Celebration | Mardi Gras Menu & Recipes

It's a week of celebration around our house. And I'm sure it is in yours as well. We began the week by celebrating Chinese New Year; tonight is Mardi Gras; tomorrow is Ash Wednesday; Thursday is Valentine's Day; the next day is my father's birthday and we end our week with a much anticipated week-long break from school.

While I've no interest in teaching my children the darker side of Mardi Gras, we do prepare Creole food and sweets on that day as a cultural experience. It's also a nice contrast to a teaching about Ash Wednesday, which is why the celebration came to be in the first place.

So, our menu tonight will be a bit scaled back and thanks to a couple of Weight Watchers recipes, I'll cheat a little on the calories and fat -- but we'll have the traditional flavors and fun of New Orleans.

Here are links to the recipes I'll be using for our menu tonight.

Mardi Gras Menu

Chicken Jambalaya
Skillet Cornbread
Green Tossed Salad

King Cake

Swinn-twa. (Louisiana Creole French).