Make Your Own Cajun and Creole Seasonings.

[Old_CooT]

CREOLE SEASONING BLEND

1 T salt
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 1/2 t onion powder
1 1/2 t paprika
1 1/4 t dried thyme
1 t red pepper
3/4 t black pepper
3/4 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground bay leaves
1/4 t chili powder


Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container.
Use with seafood, chicken, beef, or vegetables.
Yield: 1/4 cup.

===========================

CAJUN SEASONING

1 box salt
3T black pepper
2T garlic powder
1t onion powder
1t nutmeg
2T parsley flakes (crunched)
4T red pepper (ground) (cayenne)
2T chili powder

Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Let's see... I remember my great grandmother's pantry, out in "the country" on the prairies of southwest Louisiana. Her Cajun credentials were impeccable, and their home was a long day's haul from town.

things on her pantry shelf were things that kept well without refrigeration: black pepper, salt, powdered ginger, powdered cinnamon, vanilla extract (these three flavored many of her sweets).
Red pepper was something that was grown, then dried after the pods had been strung with needle and thread hung in the pantry to dry.

Onions were home-grown and stored in the 'potato house' along with red 'Irish potatoes'.

Green onions and parsley were in the little kitchen garden out the back door of the house. Garlic was purchases in whole heads on the rare trips to town and hung in the pantry for use as needed.

Flour, sugar and rice were purchased in bulk and stored in bins.

Canned goods included condensed and evaporated milk, and often, canned peaches. Those augmented what she didn't can herself, because the year's cycle included canning sessions for pears, plums, blackberries, and figs, vegetables, especially stewed tomatoes.

From that list, add a little meat or seafood, and you end up with REAL Cajun food.

dale in Louisiana
(who got run out of Grandma's kitchen many times)

[Old_CooT]

I'm originally from central Louisiana and grew up on a farm. There were 3 families living there, related on moms side, and I remember they would dig a pit and roast a hog in it on special occasions. We ate everything, owls, rabbits bannie hens, armadillos, whatever we could bring in.

They tore down some old sheds once and my dad took some of the planks(1 1/8" cypress) and made a boat that was pretty much like a oversized coffin coz he couldn't bed the wood, and powered it with a old B&S lawnmower motor that someone gave dad. They took me and my cousin along fishing, but we wound upbailing out the boat the whole time, it leaked like a sieve,

We used to have to pick the corn, strawberries, beans, ect by day and shuck beans and corn at night. the house was ear a hundred years old and had a woodburning potbelly stove to heat the whole house. they would put all of us kids in the tub at the same time, boys and girls to save the well.

the washer was a open top thing with a wringer over the washer tub. Sometimes at night they would roast peanuts or have us kids power the ice cream maker (hand cranked) and that was our treats.

Kinda miss those days....

[Dale in Louisiana]

Roasted peanuts, popcorm balls made with cane syrup, home-made gingerbread...

I remember the wooden boats My great-uncle had. When we borrowed it, we had to bail it out because he let water in to keep the wood swollen so it wouldn't leak. He rowed standing up, facing forward. We paddled. that boat probably weighed 800 pounds.

We used to sit on the porch in the cool of the evening and shell peas and butter beans.

slower, gentler times, they were...

dale in Louisiana