Guide to Northern Louisiana

February 28, 2018 The Provident Princess 0 Comments


 Andrew and I just went to Louisiana to visit my sister. She lives just outside of Shreveport (near the top of the boot). It was so great to see her.  Can I also say it was so nice to only have 1 kid for a few days!

 This was Andrew's first flight and he was great. I took a late flight hoping it would help him get some rest but he didn't sleep a wink. Luckily he was more than happy to explore and eat. Just like his mom.


DAY ONE
I've been to Louisiana a couple times now and I am always surprised at how much there is to do there. I took my 2 oldest girls during Mardi Gras a few years ago and we had a blast. This time we came to meet my newest nephew and just explore locally a little more. 

EXPLORE  _______________________________________________________________
Moray Eel
Shreveport Aquarium - It was so fun! They had a lot of fish I hadn't seen before. My favorite was that they had an exhibit of just local/ native fish and amphibians. That is such a great STEM idea. The kids who visit will now know the different species if they come across them in the wild. I think that helps build a desire in the younger generation to help preserve and respect wildlife and the outdoors.


This aquarium had so many touch and feel pool areas. I love that! It really helps the kids have a 'hands on' experience. And realize these are real living things. The first area was star fish and it was definitely a hit with the kids. 


Don't you just love this lionfish? His fins are poisonous though so I wouldn't want to meet him in the wild.


 Next up was the quintessential ray pool. Andrew was fascinated watching them whiz by. He could never quite reach down and touch one fast enough. 

  Then came something that I've never seen at an aquarium touch pool before. Jellyfish!

At first I wouldn't let Andrew put his hands in the water because I was afraid he would get stung. The employee told us just to touch the top of the jellyfish but I was wondering how they thought all kids would obey that directive. You know there is always at least one who has to push the boundaries. I was afraid someone would get hurt. Well, turns out I didn't know as much as I thought about jellyfish. Some of them are quite harmless. Especially the ones that don't have long tentacles. Phew! 

Andrew loved the jellyfish. I had a hard time keeping him from crawling right into the tank with them!

I love STEM activities that also nurture a learning and love of nature and the environment. Playing outdoors is one of the best ways to make sure kids will be active and healthy. It also keeps them away from electronics. I have always tried to start introducing my kids to nature, animals and the outdoors from a young age so that they will feel comfortable and enjoy being outdoors as they grow.

If you are ever in the Shreveport area, I would definitely recommend stopping by the Aquarium.

EAT  _____________________________________________________________________

Frank's Louisiana Kitchen - Later that day my parents and little brother came into town as well as my aunt and her grandson. We left the kids at home with a babysitter and went out for some traditional Louisiana Cajun cuisine.

Love spending time with my beautiful sister
I love that Louisiana has been able to retain its rich, french culture. Louisiana was settled by Acadian French refugees from Canada who were expelled by the British during the French and Indian War. One thing I find so interesting is that Louisiana French is barely recognizable to the rest of present day, french speaking people. They were so far removed from France's influence that their language didn't keep up with the frequent updates from other french speaking colonies, and consequently still uses many 17th century words that have become obsolete in modern day french. The word Cajun comes from the french word Acadian. 

Well Frank's Louisiana Kitchen did not disappoint. We must've ordered half the menu and every. single. dish. was. absolutely. delicious! 

We started with:
*Baked Cajun Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Lump Crabmeat- this was voted the favorite
*Blackened Crab Cakes which had a delightful zing due to added jalapenos- these were my favorite
*Crawfish & Scallop Beignets- nothing is more Cajun than crawfish and beignets so it was fun to try them together in a savory beignet. 

Next came 
*Shrimp Remoulade Salad- lettuce was tossed with remoulade sauce which is a very traditional, creamy, red, New Orleans sauce that has quite a kick from tons of horseradish and cayenne pepper. It was absolutely divine. Everything should be served with a side of remoulade. 
*Creamy Acorn Squash and Leek Soup- delicious

Crawfish Ã‰touffée
For my entree I just had to get CRAWFISH Ã‰TOUFFEÉ- this is a must-try dish if you really want to get a feeling for Cajun food. Ã‰touffée is a dish of seafood (most popularly with crawfish) served with rice. I love that it reflects the Cajuns in the bayous and backwaters of Louisiana just making use of what they had nearby all while infusing it with their traditional french sauce techniques. The base of Ã‰touffée is a roux. 

Me and my mom 
One of the things I loved most about Frank's is that every single side dish was incredible too. Some restaurants just rely on their main dishes and just offer basic sides. I loved that all these dishes were very traditional Louisiana ingredients. 

*Hazelnut Green Beans * Roasted Cauliflower with Basalmic Vinegar Glaze * Purple Hull Peas Cassoulet * Dauphinouse Potatoes and Asiago Stone Ground Grits. 

I wasn't kidding when I said we'd ordered half the menu. I could have had a meal of just sides they were that good. 

We were so full from our amazing dinner but couldn't leave without sampling a few desserts. 

I don't think my sister was too keen on me stealing her Lemon Spongecake. But she did share a bite. mmm mmm!
*Housemade Honeydew Sorbet- perfect for ending the meal on a light note
*Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie a la Mode- how could you go wrong with that?
*Lemon Spongecake with Berry Mousse and Lemon Curd- very southern
*Chef Van's Banana Pudding- with bananas foster sauce and whipped cream
I don't think my sister relished the thought of me having her Lemon

I don't think I have been to a restaurant where every single dish was so good. I can't wait to go back again!

Luckily the next day was a relaxing, family day. I definitely needed time to recover from my food comma. 

Stay tuned for our visit to Vicksburg, Mississippi.










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How to Make Chia Seed Eggs

February 27, 2018 The Provident Princess 0 Comments


One of the best things that has come from the explosion of vegan cooking into 'mainstream' cooking is the discovery of the chia seed 'egg'.  Yes chia seeds. The same ones we used in the 80's and 90's for chia pets. Little did we know that these little seeds had so much more to offer. There have been many egg substitutes over the years, but what I love about using chia seeds is that there is so much nutrition in them

Chia Seeds
Most people who buy pasture raised eggs do so for their high Omega 3 content. Any grass-fed meat or dairy product has a completely different Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acid content than its factory farmed counterpart. Most American's diets are way too heavy on the Omega 6 side and desperately need more Omega 3's. Chia seeds are an easy and really cheap way to get this essential fatty acids into our diets. In fact, if you have chickens (lucky!) you should consider feeding them chia seeds to up the omega 3 content of their eggs even more.

Not only do you get the omega 3 fatty acids in a chia egg like you would in a pasture-raised egg, but there is also about 85 mg of calcium, 3 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber! I love to use these because they are so cheap and really help keep down the budget. A pasture-raised egg runs about .50 cents an egg which is a lot to me to just throw in a recipe and not even notice there is an egg in there. We only eat our pasture-raised or organic eggs when you can tell that's what they are. Scrambled or over-easy mostly. Anytime I am cooking and it calls for an egg, I reach for my chia seeds. I usually buy chia seeds when they are on sale for around $1.99/lb. That turns out to be about 45 'eggs'! That's a lot of savings over a year.

Chia seeds are amazing. They can soak up to 6 times their weight in water! Once they soak up the water, they form a gel that will bind food together just like chicken eggs do.

The actual 'recipe' is as simple as can be.


 Measure 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds. You can use whole or ground. These are ground. I just use my coffee/spice grinder.


Add 3 Tablespoons of water.

Stir and let sit for a few minutes. As the chia seeds soak up the water, it will start to gel.


When your chia 'egg' looks like this, thick and sticking to the spoon, it is ready to be used in a quick bread recipe like muffins, cakes, pancakes, waffles. I even used them to make yeast rolls to take to my husbands family for Thanksgiving and they came out perfectly. Everyone loved them and no one suspected a thing.

NOTE---I will say that in that recipe and any other where I thought the black seeds might be too noticeable, I will grind the seeds first. If I do it like that, I will just add the ground chia seeds to my dry ingredients and mix them together really well, then I will add the wet ingredients and add those extra Tablespoons of water. If you try to incorporate a ground chia seed 'egg' that has already gelled it is hard to equally distribute into the rest of a dough or batter. 

You can also use this same technique with flaxseeds although I like chia seed eggs better. They seem to have a neutral taste whereas flaxseeds are more noticeable to me although I do use them if I want the colors to blend better.

This really is one of my favorite tricks in the kitchen. Leave a comment below to let me know what clever things you do to save money but not sacrifice nutrition.


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