Constant Growing Amazement Cooks!: Low Country Boil

(repeated from my regular blog- constantgrowingamazement.blogspot.com)

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Celebrating the 4th with a Low Country Boil

We had a wonderful afternoon for the 4th of July- having 3 of our 5 families over for dinner (so about 20 people) and swimming/pickleball/games-Aggravation, Rumikub, Cover Your Assets- and celebrating Heidi and Elijah's birthday (and post-birthday- son Ryan's).(Ben wasn't here or we would have celebrated him too!)

I thought it would be fun to do a Low Country Shrimp Boil. Then I felt a titch of disappointment to learn several of the grands either didn't like or had allergic reactions to shrimp. I felt the wind squeaking out of my sails...

But we did it anyway. I just had David grill some chicken as well. And we had more salads and watermelon than we could possibly eat. And banana cake with browned butter frosting. And birthday cakes and cheesecake and ice cream bars.....and POW! We were all exploding like firecrackers!

First in the large pots is boiling water and the spices- I used Zararains and also Old Bay. I also threw a couple of halves of lemon and onions in each pot. When that gets boiling good, add your baby potatoes. I used red and white. No blue ones....

We boiled them about 5 minutes. Then we added cut up cured sausages- like kielbasa or from Costco- Aidells (I used chicken and apple), beef polish sausage. I did 3 different kinds. Boil about 10 minutes more.

Add corn on the cob (broken into large chunks)- cook for about 6 more minutes and finally add shrimp. I used the Costco, cleaned, shell off but not cooked. Honestly, just cook them when you are ready to start- they take mere minutes and shrimp gets tough the longer it cooks. When it turns pink it is done!

I had bowls of cocktail sauce. The yummy sour dough bread from Costco you bake for 15 minutes. Plus Gracie helped me make Red Lobster biscuits. I love these so much! (we used the mix. I made lots of garlic butter that we then drizzled over the drained boil foods.)

We sat out in another part of our big yard to find the shade. Long tables with brown paper and parchment paper in the middle where I could just pour out the food.

Such a fun, fun time. I love our family so much and everyone just runs off and plays or talks and we continue to eat. Heaven!

Birthday girl Heidi- 17