Your Place or Mine?

This week JT and I celebrated our "date night" at home before he was taking off for a couple of weeks on business. Lots to do before he left and an early flight the next day so we decided to stay in and cook up some appetizers. Keeping it light was my goal on this very hot and muggy evening of yard work. Here are the pics and recipes of our special dishes......

Louisiana Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

1 pd. of Louisiana Crabmeat (or your fresh local brand, no Chinese imported stuff allowed!)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c. of Italian style breadcrumbs

1/4 c. of Parmesan cheese

couple of dashes of creole seasoning (you can also add a dash or two of hot sauce if you like!)

couple of dashes of black pepper

1/4 c. of chopped green onion  

1 c. of seasoning blend (frozen onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic in a bag) sauteed in 2 tbsp. of your favorite butter or margarine till softened.

8 larger mushrooms for stuffing ( I bought them loose for this so I could pick them out all around the same size) 

Wipe off your mushroom with a damp paper towel (never rinse them in water)

Remove the stem, place in a baking dish stem side up

Mix all above together, make small ball shapes of your stuffing mix, place of top of each mushroom.

Place a small dollop of butter/margarine on top of each mushroom and sprinkle with creole seasoning.

Bake at 350 for 20 mins.

sliced lemon wedge on the side

Creole Tomato stuffed with Louisiana Boiled Shrimp

2-Medium to Larger Creole tomatoes (or your local favorite)   

1 pd of chilled Louisiana boiled shrimp (use leftovers from a shrimp boil or buy some at your local seafood market already prepared)

1/2 c chopped celery

1/2 c chopped bell pepper

1/4 c chopped green onion

No extra seasoning needed if you use shrimp from a boil....if your shrimp are bland then add some creole seasoning, salt/pepper to your desired taste.

Mayo (I used the light mayo)

Rinse and dry tomatoes

Cut off the top of the tomatoes and then cut out the middle to hollow out for salad. Place tomatoes upside down on paper towel to drain while you make the salad.

Peel the chilled shrimp and chop to your desired texture, I gave mine a light chop for a chunkier texture.

In a bowl, mix chopped shrimp, veggies, seasoning (if needed) and mayo. Add your mayo a little at a time till your desired consistency. You can make this ahead of time and chill until ready. Remember, never put your tomatoes in the fridge...put the chilled salad in the room temp. tomatoes!

Plate your tomatoes, stuff with salad mixture

sprinkle with creole seasoning

sliced lemon wedge on the side

Use your favorite dishes, garnish and.....Enjoy!