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Chef ���s Corner By Randy Balt Cheater Gumbo Winter Wish a Success By Melody Seewoster The good people of Four Seasons have done it again. Winter Wish, a local program to help local families in need at Christmas time, put out Christmas tags representing children in need and Four Seasons took a total of 156 tags to buy gifts��� and buy gifts they did. I made four trips from Four Seasons to our Chamber of Commerce of���ce with my car loaded with presents where the gifts are recorded. If you are not familiar with this program, let me give you a brief description of how it works. Tags are put on a Christmas tree with the name of a local school child and a gift they would like to receive. Each child gets two wishes, one for a toy and one for an article of clothing. A member of the community may take one or more tags then buys the item on the back, wraps it, and returns it to the place where they picked it up, remembering to secure the tag on the package. The gifts are picked up by a Winter Wish volunteer and taken to the Chamber of Commerce of���ce where a team of volunteers checks them in, makes sure that all tape and tags are secure, then places them in large boxes to be taken to the distribution center. The gifts are re-boxed and doubled checked to make sure that each family have at least two gifts for each child listed for that family. Each family is given a family number and informed of the day they are to pick up their gifts. On that date they start arriving at the distribution center at about 10 am to collect their gifts. They must show the family number and have identi���cation to receive their gifts. Boxes of gifts are lined up with a large group of volunteers to help the people get the gifts to their cars. They also receive a bag of groceries, or two bags if it is a large family. This process starts in September and it takes a lot of volunteers to keep this program going. This year we had over 200 families and over 600 children that were helped by the good people of Beaumont. I have been involved with this program for 11 years and each year there are a couple of families who come in to take some child���s name because they were helped the year before and want to ���pay��� back. It is a lot of work, time and by the end everyone is a little tired and a little crabby��� but when it is all over and done we sit back, look at each other and say ���a job well done.��� Thank you, Four Seasons. This easy to make gumbo recipe came from my sister-in-law, Janine. It produces a classic, dark brown, shrimp and chicken gumbo in true Louisiana fashion that warms the soul. After tasting it you would swear it came directly from a kitchen in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Course: Main meal ��� PointsPlusTM Value: 10 ��� Servings: 6 ��� Preparation Time: 20 min. ��� Total Time: 63 min. ��� Level of Dif���culty: Easy INGREDIENTS 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil 1 Large Brown Onion, chopped 1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped 1 Tbsp. Gourmet Garden Garlic Paste DIRECTIONS I ��� 7 oz. Box Zatarains Gumbo Mix 2 Links Aidell���s Cajun Style Andouille Sausage, diced 1 pkg. Boneless Chicken Breast, cut into bite sized pieces 1 lb. Medium Uncooked Shrimp, cleaned and deveined 1. Do all the prep work before you start cooking. This allows for a smoother process when cooking. In addition, I removed the tails off the shrimp during the prep process because I hate messing with them when it���s time to eat. 2. Saut�� onion and bell pepper in olive oil until soft, about eight minutes; add garlic paste and cook for two more minutes. 3. Add sausage and cook for 3 minutes. Optional Ingredients: parsley, celery, okra, cayenne pepper 4. Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes. 5. Add gumbo mix and water as speci���ed on box (6 cups). Cover and cook stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. 6. Add shrimp and cook for 10 minutes without lid. 7. Serve with warm, crusty French or sourdough bread, and a nice Caesar salad. Add Louisiana Hot Sauce into gumbo as desired for personal taste. Volunteers prepare gifts for ���Winter Wish��� program children and their families 10 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2013 | COMMUNITY NEWS Top center, bottom far left and far right photos by Steve Moore Two bottom center photos by Melody Seewoster COMMUNITY NEWS | FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2013 11

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