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Are you looking for some new dinner ideas to share with your family this week? How about honoring a couple of different monthly observances by making heart healthy New Orleans style food? You may be scratching your head at this one, isn’t healthy New Orleans food an oxymoron? Full of artery clogging fried foods, butter, and rich desserts?
After all, on my trip to New Orleans a few years ago, my travel companion and I gorged ourselves on so much fried food and other decadent goodies that we needed a dietary intervention. By the time we returned home, fitting a little tighter into the plane seats, we were ready for a month of fasting, even though we hadn’t been there to celebrate Mardi Gras. But hear me out; you can treat your family to delicious, healthy New Orleans style cooking in a more moderate fashion.
New Orleans style food is unique with its blending of spices, local produce like okra, seafood such as crayfish, and meats such as Andouille sausage and turducken – a duck stuffed inside a chicken, stuffed inside a turkey (if that isn’t decadent, I don’t know what is). With unique methods of cooking, the area produces food that is known worldwide as Creole cuisine. New Orleans’ special blend of ethnic influences, borrowed from French, Spanish, and African American cultures, combine in dishes that reflect its colorful history.
Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, a carnival in which revelers eat and drink to their hearts content. It’s the antithesis of moderation. Partiers eat a variety of rich and fatty foods and guzzle adult beverages without a care in the world in preparation for the Lenten season of fasting. And all that stuff sure does go down easily, but there are some simple steps you can take to avoid some of the fat and calories associated with it, and more in keeping with heart healthy, diet conscious eating. Plus it’s far healthier to show your kids that they can enjoy the occasional treat, without the “binge and purge” mentality.
Vegetarian dishes such as beans and greens or okra and tomatoes are updated to today’s more health conscious taste. For healthier deep fat frying, you can use oil such as canola or peanut, with fewer artery clogging trans fats. Plus if you fry at the proper temperature, the food will absorb less oil. And for fried chicken lovers, there is flash fried chicken, in which the chicken is first poached, and then fried quickly at 400 degrees F, in order to eliminate most of the extra fat that it soaks in while it fries.
Another dish you can lighten up is long cooked gumbo, a spicy stew that showcases the French Creole culinary heritage of New Orleans and is perfect for the cold weather. While all good gumbo must start with roux, a mixture of flour and fat, you can lighten the ingredients that go into your stew; include more fresh veggies and seafood, and swap traditional Andouille for chicken sausage.
But my personal favorite for Fat Tuesday is Creole barbecued shrimp. While shrimp may have a reputation for being unhealthy because it contains a bit of cholesterol, studies have shown that shrimp consumption actually raises good cholesterol levels more than bad, offsetting any nutritional worries. Plus shrimp contains plenty of protein and heart healthy omega 3’s and B vitamins.
I modified my favorite restaurant version of this dish, replacing most of the butter with olive oil, and it still tastes great. Make your Fat Tuesday skinny with some healthy Creole cuisine!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
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https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1231-healthy-mardi-gras-menu/
Cooking That's Good For The Soul
Are you looking for some new dinner ideas to share with your family this week? How about honoring a couple of different monthly observances by making heart healthy New Orleans style food? You may be scratching your head at this one, isn’t healthy New Orleans food an oxymoron? Full of artery clogging fried foods, butter, and rich desserts?
After all, on my trip to New Orleans a few years ago, my travel companion and I gorged ourselves on so much fried food and other decadent goodies that we needed a dietary intervention. By the time we returned home, fitting a little tighter into the plane seats, we were ready for a month of fasting, even though we hadn’t been there to celebrate Mardi Gras. But hear me out; you can treat your family to delicious, healthy New Orleans style cooking in a more moderate fashion.
New Orleans style food is unique with its blending of spices, local produce like okra, seafood such as crayfish, and meats such as Andouille sausage and turducken – a duck stuffed inside a chicken, stuffed inside a turkey (if that isn’t decadent, I don’t know what is). With unique methods of cooking, the area produces food that is known worldwide as Creole cuisine. New Orleans’ special blend of ethnic influences, borrowed from French, Spanish, and African American cultures, combine in dishes that reflect its colorful history.
Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, a carnival in which revelers eat and drink to their hearts content. It’s the antithesis of moderation. Partiers eat a variety of rich and fatty foods and guzzle adult beverages without a care in the world in preparation for the Lenten season of fasting. And all that stuff sure does go down easily, but there are some simple steps you can take to avoid some of the fat and calories associated with it, and more in keeping with heart healthy, diet conscious eating. Plus it’s far healthier to show your kids that they can enjoy the occasional treat, without the “binge and purge” mentality.
Vegetarian dishes such as beans and greens or okra and tomatoes are updated to today’s more health conscious taste. For healthier deep fat frying, you can use oil such as canola or peanut, with fewer artery clogging trans fats. Plus if you fry at the proper temperature, the food will absorb less oil. And for fried chicken lovers, there is flash fried chicken, in which the chicken is first poached, and then fried quickly at 400 degrees F, in order to eliminate most of the extra fat that it soaks in while it fries.
Another dish you can lighten up is long cooked gumbo, a spicy stew that showcases the French Creole culinary heritage of New Orleans and is perfect for the cold weather. While all good gumbo must start with roux, a mixture of flour and fat, you can lighten the ingredients that go into your stew; include more fresh veggies and seafood, and swap traditional Andouille for chicken sausage.
But my personal favorite for Fat Tuesday is Creole barbecued shrimp. While shrimp may have a reputation for being unhealthy because it contains a bit of cholesterol, studies have shown that shrimp consumption actually raises good cholesterol levels more than bad, offsetting any nutritional worries. Plus shrimp contains plenty of protein and heart healthy omega 3’s and B vitamins.
I modified my favorite restaurant version of this dish, replacing most of the butter with olive oil, and it still tastes great. Make your Fat Tuesday skinny with some healthy Creole cuisine!
Cajun Grilled Shrimp
Made with olive oil, dry red wine, soy sauce, lemon peel, lemon juice, fresh ginger, fresh parsley, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, dry mustard
Made with olive oil, dry red wine, soy sauce, lemon peel, lemon juice, fresh ginger, fresh parsley, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, dry mustard
Serves/Makes: 8
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dry mustard
- 1/2 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 2 pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail on
Combine all the ingredients except for the shrimp in a large, non-reactive bowl. Whisk to mix the ingredients. Add the shrimp and let marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes (do not marinate longer than that).
Preheat the grill to medium heat.
Drain the marinade from the shrimp into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let cook for 5 minutes.
Thread the shrimp on skewers and place on the grill. Grill for 2 minutes per side or until they are pink and cooked through.
Remove the shrimp from the grill and serve with the boiled marinade for dipping.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1231-healthy-mardi-gras-menu/