's on Twitter
Like Olivia's on Facebook
Follow Olivia's Blog

Disclosure: Olivia's provided me with their crouton products to try.
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