Jambalaya Recipe

I may not have fulfilled all my resolutions this week, but I definitely had fun. My job hired a new employee to help out with the infants, so I didn't work quite as long of a week as usual. This means that I had some extra time to work on some crafts and try some new recipes!

I tried a really great Jambalaya recipe that I altered and made my own. It's easy to make, delicious and reheats really well. I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com.

Charity's Jambalaya

2 T vegetable oil

1 package of boneless chicken breasts (4), cut into bite size pieces

1 package of spicy sausage (6 links), cut into bite size pieces (or can use 1lb of ground sausage instead)

1 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 of a large white onion, diced (can add more or less depending on like or dislike of onion)

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped or pressed

1/4 rounded t cayenne pepper

1/2 t onion powder

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

3 c rice

4 c chicken broth

2 c water

3 T Worcestershire sauce

hot sauce to taste

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. I use vegetable oil because recently I've learned that once heated too high, olive oil actually becomes worse for you. Add onion and cook until soft. Then add chicken and sausage and brown. Add green pepper and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and stir thoroughly. Add rice and brown for a couple minutes. Add chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, stir and serve! Voila!

It took me about an hour to make this. I've been eating the leftovers for a couple days now and it's still just as good. Mmmm!

You can add shrimp to this, as well as other vegetables (mushrooms, red bell pepper, celery). Traditional Jambalaya almost always has shrimp. I didn't this time, simply because I only like fresh shrimp and I didn't have time to make a trip and purchase good shrimp. Also, I used sticky rice (Nishiki rice) as I prefer it that way. You could also use brown rice if you prefer. One last point is that I will probably use ground spicy sausage next time. The skin on the sausage links made it a bit hard to slice and I ended up peeling most of it off.

I don't have a picture, as my stomach took over and I dished in before I thought to take a picture, but I promise future recipes will be accompanied by photos :).

Tomorrow: T-shirt scarves