Mardi Gras Recipes: Cajun Style Meals, Snacks, Drinks and More

Preparing a meal in the Cajun tradition can be difficult if you're not a seafood lover. Crawfish, jambalaya, etoufee....not that great if you don't care for shrimp or shellfish. It can also be a challenge to make a Cajun style meal when you're short on cooking skills and time. Here are some recipes that don't include seafood, but are flavorful and easy to prepare.

A light salad, featuring cucumbers and sweet onions in a tangy tarragon dressing starts the meal. Baked chicken breasts with a sesame cracker coating are accompanied by red beans and rice and a corn casserole. Finish it all off with the New Orleans' favorite Bananas Foster on top of vanilla ice cream and pound cake. With the right planning, and prepared in the order in which they're listed, this meal should be ready to eat in a a little over an hour. Serve with a light beer or lemonade - drinks that will cool down your taste buds. A nice, strong coffee goes well with the dessert. These recipes are on the mild to medium side, so season at your discretion.

Suggestion: Prepare the cucumber salad first, it needs to chill and can do so while you make the other dishes.

Cucumber Salad

4 large cucumbers
3 medium Vidalia onions
1 1/4 cup water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried tarragon
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Slice the cucumbers and onions. Place them in a bowl and set it aside. Combine the rest of the ingredients for the salad dressing in a sauce pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir at this temperature for 2 minutes, being careful not to scorch the dressing. Pour over cucumbers and onions. Cover and chill in the refrigerator.

Suggestion: If you don't have a double oven, I recommend cooking the corn casserole at 350 degrees farenheit for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven and set it aside. When you've got about 8 minutes left on your Baked Sesame Cajun Chicken, put the corn casserole back in the oven with the chicken and finish cooking it. That way, it will be hot when it's served. Otherwise, you could always pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes before serving the meal.

Corn Casserole