How to Make Homemade Lemonade

We’re getting back to basics so let me show you How to Make Homemade Lemonade using real lemons and adding a twist of oranges or Satsumas (tangerines).

Whether it’s hot or cold outside, a recipe for homemade lemonade is fast, easy, and so delicious. On a recent family gathering, we made two containers of homemade lemonade with real lemons to bring for drinks instead of the typical sodas. We try to avoid or steer away from heavily processed foods and drinks as much as possible. Homemade lemonade is a great natural alternative and you know it’s 100% real juice.

As with most family gatherings, there is always the usual cooler full of sodas and those sugary drinks for kids in pouches or boxes. I am not a fan of either. So this time, we decided to bring something that we liked to drink. We made a one gallon recipe of homemade lemonade using fresh lemons from my Mom’s gigantic lemon tree. Some of these lemons were like the size of a naval orange.

After squeezing about two dozen lemons, we had 2 quarts of just straight lemon juice. We filled 8 ice cube trays with the juice. Once frozen, we cracked the lemon juice cubes and placed in Ziploc freezer
bags to use as we needed. We’ll probably use 4-6 cubes when we want some fresh made lemonade.

For the How to Make Homemade Lemonade with real lemons video featured below, we used lemons, lime, and an orange. For Thanksgiving, we used my Mom’s lemons and squeezed two Satsumas (called tangerines in other parts of the country outside of Louisiana).

We thought we would come home with at least one of the containers we brought to my Dad’s. But, nope my homemade lemonade was a super hit and no one drank the sodas. How refreshing!

How to Make Homemade Lemonade: Ingredients to Make a 2 Quart Pitcher

4 cups water heated in the microwave or on the stove (boiling not necessary)
4 cups cold water
1/2 cup to 1 full cup sugar (we use the brown unrefined sugar)
4-6 lemons (use Meyer lemons if you can find them – they are the best!)
1 Orange or 2 Satumas (Satumas = Tangerines) (Minneola Tangelos are the best!)

How to Make Homemade Lemonade: Stuff Needed

2 quart pitcher
Long spoon for stirring
Citrus juicer (we have two manual types: one with glass container and plastic juicing cone and a metal juicer that squeezes the juice out of the lemon half)
Sharp paring knife
Cutting board
Large measuring cup

How to Make Homemade Lemonade: Steps to Make

Heat 4 cups water in a microwave safe container for 3 minutes. Or heat on the stove.

(Actually, hot tap water will do, in my opinion – Mike.)

Carefully remove and stir in sugar to dissolve fully. (This is called simple syrup.) Set aside.

Using the cutting board and paring knife cut the fruit in half by placing the fruit on its side; (meaning the stem part should be pointed to the side.)

Cut in half. Remove any easy to reach seeds with the tip of the knife or a fork.

Using the citrus juicer, place a lemon half on the juicing cone. Apply pressure to press down; then turn and turn until all the juice flesh is opened up.

Repeat for oranges or tangerines to add a natural sweet taste.

Pour the citrus juice into the pitcher. Add the simple sugar syrup and stir well. Fill pitcher with cold water. Taste Test for desired sweetness. We really use about 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup sugar, because we don’t like it too sweet.

Pour your Homemade Lemonade over tall iced glasses and garnish with a slice of lemon or orange.

Ahhh! That’s refreshing.

Beryl

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

Cajun Cooking TV features Beryl Caillouet Stokes and her grand-daughter Addison cooking up some good eating Cajun recipes from their kitchen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Please Follow Us On Facebook for Daily Updates and New Recipes:
https://www.facebook.com/CajunCookingTV/

The Cajun Cooking TV show airs on local Baton Rouge, Louisiana channel WLFT MeTV channel 30.1 and on Cox cable channel 117 on Tuesday mornings at 10 am.

You Can Write Beryl At:
Cajun Cooking TV
7516 Bluebonnet Blvd # 179
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810

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

Beryl has created a 16 page Cajun Cooking Recipe Book with 7 of her favorite Cajun recipes plus her favorite desert recipe.

This FREE Cajun recipe eBook is full of photos and how-to videos to make preparing these Cajun dishes for your family a breeze.

We have also created a “Recipe Club” newsletter for  you so that you will get all of our latest Cajun and Southern home-style cooking recipes by email so that you will never miss another easy to make and great tasting  recipe.

Just fill out the form below, and you’ll get instant access to the “7 Nights of Cajun Cooking” recipe book, and you’ll be subscribed to the recipe club newsletter.

Please rest assured that we will never give your email address to anyone else, nor will we pester you with too many emails and pitches.

It will be very easy to “unsubscribe” at any time with a link at the bottom of each and every email we send you.

I hope you enjoy the new “7 Nights” recipe book, and we are working on more great recipes and other goodies for you.

We really appreciate you visiting our website and watching our videos, and hope to hear from you soon.

(Please leave us your comments – good or bad – in the comment box at the bottom of every recipe post.

Thanks again,

Beryl Stokes
Cajun Cooking TV

Easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe

This is an Easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe you can make that your family will love and it won’t take you all day to make.

Now that it’s the holiday season, Thanksgiving is just a few days away and Christmas will follow soon enough. I thought I’d share some traditional holiday recipes that I’ve learned from my MawMaw, my mom, and my step-mother.

For Cornbread Dressing, they each did or do slight variations of the recipe below.

I remember I always loved my MawMaw Hebert’s dressing. My mom Patsy makes her dressing with cornbread and rice.

My step-mom Murl makes two different dressings each year. She makes a cornbread dressing similar to the recipe below and she makes what she calls Shrimp Dressing. I can’t decide which one is my favorite.

Good thing I get to sample all three on Thanksgiving Day.

Looking for a dessert? Check out our Pecan Pie. It’s so easy to make and so good.

I’ll be going to the Caillouet Thanksgiving this year where there are 14 of us now. Everyone is getting older and now even a nephew is about to welcome a new baby into the family.

I love Thanksgiving Day because of the meaning of giving thanks and getting together with family and friends is so much less stressful than Christmas time.

We have no other obligation than to bring a good dish (and make it a double batch), enjoy some football, have some laughs and take a nap.

But most importantly, I am thankful for my family on all sides, my daughters Alletia, Ashley, and Alexandra, my grandchildren, my god-daughters, and of course the one and only Bossman – my husband Mike.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

We appreciate your support and for watching our videos.

Recipes and videos coming soon are: Traditional Pecan Pralines, Maw Maw’s Tea Cakes, Patsy’s Snowball Cookies, and many more.

Easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe Ingredients

2 boxes JIFFY corn muffin mix
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
Spray canola oil

1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef, pork, chicken or turkey (or a combination of pork & beef)
1 (10 ounce) frozen package of Seasoning Blend (chopped onions, bell pepper, and celery) or 3 cups of Cajun Trinity
2-3 cloves of garlic – chopped
3 cups Chicken Stock
handful of chopped green onions
Tony’s Creole Seasoning

Optional add-ins:

2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup chopped fresh cherries or cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cornbread Preparation:

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

Make the JIFFY corn muffin mix according to package directions by mixing the 2 eggs and 2/3 cup of milk with the cornbread flour.

Mix well and it’s alright to be lumpy.

Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Pour in the cornbread mixture and spread evenly across the pan.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and let rest until cool.

Once cool enough to handle, begin to crumble the cornbread and set aside in a bowl.

Easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe Preparation

Turn oven down to 325 degrees.

In a large 6 quart pot, begin by melting 1/2 stick butter on medium heat.

Carefully place the Seasoning blend in the pot and sauté until vegetables are limp and translucent.

Add the chopped garlic and ground meat in the pot and chop up with a flat edged wooden spatula.

Continue to cook the meat and keep chopping into small pieces. (May take minimum 45 minutes to an hour.)

Turn off the heat.

Begin to mix in the crumbled cornbread little by little and mixing well.

Next, one cup at a time, mix in the 3 cups of Chicken Stock. (Mixture should resemble the consistency of a thick batter.)

Pour Cornbread Dressing into a deep casserole dish that has been sprayed with canola spray oil.

Spread evenly.

Place Cornbread Dressing in the oven covered with the glass cover or foil and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Take the cover off and bake another 15-20 minutes.

Dressing should be firm and not too mushy.

Serve warm and garnish with chopped green onions.

Will feed 10 – 12 people a big spoonful.

If you have a smaller group, just make 1 box of Jiffy corn muffin mix and half all other ingredients.

Beryl

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

Cajun Cooking TV features Beryl Caillouet Stokes and her grand-daughter Addison cooking up some good eating Cajun recipes from their kitchen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Please Follow Us On Facebook for Daily Updates and New Recipes:
https://www.facebook.com/CajunCookingTV/

The Cajun Cooking TV show airs on local Baton Rouge, Louisiana channel WLFT MeTV channel 30.1 and on Cox cable channel 117 on Tuesday mornings at 10 am.

You Can Write Beryl At:
Cajun Cooking TV
7516 Bluebonnet Blvd # 179
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810

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

How to Make Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans are a great party finger food or a beautiful side item next to a steak, pork or chicken dinner.

I love how they just melt in your mouth.

I highly recommend using fresh Green Beans, however whole frozen beans would also work.

Avoid canned beans – just not the same effect.

 Bacon Wrapped Green Beans Ingredients –

Applewood Bacon (or your favorite bacon)
1 or 2 pounds fresh green beans (uncut, cleaned and ends trimmed)
Sea salt (regular table salt is OK)
Tony’s Creole Seasoning

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.

Fill a 6 quart pot with water.

Season lightly with salt.

Heat water to boiling.

Drop green beans in the boiling water to blanch (boil) for 2 minutes.

Immediately and carefully drain the green beans in a colander in the sink.

Allow cold water to run over the green beans to instantly cool and stop the cooking process.

Put green beans in a bowl and place a few ice cubes in the bowl.

On a cutting board, take 5-6 slices of bacon and cut in half.

Season the green beans lightly with Tony’s Creole Seasoning.

Begin to wrap the green bean bundles by taking 5-6 green beans and wrap the half slice of bacon around in an angled method.

Place wrapped green bean bundles on a large non-stick cookie sheet.

Continue wrapping until all beans are utilized.

Place the pan in the oven and allow to cook for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove pan from the oven.

Place your Bacon Wrapped Green Beans bundles on a tray and serve warm.

Beryl

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

Cajun Cooking TV features Beryl Caillouet Stokes and her grand-daughter Addison cooking up some good eating Cajun recipes from their kitchen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Please Follow Us On Facebook for Daily Updates and New Recipes:
https://www.facebook.com/CajunCookingTV/

The Cajun Cooking TV show airs on local Baton Rouge, Louisiana channel WLFT MeTV channel 30.1 and on Cox cable channel 117 on Tuesday mornings at 10 am.

You Can Write Beryl At:
Cajun Cooking TV
7516 Bluebonnet Blvd # 179
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810

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

How to Make Grilled Shrimp Kabobs

Grilled Shrimp Kabobs were on the menu for a night of LSU football on TV. We had Addison for the weekend and we were dancing up a storm in the kitchen to the Cajun music hour on the radio.

A local high school has a radio broadcast on Saturday nights that features Cajun Clarence who plays some awesome Cajun music. We can’t help but jump up and start dancing. Bon temps!

These Grilled Shrimp Kabobs are excellent dinner or party food. LSU fans are famous for their tailgating and love of food. Give these Shrimp Kabobs a try for your next football party.

 Grilled Shrimp Kabobs Ingredients

Feeds 4-6

1 pound large or jumbo shrimp (peeled and de-veined)
10-inch bamboo skewers (or regular stainless kabob skewers)
Fresh pineapple chucks
1 large bell pepper (cut into large pieces)
1 large sweet onion (cut into 4 quarter pieces)
And any other vegetables that you like grilled and can be placed on a
skewer – mushrooms, squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes – the works.

Grilled Shrimp Kabobs Marinade

There should be enough liquid to adequately cover the shrimp and vegetables.

(If you’re cooking for a crowd, increase amounts as appropriate.)

1/2 cup Margarita Mix or use plain lime juice (a dash of Jose Cuervo tequila won’t hurt either)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil

How to Prepare Grilled Shrimp Kabobs

Peel the shrimp leaving the tail section on.

De-vein by slicing a slit in the top of the shrimp to remove the black vein.

In a large glass bowl, mix the olive oil, Margarita mix, and orange juice.

Place the shrimp and veggies in the marinade and stir to make sure all are covered.

Cover and put in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours to marinade (don’t put the pineapple in).

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes prior to grilling.

(You’ll need enough skewers to allow for 2 Shrimp per skewer.)

Next, begin to skewer the shrimp, veggies, and pineapple.

Put a bell pepper or onion on the ends.

Pierce the shrimp in two places: by the tail segment and again near the other end (where the head used to be).

Continue this process and place each skewer on a cookie sheet pan.

Sprinkle lightly with seasoning. We use Tony’s Creole Seasoning and granulated garlic powder.

On a prepared grill, carefully place the Shrimp Kabobs on the grill.

Put the cover on the grill and open the vent.

Allow to cook 3-5 minutes.

Uncover the grill and carefully turn over the skewers to cook the other side for another 3-5 minutes.

(Depends on size of the shrimp and how well done you like shrimp.)

Put the cover back on the grill.

When ready, carefully remove the Shrimp Kabobs to a large platter.

(The long grilling tongs or large grilling spatula would probably be your best tools to use.)

Serve with a side salad, Spanish rice, or try our Bacon Wrapped Green Beans; which will be our next featured recipe.

(Note: If you don’t have a grill, no worries. We’ve also done this same recipe in the oven using the Broil function.)

Beryl

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

Cajun Cooking TV features Beryl Caillouet Stokes and her grand-daughter Addison cooking up some good eating Cajun recipes from their kitchen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Please Follow Us On Facebook for Daily Updates and New Recipes:
https://www.facebook.com/CajunCookingTV/

The Cajun Cooking TV show airs on local Baton Rouge, Louisiana channel WLFT MeTV channel 30.1 and on Cox cable channel 117 on Tuesday mornings at 10 am.

You Can Write Beryl At:
Cajun Cooking TV
7516 Bluebonnet Blvd # 179
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70810

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