Tag: Creole Louisiana

Holidays, Louisiana, Mardi Gras, Recipes

Easy Peasy Crescent Roll King Cake

This year I’m sharing an easy peasy crescent rolls king cake recipe.

When it was time to make a king cake this year, I couldn’t find Pillsbury Dough Sheets, so this was an opportunity to figure out how to make a king cake with crescent rolls. The stores said they had the inventory, but not enough employees to keep the shelves stocked. YIKES. It takes a little more skill, but it’s still easy peasy!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls or Grands!
  • cinnamon sugar mix: ½ c. granulated sugar + 2 tbsp cinnamon  or filling of your choice
  • plastic king cake baby (to hide inside, of course!)
  • purple, green, & gold sugar sprinkles
  • 1 can Pillsbury Cream Cheese Icing or make your own

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 °F (190 °C).
  2. Grease a pizza pan or cover with parchment paper. (Easily transfers to a serving dish using parchment paper.)
  3. Mix the cinnamon and sugar.
  4. Unroll one can of crescent rolls and separate into 8 triangles. Arrange the triangles, slightly overlapping all sides into a half circle with tips pointed toward the center.

5. Finish the circle by laying the triangles from the second can.

6. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mix around the middle of the dough.

7. Pull the narrow part of the triangle from the center toward the widest part.

8. Pull the widest part of the triangle from the end toward the center.

9. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. (a liquid filling may require a longer baking time)

  10. While the cake is in the oven, read THE KING CAKE BABY. Don’t let your baby run away!

Decorate the King Cake

1. Soften ½ can of Pillsbury Cream Cheese icing or make a cream cheese icing using the recipe below.

Cream cheese icing:

  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 4oz cream cheese, softened
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract  
  • 3 tablespoons milk

2. Hide one plastic king cake baby in the cake’s underside.

3. While the cake is still warm, pour icing on top.

4. Top with sugar sprinkles, alternating purple, green, and gold colors.

5. Before eating, check your piece to see if you got the baby!

And check out my post on how to host an Easy Peasy King Cake Party with pictures.

Bon appétit!

by Keila Dawson2 Min Reading
Author visits, Louisiana, Mardi Gras, Picture books, School Visits

Kings’ Day School Visit

“It was a pleasure to have Keila V. Dawson speak to my Kindergarten class about her book The King Cake Baby! She really connected with my kids and had them saying words in French by the end of her visit.  She inspired us to write our own class book!” Elizabeth Gates, Kindergarten teacher, Rothenberg Academy, Cincinnati Public Schools.

On January 6th, the first day of Carnival, I had the pleasure of virtually visiting with Kindergarten students at Rothenberg Academy in Cincinnati. We compared Cincinnati to New Orleans and talked about things that are the same and different. Ok, mostly we talked about food!

And I read THE KING CAKE BABY. So happy to have inspired them to write their own stories, and I can’t wait to read them!

by Keila Dawson1 Min Reading
Louisiana, Mardi Gras, Recipes

Easy Peasy King Cake Party!

If you want to host an Easy Peasy King Cake Party for Carnival…

See my earlier post for the recipe.

Who’d like to help?

You’ll need three Pillsbury Crescent Dough Sheets.

Roll out each dough sheet into a rectangle

Mix cinnamon and sugar for the filling and divide among each dough sheet.

Gently roll each from the shortest side of the rectangle.

I can do it myself!

Connect here, here, and here to create an oval shape.

And place the cake into the oven to bake.

Whoever finds the baby will need a crown! The origami crown was easy peasy for the 10-year-old but a challenge for the younger kids. But I had a plan B!

Make a paper plate crown. Here’s a video. Easy peasy!

Don’t forget the baby!

Soften the icing while the cake cools…

Soften the icing while the cake cools…

…so it spreads easily.

…so it spreads easily.

Easy peasy!

See! I can do it all by myself!

Let it flow! Let it flow!

Allow the icing to pour over the sides of the cake. YUM!

Add the sugar sprinkles in a pattern- purple, green, and gold.

I picked purple. I’m first!

What’s next?

Then…

My turn!

And one more round of sprinkles.

There’s more than one way to get the job done.

Easy peasy!

Voilà. It’s a king cake!

Let’s eat!

Time to cut the cake.

Check your piece for the baby before you eat.

I didn’t get the baby.

Who got the baby?

All hail to the Queen!

What an easy peasy and fun king cake party!

Find the recipe here. If you can’t find dough sheets, here’s an Easy Peasy Crescent Roll King Cake Recipe.

Why is there a baby in a king cake? How did the tradition of eating king cake during the Carnival season come about? Read my guest post over at Alphabet Soup to find the answers.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

by Keila Dawson2 Min Reading
Louisiana, Mardi Gras

King Cake Baby Needlepoint

At my annual physical with my doctor we had this conversation:

DOC: How’s the book biz?

ME: Busy with an upcoming release.

DOC: Oh good, I bought your last book. My son lives in Manhattan and needlepoints in Central Park. He made a King Cake. Look, he added the baby! 💜💚💛👑😍⚜️🎭

How cool is that! KCB in NYC.

by Keila Dawson1 Min Reading
Louisiana, Recipes

Recipe: Creole Louisiana Smothered Cabbage Recipe

I am often asked for my recipes after posting pictures. Here’s one for the cabbage I grew up eating in New Orleans. Folks in Louisiana do appreciate good food!

Bon appétit!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Creole Louisiana Smothered Cabbage

_____________

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 Tbl. butter

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 strips of bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 lb. ham, cubed

1 lb. andouille sausage or another smoked sausage, coin sliced

2-3 heads of cabbage, cored, cleaned and chopped

1 tsp. Louisiana Creole Seasoning

  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
  • -1 teaspoon paprika
  • -1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • -1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • -1 tbl dried garlic powder
  • -1/2 tsp black pepper
  • -1/2 tsp onion powder

½ tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 cup white rice, cooked

Salt & pepper to taste

Cornbread (optional)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Instructions:

  1. Cut and clean cabbage leaves.

  2. In a 6 quart pot, fry bacon on high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high, add ham, and sausage. Cook for about 15 minutes.

  3. Add oil and onion, cook until onion is brown. Reserve the meat & onion in a bowl.

  4. Use the same pot, add a little water, reduce heat to medium. Fill the pot with cabbage and cover. Check often, stirring cabbage until the cabbage wilts, adding water as needed.

  5. Continue adding more cabbage to fill the pot. Cabbage is cooked when all leaves are wilted and some turn light brown. Add Louisiana Creole Seasoning and cayenne.

  6. Return meat to pot, add garlic and butter. Do not cover. Instead, allow remaining water in the pot to evaporate.

  7. Serve over white rice.

 

by Keila Dawson2 Min Reading
History, Louisiana

National Gumbo Day!

It’s National Gumbo Day!

And all Louisianans know nothing stirs the emotions like a discussion about food. But we all know the answers to the questions often asked by visitors to New Orleans, “Who makes the best gumbo in the city?” The typical reply is, “My mama.” Or “Where do I go to eat the best gumbo in the city?”  That answer is, “My kitchen.” Because our mamas taught us to make our gumbos.

So what’s all the fuss about? Firstly, Gumbo is the official cuisine of Louisiana. Easy to understand why any origins to the dish would then elevate a group to a special status. However the name of the dish itself is a perfect analogy to the culture of Louisiana, it’s a mixed pot.

The first reference to ”gombeau” in New Orleans was in 1764 discovered by Louisiana colonial historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. It’s a record of testimony written in French and archived in the records of the French Superior Council. Of course this does not mean others who lived in the territory before 1764 were not making the dish, but often the reference to 1802 as the first record of gumbo is incorrect. In 1764 we know where in the world people came from who lived in the colony and who they found living there upon arrival. We know the Choctaw, an indigenous Louisiana people thickened soups using filé, still used today to thicken many gumbos and some believe used the term ‘kombo-lichi’ to refer to such dishes. We know ki ngombo is the Bantu word for okra, another staple used in some gumbos. And today, we know a good gumbo requires a roux, a mixture of flour and a fat like butter, used in classical French cooking as a thickening agent. But these facts still don’t answer the question about the origin of the dish. Maybe that’s a good thing because like all those ingredients put in a gumbo pot, what comes out is something special and unique. Just like me and everyone out there with Louisiana roots.

Happy Sunday Gumbo Day!

gumbo

 

 

by Keila Dawson2 Min Reading

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