Delicious Dishes : Creole Cooking For Children

New Orleans is a city where north is south and east is west. Impossible? Not really because New Orleans is built on the banks of the mighty Mississippi and the streets wind and curve the way the river does. New Orleans has an even more mixed up way of cooking known as Creole. The French were the first European settlers to cook in New Orleans, and they borrowed spices and seasoning from their neighbors, the Choctaw Indians. Next came the Africans with their own herbs and vegetables and then the Spanish with their peppers and other secrets to add to the cook pot. When everything was mixed together, Creole cooking was born. The recipes are written for chi9ldren, but the results will please the entire family. Recipes are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and snacks and desserts. They include such Creole favorites as pan perdu, jambalaya, shrimp gumbo, pralines and pecan pie. A small mesh bag holds a minature bottle of tabasco for those who like it hot and a "king cake baby" to bake in the traditional Mardi Gras cake.