A Party Appetizer plus Eggs My Way!

Anyone who reads my blog knows that food is a major focus… While it’s not all that important to Laurie, I am an admitted “foodaholic”.  As such it was hard for me to drop 45 + pounds to get down to my current fighting weight.  Nevertheless, with a low carb diet and exercise at the local wellness center, I accomplished that feat.  Another factor is that I don’t sit and watch much TV…which I’ve observed leads to my becoming restless and then looking for something to eat!

Still, I do love good food and I go on periods of splurging on carbs and sweets.  A 5 pound bump in the wrong direction and I rein it in again!

The first food item…a very rich but tasty appetizer…was Laurie’s Louisiana themed creation for a recent wine tasting/social/eating party that was held at Big Dude and Bev’s home here in East Tennessee. Big Dude’s blog site is found at http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com.

This was Laurie’s Warm Shrimp Gumbo Dip.  Everyone agreed that this was a big winner!  Although this serves up to 16 people, and there were only 10 of us at the party, very little made it home with us.  Everybody requested the recipe too… Here it is:

Warm Shrimp Gumbo Dip

Ingredients

·       ½ stick of unsalted butter

·       ½ pint of small cherry tomatoes cut into 4 slices each

·       4 celery ribs – diced

·       12 green onions – diced (used tender green portion only)

·       2 garlic cloves – minced

·       3 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning

·       1 teaspoon of crushed red peppers

·       3 lbs. of large shrimp, peeled, deveined and each cut into 4 bite size pieces

·       16 oz. of cream cheese

·       1 cup of grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt butter in large skillet.  Add celery and sauté until tender…about 6 minutes.  Add onions.  When fragrant add the garlic (we used pre-minced), the cream cheese, crushed red pepper and Cajun seasoning.  Then add the shrimp, the Parmesan Reggiano cheese and tomatoes.  Mix together at a medium low heat.  Stir as needed until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are blended evenly throughout.

Pour or spoon the mixture into the baking dish. (We used a 9” x 13” glass baking dish) Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top. Ovens may vary...it may take 50 to 55 minutes... just keep checking.

Serve with toasted baguette slices.  We found ours at our local Fresh Market in the fresh bread area…

Enjoy! 

Now onto a series of relatively carb free breakfasts that I prepared for myself… 

I took advantage of a bit of leftover gumbo that our friend Martha made for the Louisiana based food and wine tasting party.  It was another big hit at the party.  I’d eaten 3 helpings that night!

In any case, I took the leftover gumbo, heated it up in a frying pan and then covered it with a couple of easy over fried eggs.  I added Tabasco after taking the photo…and the spicy creamy yolks blended in with the gumbo very nicely.  Good breakfast!

Then there was a subsequent breakfast…2 easy over eggs on 2 leftover salmon patties.  This started a fish related theme for my breakfast!

A few days later, I took these 2 halibut filets and heated them in a frying pan with some grated parmesan on top…

I plated the heated and browned filets on a paper plate.  The cheese hadn’t melted quite as much as I’d liked but that minor problem was soon solved.

Just cover the filets and cheese with 2 over-easy eggs!  This was a very satisfying breakfast…after I added my Tabasco...

Too much parmesan?  Not in my book!  These were leftover Tilapia filets from our recent dinner at Z Fish House in Loudon Tennessee.  They serve so much food for a very reasonable price that it’s a challenge for anyone to finish their dinner…hence leftovers! 

To view a number of reviews on Z Fish House, just go to https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55167-d8857197-Reviews-Z_FishHouse-Loudon_Tennessee.html.

And of course, after those Tilapia filets were heated up, I topped them with my usual 2 easy-over fried eggs.  Excellent!  The next time we go to Z Fish House, I’ll have to bring home one of their giant fried catfish filets for breakfast…

Well, now that I’ve worked up an appetite, I need to go and find something useful to do that keeps me away from the kitchen! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s cooking!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave