Cajun Boil

When I was a kid my family and I took a few trips to Lake Shasta and stayed on a houseboat with my aunt and uncle and other extended family members. We saw bears, tons of deer, caught some fish, and inadvertently went rafting (in a houseboat...) I was just young enough to not really remember those trips now, but I do have memories from the photographs I've seen, not to mention the trauma from the rafting incident. Just teasing, Uncle Gary!

The first time I had this meal was on one of those house boat trips. I don't remember the first meal because I was too young, but my family has had this hundreds of times since then. It's a really fun meal, especially for a group. But this isn't a fine dining sort of meal... it involves newspapers and piles of shrimp shells.

Cajun Boil
for 6


1 Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp, & Crab Boil in Bag
6 ears of corn
12 red potatoes
1 large bag of fresh or frozen, shell on, raw shrimp
8 spicy sausage links (like chicken andouille)
6-12 sourdough rolls, depending on your carb neediness
condiments: ketchup, horseradish, a selection of mustards and hot sauces, salt, pepper, butter

Add crab boil bag to the most giant pot you have (like industrial size huge) and fill 5" below rim with water.

You might call it a cauldron.

Prep corn by breaking into halves, or thirds, depending on your forearm strength.

Wash and scrub potatoes. Dry, pierce with a fork, and pre-cook in microwave on a plate for 12 minutes, or until cooked evenly.

Get your other ingredients ready. Rinse off shrimp (nobody likes frozen shrimp ice sauce).

And cut sausages into halves.

Water should be boiling away at this point!

Add in sausage and cook 2-3 minutes, or until just starting to plump up.

Add corn. Cook 4-5 minutes, or until a little brighter yellow.

Add shrimp. Cook about 5 minutes, or until they float and are red and opaque.

Prep your table! This is the fun part. The first layer (which you can't see) is a cut open trash bag. This protects the table from juices. Then put a few layers of newspaper, making sure you use the newspaper for placemats. Then finally, a layer of paper towels. You could use dish towels too. We make a ring of potatoes. It's kinda blair witchy.

Drain the boil!

And dump that shit on the table!

Now go be a pig and eat with your hands. Yum!

Ginger Lime Chicken

I thought I had made chicken every which way I possibly could.

Grilled. Baked. Stir-Fried. Braised. Crock-Pot-ed. Poached. Sauteed.

I had just resolved that unless it was going to involve a chicken thigh and some kind of fatty gravy, my chicken was also going to be tough, dry, and chewy.

Alas! No more! I'm never making shitty chicken breast again.

This recipe was adapted from Weight Watchers

Ginger Lime Chicken
for four


4 chicken breasts, cut into two pieces each
2 ziploc bags
1/4 c. soy sauce
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
zest of 1 lime
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger root
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chili oil
2 tsp sriracha or asian hot sauce of choice
2 green onions, diced, for topping

2-4 hours ahead of time, combine soy sauce, lime juice, lime zest, ginger, garlic, honey, oil, and hot sauce. Whisk until honey is dissolved. Can I eat this as soup? It would be a great potsticker sauce. 

Line one ziploc bag with another and place chicken breasts into inside bag.

Carefully pour in marinade, then squeeze out the air and seal each bag carefully.

After 2-4 hours marinating in the fridge, preheat the broiler. Lightly spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Remove chicken breasts from bags and place into baking dish, discarding extra marinade.

Broil for 7 minutes, then flip breasts and broil for an additional 7 minutes. (May be longer if you have big breasts) :)


Then forget to take a finished picture, but put together a delicious succotash with random veggies in your fridge. Yum!

So many breast jokes I want to make right now.

Perfect Baked Potatoes

This one is not for the sodium conscious.

But ohmagawd it's soooo good! This whole thing started with a big bunch of green onions about to go bad. So when you have extra green onions, what do you do? Make baked potatoes - duh!

So I googled "perfect baked potato" and epicurious to the rescue!

The cooking times on that recipe were way wrong, but the idea was way right.

Salt-Crusted Baked Potatoes


4 russet potatoes
1 egg white or 3 tbsp egg white substitute
3 tbsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425 F
Scrub potatoes clean and pat dry. Pierce each potato with fork tines about four times.

In a bowl, toss potatoes with egg whites. You want them well coated.

Place potatoes in a foil lined baking dish and sprinkle with salt. Pick up each potato and rub the salt around. Note: not fun if you have paper cuts!

Bake for 90 minutes.

The salt and egg whites will form this magical sodium crust on the outside of the potato. You can crack off extra salt crust when you serve, but trust me, you'll want some of that crispy saltiness.

Top with anything. I suggest that pile of green onions in your fridge.