Tag: onion

Chicken and Sausage Jambalya

This is one of my favorite recipes when I’m not trying to watch how many carbs I am eating. The first thing that I do is to cut up all the vegetables that I will use in the recipe. Then I cut the sausage into round bite-sized pieces. Most Cajun’s use andouille sausage, but here in Texas I use Kountry Boy’s Sausage, beef and pork. I cook it for a few minutes even though it is precooked just to get a little of the grease out of it. While that is cooling, I cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces. I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs so that it doesn’t take as long to prepare the recipe. Next I measure my rice, broth, and seasonings. Now I’m ready to go. Actually you could probably do all of the above the night before and have things ready to make the next day.

Then in a very deep large pot I use about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to saute the veggies. Once they are starting to soften I add the sausage and chicken and cook them until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Then I add my rice, seasonings, and broth and stir the whole mixture. At this point I reduce the heat from medium high to a little above medium low. Cover the pot and cook for about 30 minutes until the rice absorbs all of the broth. I stir about every 5-10 minutes so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

2 ribs of celery

1 onion

1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green bell pepper

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds and spines removed

4 cloves of garlic

boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 2.5 pounds

sausage links, about 7

4c. chicken broth

Cajun seasoning, I use Tony Cachere’s (mild) about 1T.

1 bay leaf, remove when finished cooking

1 t. crushed thyme

1/8 t cayenne pepper

The best thing about this recipe is that you can play with it and make it your own. For most recipes, I’m measuring every single ingredient and being extremely precise. For this recipe, it really depends on who I’ m cooking it for. If it’s the grandkids, not so spicy. If it’s just adults, I add more heat. We don’t really like extremely spicy foods, so it should not be overly seasoned, for my family. But if you like the heat, go ahead and add more spice. Just remember to keep stirring as you cook so that it doesn’t stick. This recipe serves 8-10.

Our Backyard Garden

The first things to come up in our garden every year are the wildflowers. My husband originally planted them behind the fence in our backyard. They were beautiful, and they saved cutting a little part of the grass in the yard, which is pretty large. But soon the neighbors were commenting on how wonderful they looked, and even the walkers and bikers just passing through the neighborhood were stopping and taking pictures of them.

Next my husband started a vegetable garden. It began as just a small area, and we grew some tomatoes, green beans, eggplants and squash. Then each year, he expanded the garden a little more. The next year he cleared an area behind our shed where he grew more beans and okra. Then he expanded it to an area along the fenceline – in front of the fence and on the fence – all one hundred and sixty feet of it. After that, he dug out twelve more beds, some four feet by eight feet, others twelve feet by twelve feet. Finally, we built two raised beds to grow lettuce, beets, carrots and radishes in. I’m sure, by now you have an idea of exactly how massive this garden has become. It’s a whole lot of work!! But there is nothing like picking a vegetable or herb and either eating it raw or cooking it right then. It makes eating so much more enjoyable, and do we like to eat!! The health benefits of knowing where the food comes from and what has or hasn’t been put on it are unquestionable.

These are some of the early veggies from this years garden. The radishes are some of the prettiest that we have ever grown. This year, it has stayed cool for a longer period, and we have received much more rain than we ususally do.

I decided to pick a few green beans for a meal so I came in with just a small amount. My husband came in a few minutes later and said that he had potatoes and onions to add to the meal. All of these were grown in our backyard.

As we pick more vegetables, I will ocassionally update you, but for now, have a wonderful and safe day!!