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Crawfish season is here and the people of Louisiana are rejoicing! Whether you are a crawfish veteran or new to the Louisiana tradition, now is the time to jump in and get the best of the best. Some of us love a good Crawfish Boil in our backyard surrounded by friends and family, who doesn’t? But if you are looking to go out to eat and spare yourself the cleaning up, this article is just what you need. These four restaurants are said to have some of the best Crawfish in all of Louisiana. Let us know the name and location of your favorite Crawfish restaurant OR your favorite place to pick it up if you are on the go!
If you are starting to make your travel plans for 2018 this article is one you won’t want to miss. We have all heard several tips when it comes to booking plane tickets- always buy on a Tuesday, wait till six weeks in advanced, etc. But did you know that there are certain days out of the year that are more expensive to fly than others? Can you imagine lowering your travel price by one hundred dollars or more just by leaving one day earlier or later!? Take a look at what travel days you will want to work around provided by Huffington Post.
Nola.com has recently released this article which discusses the $13 million grant that has been awarded to two New Orleans universities and four nonprofits in an effort to recruit and train 900 diverse teachers for Louisiana by 2020. As stated in the article, “The U.S. Education Department’s Supporting Effective Educator Development Program grant will fund the task set forth by Xavier University and Loyola University, according to school officials Monday morning (Nov. 13) at Xavier’s campus. The schools will be collaborating with Teach For America Greater New Orleans, teach NOLA, Relay Graduate School of Education, and New Schools for New Orleans to address teacher pipeline challenges in the city.”
For more information on why this grant was given and where the money will be spent, click here.
Now who doesn’t love a phenomenal mac n cheese recipe? Lucky for us, Southern Living values a good old-fashioned macaroni recipe just as much as we do. The best thing about this one is that it is filled with a variety of creamy cheese and even some smoked ham. So, whether you are cooking this as a side for a family BBQ lunch on a Sunday or a one pot dinner on a weekday, once you taste this, you’ll be looking for more excuses to make it over and over again. For more information on this recipe, like cooking time and serving size, click here.
Ingredients
1 pound uncooked cellentani (corkscrew) pasta
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups fat-free milk
1 (12-oz.) can fat-free evaporated milk
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded smoked Gouda cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded 1.5% reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
3 ounces fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper, divided
1 (8-oz.) package chopped smoked ham
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/4 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed
1 tablespoon butter, melted
How to Make It
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cellentani pasta according to package directions.
Step 2
Meanwhile, melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk until smooth; cook, whisking constantly, 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Whisk in Gouda cheese, next 3 ingredients, and 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in ham and pasta.
Step 3
Pour pasta mixture into a 13- x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Stir together crushed cereal, 1 Tbsp. melted butter, and remaining 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper; sprinkle over pasta mixture.
Step 4
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Step 5
Note: We tested with Barilla Cellentani pasta and Cabot 5% Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese.
Step 6
Pepper Jack Macaroni and Cheese: Substitute 1 1/2 cups 5% reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese for Gouda and Cheddar cheeses. Omit ground red pepper, if desired. Stir 1 (5-oz.) can chopped green chiles into pasta mixture.
Sweet Pea-and-Prosciutto Macaroni and Cheese: Omit ham. Saute 2 oz. thin prosciutto slices, cut into thin strips, in a small skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes or until slightly browned. Stir prosciutto and 1 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed, into pasta mixture.
Pimiento Macaroni and Cheese: Substitute 1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese for Gouda and Cheddar cheeses. Stir 1 (4-oz.) jar diced pimiento, drained, into pasta mixture.
Ham-and-Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese: Stir 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets, thawed and coarsely chopped, into pasta mixture.
The two great weeks of Mardi Gras are over and it’s time to get back to reality. After two fun weekends of nonstop fun, parades, carnivals, and balls it’s hard to do so. Before we do that, let’s take a look at some of the best Mardi Gras floats that you can find, right here. The article which features these floats on nola.com states that “Most Mardi Gras floats are redesigned and repainted every year to one degree or another. So, arguably, they’re all new. But a few krewes unveiled new floats this year that were specially custom-built.” Some of the featured floats in this article include Bacchus and Muses.
Which of these was your favorite? Please share your favorite Mardi Gras float pictures with us!
In this recent article, which was published on the Louisiana Department of Education website, eight Louisiana schools are nationally recognized for student achievement. The article states that these students are “nationally recognized for exceptional student performance or for closing the achievement gap among historically disadvantaged students. Two schools have been named National Title I Distinguished Schools by the National Title I Association, and six schools have been nominated by the state to receive 2018 National Blue Ribbon Schools awards from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE).”
To learn more about National Title I Distinguished School Program, click here.
To learn more about the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, click here.
