"Tame" jambalaya

Oh jambalaya. I didn't think I would actually like this food. Every time I mentioned picking up some shrimp for dinner, The Husband would say, "Oh? For jambalaya?" I would sigh and say, "Ugh, jambalaya." 

Well, come to find out, I actually really like jambalaya, and now clamor to make it on a regular basis.

This is the tame version of jambalaya. There's minimal heat but a lot of flavor. This dish makes enough to feed an army, or your family for a week. I used the chicken stock from a previous post in the recipe, but I have used canned/cubed in the past. 

Here is what you will need to make a flavorful jambalaya:

1 medium to large tomato, diced (see pics)

1 bunch of celery (tops removed and used in stock the night before), diced, but not too small (see pics)

1/2 of an onion (the other half was used in the stock the night before), diced, but not too small (see pics)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of butter

1 Tablespoon of paprika

1 Tablespoon of smoked paprika 

1 Tablespoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of chili powder

Fresh ground pepper to taste - I use rainbow peppercorns from Funky Fairy

Salt to taste

6 cups of chicken stock - http://patesplates.blogspot.com/2014/08/chicken-stock-experiment.html

2 cups of dry brown rice

3 pounds of various meats, prepared - We use about one pound each of a poultry, pork and seafood. Thus far, our favorite mix is chicken breast, kielbasa and shrimp. I'm trying to find a lower-fat mix. I'm open to suggestions from the readers! 

If using shrimp, remove the tails, skin and vein and put it back in the fridge. 

This is about the size of properly diced tomatoes.

I prefer to have my onions this size. They keep their firmness in the long cooking time.

Chop the celery uniformly.

Homemade broth.

After collecting your ingredients, let's get started!

1. Chop all the vegetables and set them aside.

2. Put two tablespoons of butter in a large pot, sauté the garlic, and spices in the pot for a couple of minutes over medium heat, until fragrant.

3. Add the tomatoes, cooking some of the liquid out of the vegetable.

4. Add fragrant vegetables of your choice. I use onions and celery. You can also use red or green peppers. Sauté for several minutes.

5. Add your meat -- except the shrimp -- and saute.

6. Add dry rice and sauté  for 30 seconds.

7. Add broth and bring to a rolling boil. Once it boils, turn it down to a simmer. Let simmer for 40 minutes.

8. Check the firmness of the rice, and the seasonings.

9. Add the shrimp and cook for another five minutes.

10. Enjoy!!

Be on the look out in coming weeks for a kicked-up version of this!

Chicken stock: The experiment

Friday was a travel day for us, but we also realized quite late that we had a limited supply of food in the house. 

This led to a  problem: We would be getting home around dinner time but have no dinner, and no breakfast food either.

Solution? Grocery store run. But The Husband had a plan. He wanted a rotisserie chicken for dinner Friday, with leftovers to be used in jambalaya the next night. OK, can do. I have a jambalaya recipe I've been tinkering with for months now.

After the chicken was pulled, we decided we wanted do something more. We wanted to make chicken stock. This would be an experiment!

Here are the steps we took when making our stock:

1. Pull a cooked chicken clean. Some chicken left on the carcass is OK!

2. Break the bones and put the chicken carcass in a large pot.

3. Clear the vegetable drawer. I cut the tops off my celery, you know the part most people throw away? I used it in this. I used the flimsy baby carrots I would have probably tossed. I also used half of an onion.

4. My seasonings were: Palm full of dried parsley. I bet fresh is good too, but we didn't have any in the fridge. I used salt and pepper. My pepper is rainbow pepper from the Funky Fairy. It is amazing!

5. Fill the pot with water.

6. Bring the pot to a boil.

7. Turn it down and let it simmer for 2 to 4 hours, skimming fat off if it comes to the surface.

8. When it is done, strain the solids and press them, making sure to get as much of the stock out as possible.

9. Let the broth cool in the fridge and skim the fat off the top.

Ta-da! That's it. Super easy. This can last for a couple days in the fridge, and I'm not sure how long in the freezer.

Championship breakfast

We love breakfast here in the Pate household. It gets us out of bed, most mornings.

Today, it was no different. We had mangoes with English muffins and half a cup of 2% cottage cheese. A fruit, protein and 1/3 of our daily fiber! All in ine meal! Yum!

Fruit plate

Fruit plate with strawberries, pears, blueberries, tomatoes and feta. 

If you look closely you can see a pattern. Make your food look beautiful.

Greek salad

Greek chicken salad, topped with 1/2 ounce of feta, kalamata olives, and sweet peppers. We used homemade tzatkiki sauce as the salad dressing.

I marinated the chicken in olive oil with garlic, oregano and rosemary for a few hours and then baked the chicken in the oven: 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

I prefer Ina Garten's Tzatziki's Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tzatziki-recipe.html. It's creamy, amazing and SO easy. You should try it out!