A mixture of fresh corn, cut from the cob, sauteed with Vidalia onion, sweet and hot peppers, and finished with southwestern seasonings.

Fiesta Confetti Corn

You've probably seen this version of canned corn at the grocery market, though it has gone through several renames. Once referred to as Mexicorn, it then became Fiesta Corn and I think now, is mostly referred to as a Southwestern style corn.

It's basically just a mixture of corn with onions and peppers - both sweet and hot - finished with some southwestern seasonings. I use some version of this corn in quite a few recipes, but it's also good as a simple side dish, and even better when it's homemade. Here's how to make it.

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Chicken Florentine with Mushrooms

Chicken breasts, pan seared or grilled, atop a bed of pasta with a mushroom and spinach in a cheesy Mornay cream sauce.

Chicken Florentine

You've probably seen Chicken Florentine recipes before, though there sure seems to be a wide variation on how it's made. While chicken and spinach are typically involved, sometimes seafood or even eggs, in a version similar to eggs Benedict, are substituted.

Some serve the chicken in layers over a bed of spinach with a Mornay sauce poured over that, topped with cheese and baked. More often it's simply cooked in the skillet. Some add pasta or mashed potatoes and top it off with sliced, cooked chicken and spoon the sauce on top. Some include mushrooms and some are prepared with a tomato based sauce. Some are creamy, and some even shortcut the sauce with cream soup, typically cream of mushroom.

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Fresh, wild American shrimp, pan seared and simply seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with Cajun andouille sausage and a simple, light sauce made with tomatoes, okra, fresh corn stripped from the cob, the trinity and some flavorful seasonings. Serve over hot, steamed rice.

Cajun Salt and Pepper Shrimp with Andouille

There are all kinds of "salt and pepper" shrimp out there and this is probably not like very many of them. That's because I kind of threw this together with what I had on hand and wasn't sure what to call it. I settled on the name Cajun salt and pepper shrimp because of the one pot preparation and the customary base seasonings.

Asian versions of salt and pepper shrimp, which this is not, prepare the shrimp unpeeled, tossed very lightly with cornstarch and then deep fried in the shell, with the intent of eating the shrimp and the shells. Though I did include that variation in the Cooks Notes at the bottom of the recipe, that just didn't appeal to me. I'm sure I'll get around to at least trying it at some point - I'm game for just about anything food-related, at least once! For this, I really just wanted to keep it peeled, to a simple pan sear, seasoned fairly generously with some sea salt and freshly cracked peppercorns and of course, a little Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, and a few other delicious add-ins!

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A casserole layered in with pasta, pasta sauce, cheese, sausage and pepperoni. All the flavors of a great pizza, in a casserole! Half recipe pictured.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Casserole

I mean, how can you not love something that has a stack of pepperoni on top, and while it may look like a pizza, there's pasta under there, another favorite of mine. Yum, yum y'all!

I've been trying to get a new post up forever, so not a lot of chat today... some of you who are happening across this blog will be happy about that I'm sure! {I've seen those memes!} Although there is often helpful information to be found in the chatter, I get it. Everybody's in a hurry and so busy today, but here's the solution. You just swipe - or scroll - on past what you don't want to read when you encounter that. The recipe and ingredients are usually toward the bottom, but don't get upset if things don't quite turn out like the picture showed you then, because in your rush, you probably missed some important stuff!

So... here's my chatter for the day. I'm busy as all get out!

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Stewed Blackberries and Dumplings

Fresh blackberries, sweetened and stewed and topped with sweet steamed dumplings. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Blackberries and Dumplings

Couple years ago, I bought two thornless blackberry plants from Cottage Farms on QVC. Being inexperienced with the plant, the first year, I wasn't sure what was going on with them. They grew like mad, but that's it. Lots of thick vines. Lots of green leaves. But, no blossoms. No berries, and, in fact, after a couple of freezes that winter, I resigned myself that they didn't make it.

Thank goodness I didn't cut them down because lo and behold come spring the next year, I saw new growth sprouting along all of the old canes and before I knew it, blossoms everywhere, followed by the most beautiful, huge, gorgeous and tasty blackberries.

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A simple, light dessert, with layers of homemade egg custard, macerated strawberries and a little bit of warmed strawberry jam.

Strawberries and Custard

I have sure been enjoying fresh strawberries here lately and at any given time there are usually two pounds in the fridge. Right now I'm seeing Louisiana berries the most in the markets, and they sure are delicious.

Honestly, I don't often do much with strawberries in the way of a recipe. While I enjoy them occasionally in a frozen or layered dessert, a cobbler, pie or cake, or even simply macerated and spooned over a shortcake or a slice of pound cake, I mostly just eat them in their natural state. Add a little homemade egg custard though, and how can you go wrong with that?

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Seasoned shrimp, seared and tossed in a tomato and trinity based cream sauce, with mushrooms and linguine.

Cajun Shrimp and Linguine

This is another quick and easy skillet meal, using shrimp and pasta. I prepare the pasta in my Fasta Pasta, a kitchen tool I've shown you many times here on the website, and one that I use often,. So much easier - and faster - than preparing in a large pasta pot for sure!

Other than that, this dish is essentially a simple, one pot preparation, classic in Cajun cooking and using a simple sauce base of tomatoes, the trinity and cream with fresh Gulf shrimp, seasoned with Cajun seasoning and a little Old Bay added, and all that tossed with pasta. Easy and delicious! Here's how to make it.

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A whole, cut-up chicken, browned in cooking oil, slow stewed and finished with fluffy, rolled dumplings.

Browned Chicken and Fluffy Rolled Dumplings

Whole chickens go on sale around here all the time, usually at 99 cents a pound, though sometimes as low as 69 cents. They usually restrict the number you can get, but I always get the limit and go back for a few more another day if there's room in the freezer.

It's considered a loss-leader in the industry, and it works, because that second trip always ends up with additional grocery purchases, even if only to stock up the pantry with canned goods and such. Although a 3 to 4 pound chicken is sufficient, I say get a bigger one and put up what you don't use here - that's what I do! The chicken I used here was nearly 6 pounds, so I had a few cups to freeze for another meal.

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Firm white fish and shrimp, lightly seasoned and pan seared, and finished in a tomato based Creole sauce.

Fish Creole

We are very blessed here on the Gulf Coast to have access to a wide variety of fresh fish, that frankly most of us grew up practically weaned on - flounder, speckled trout, grouper, snapper, redfish, mullet, and of course, let's not forget Mississippi farmed catfish. Yep, we're pretty spoiled and fish makes a regular appearance on the menu for us here. I love it pretty much any way that you can fix it really - grilled, smoked, blackened, broiled - it's all good, though fried and baked are the two most common ways that many of us prepare it.

Lightly breaded and shallow pan fried is far less messy than deep frying, which is outstanding, but can leave that fried aroma in the atmosphere for what seems like forever. I tend to pan fry more often because of that, but when I do a fairly big fish fry, it's deep fry all the way. I just take the fryer outside!

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A Tex-Mex casserole made from seasoned shredded pork, chicken or beef and beans, layered with corn tortillas, cheese and taco sauce and finished with chopped onion, tomato and shredded lettuce.

Tex-Mex Chalupa Casserole

I have struggled from day one over what to call this casserole. The recipe I patterned this after was called Chalupa Casserole. Okay. Except "chalupas" apparently is the Spanish word for canoe or small boat, or something to that effect, so an authentic Mexican chalupa is so named because the tortilla dough is formed in the same manner, to make a corn canoe if you will, then stuffed with a variety of fillings.

On the other hand, I have gone to a Mexican restaurant before, ordered a chalupa plate expecting that, and received what really was a tostada to me - a flat, fried tortilla, topped with refried beans and meat and dressed like a taco, with lettuce, onion and tomatoes. Nothing concave or boat shaped about it!

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