The other day I made this delicious and spicy jambalaya and everyone loved it.  I had been wanting to try a jambalaya for a while, and when I found this recipe on Gimme Some Oven, I knew this was the one.  I love her blog- she always has great recipes!

Anyway, I modified the recipe slightly, only because I didn’t have all the ingredients that I thought I had.  The original recipe called for several classic jambalaya ingredients such as shrimp and okra  – for the original recipe, click here: www.gimmesomeoven.  The jambalaya turned out great and I can’t wait to make it again.  I wanted to make it with brown rice, but I waited too long to get dinner going and I was afraid that the rice would never cook, so I used white rice.  Next time I will plan ahead and try brown rice.  If you decide to make it with brown rice, you will need to increase the cook time and probably add a bit more chicken stock.

California Jambalaya

3 T olive oil

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 white onion, diced

3 small bell peppers, cored and diced – any colors you choose.  I only had red and yellow –  I think green would be a nice addition.

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 lb. sausage, sliced – I used Polska-Kielbasa

2 cups chicken stock

1 – 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 to 2 T Creole seasoning *

2 tsp. Chili paste *

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. thyme, crushed

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper *

Heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add celery, onion, bell peppers, and garlic.  Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft and mostly cooked.  Add the remaining T of olive oil, chicken and sausage and stir to combine.  Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink and mostly cooked.

Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, rice, and all the spices/seasonings.  Stir well to combine.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 25 -30 minutes, or until rice is cooked, stirring occasionally so the rice doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan.

Once the rice is tender, taste and add in any additional seasonings.  You could add the shrimp and okra in at this time – if you like those kinds of things!  : )  Shrimp I would use next time – okra, never!  ewwww!

Remove the bay leaf and serve with garnishes such as fresh parsley, green onions, and hot sauce of desired.

*We like very spicy food – and this was spicy!  You may want to cut back a bit on some of the heat and taste it before adding all the seasoning I added.  Also the original recipe called for jalapenos and by some freak of nature we didn’t have any.  I substituted in the chili paste to make up for the lack of jalapenos.  I loved the hot chili paste flavor, but I would add in jalapenos next time too.

This would be delicious served with corn bread and a salad.

Cindy

Well, we finally had a bit of a winter around here, or at least a few days of rain – yay! So I was excited to make soup. It’s hard to get excited about soup when it is 80* outside.

I’ve had this recipe for years and years and it is one of my favorites. Even though it calls for tons of ingredients, the chowder comes together very quickly. It normally takes me about 15 minutes to prep and another 15 to 30 to cook. Plus it is all in one pot – super easy. It is very hearty and even though the thought of eating nacho cheese soup grosses me out, it’s delicious in this soup and I would not leave it out.

Fiesta Chowder
3 T flour
1 (1.4 ounce) package fajita seasoning, divided
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
3 T oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 t minced garlic
2 cups frozen corn
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 ounce) can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes
1 (4.5 ounce) can chopped green chiles
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can nacho cheese soup
3 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 T lime juice
Garnish with more fresh cilantro, olives, Cotija cheese or whatever sounds good to you.

Combine flour and 2T of fajita seasoning in a zip top bag; add chicken pieces and shake to coat. Cook coated chicken in the hot oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat, stirring often for 4 minutes or until browned. Reduce heat to medium and add onion and garlic; sauté for about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining fajita seasoning, corn, black beans, tomatoes, chiles, water and instant brown rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low; cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove lid and add the nacho cheese soup, chopped cilantro and the limes juice. Let simmer for a few more minutes while you are pulling together the rest of the meal. We normally serve ours with salad and some sort of bread or tortilla chips.

Cindy

I have been in a bit of a cooking rut. Since we haven’t really had much of a winter all my plans to make soups and comfort foods have gone out the window. It’s pretty tough to enjoy a bowl of hot chili when it’s 90* out. So Monday I realized I had NO plan for dinner. I noticed a pie crust in the refrigerator that needed to be used and I remembered we had some ground beef in the freezer so my brain started working. In the end, we had this taco pie for dinner. It was simple and delicious and a bit of a change from our regular taco or burrito night.

Taco Pie
1 pie crust
3/4 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 – 16 ounce can refried beans
1- 16 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup frozen corn
Taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Tortilla chips, crushed – approximately 1 cup

Directions:
Unroll pie crust and form into pie plate, trim edges and poke with a fork. Bake for 6 – 8 minutes at 450*.

While the crust is cooking, start getting the filling going. Brown the ground beef in a skillet, add the chopped onion and cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat, if necessary. Add the taco seasoning, tomatoes and corn and cook for about 5 minutes.

When the crust is finished, remove from the oven. Turn oven down to 350*

Spread the refried beans carefully on the bottom of your crust. I used a deep dish pie plate, so I was able to use the entire can of beans. If you would rather use a small pie plate, I would use only half the can. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese on next. Then add the ground beef mixture. The pie plate should be pretty full. Add the crushed tortilla chips. I would suggest crushing them pretty well, or it will be difficult to cut through the cooked pie. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.

Bake at 350* for about 15 until the top is bubbly. Garnish with green onions and sour cream.

Cindy

I made this chicken stir fry the other night and my husband said it was the best stir fry I’ve ever made – and I’ve made a lot of stir fry! We had a big basket of sugar snap peas from our garden that needed to be used up so this was the perfect dinner and a great way to use fresh veggies!

Chicken & Snap Pea Stir Fry 

Olive oil

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 onion, sliced

1 bell pepper, sliced

2 cups snap peas

Stir fry sauce, recipe listed below

Drizzle olive oil in large pan. Cut chicken breast into bite-sized pieces and cook chicken until nearly cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and pour about 1/4 cup of stir fry sauce over the top of chicken. Set aside.

Cook onion, peppers and snap peas (or whatever other vegetables you have on hand) until tender, adding another 1/4 cup of stir fry sauce while cooking. Add the cooked chicken to the pan with the cooked vegetables, and add the remainder of the stir fry sauce. Stir well and heat through, making sure that the chicken is completely cooked. Serve over rice.

Soy Sesame Stir Fry Sauce
1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce, low sodium

4 tsp. rice wine vinegar

4 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 tsp. hot red pepper flakes

2 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Cindy