Everyday Jambalaya

Do you have one of those meals that you LOVED so much you made it every opportunity you possibly could, then for some unexplainable reason, you didn't make it for a while...then when you did make it again, you wonder why in the world you took such a long break from it?  Wow, how was the for a run-on sentence!  That is this Jambalaya.  When I took my first bite, it was like saying hello to an old friend...and what a mouth watering delicious friend it is!  I often put together the rice and spices to keep in a baggie in the pantry for a quick weeknight meal.  Make it....trust me.  Your whole family will thank you for it!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium Onion, diced
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
• 2 ribs of Celery, diced
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 (14.5 oz can) Diced Tomatoes, drained
• 1 (15 oz can) Tomato Sauce
• ½ lb Smoked Sausage (I use Turkey Kielbasa)
• ½ lb. Chicken (diced and cooked)
• ½ lb. Shrimp (peeled and deveined)  For the protein, you can adjust or omit any of the meat/shrimp combinations… so long as you end up with 1-2 lbs of protein.
• 1 cup Long Grain Rice
• 1 TBSP dried Parsley
• 1 TBSP Beef Bouillon Granules
• ½ tsp dried Thyme Leaves
• ½ tsp Garlic Powder
• ½ tsp ground Black Pepper
• ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper (this makes it mild to medium, but still totally kiddo friendly…adjust to taste)
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 Bay Leaf

In a large pot, sauté onion, green pepper, and celery in some olive oil until tender. Add in rice, Parsley, Bouillon Granules, Thyme, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Bay Leaf, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, smoked sausage, and cooked chicken. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 25 minutes. Add shrimp and cook an additional 5-7 minutes until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. ENJOY!

This recipe has been linked up at:
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck
Eat at Home Cooks
The Country Cook

Butter Chicken

When I first saw the rave reviews this chicken was getting on Tasty Kitchen, I immediately put it into my "to try" list.  However every week, I would pass it over for another dish.  Sometimes, the small-town country girl in me comes out and has me shy away from the unknown.  I mean I grew up not even trying Chinese food until I was in high school.  Up until college, the only Mexican food I had was the school cafeteria's tacos and the Patio's version of a smothered burrito!  To me, Indian Cuisine was definitely uncharted territory.  I had never tried it, let alone attempted to cook it. 
However, the Mom in me came out.  We have a strict "no thank you" bite rule in our house.  You simply can not say you don't like something unless you try a bite.  Then if you don't like it, you have every right to say "no thank you".  So, I tried the recipe. It was fabulous!!!  My kids liked it, my husband liked it, and as I slowly savored all the layers of flavor this dish offers, I knew I found a definite re-do!  I got to pat myself on the back for not only making a scrumptious meal but for teaching this "old dog" that there are new tricks outside of this box!

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper (I used 1/4 tsp just to make it kiddo friendly and it wasn't the least bit spicy)
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
• ¼ teaspoons Cumin
• ¼ teaspoons Cardamom
• 1 whole Lime, Juiced
• 1 whole Onion, Diced
• ¼ cups Butter (1/2 stick)
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
• 1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 1 pint Whipping Cream
• 1 bunch Chopped Fresh Cilantro, to taste (I used about 2 TBSP because of the Cilantro haters in my house)

Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.  (I only marinated for about 4 hours and I still got good flavor.  Obviously the longer you can marinate, the better.)

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream and Cilantro just before serving over Basmati rice.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and try the Basmati Rice....a total new favorite in our house and has replaced the Market Pantry bag from Super Target forever!!!
For the Trader Joe's peeps, our friend Joe carries not only white, but brown Basmati rice AND the most fabulous frozen garlic Naan Bread to serve with this gem!


Recipe Source:  Tasty Kitchen Member lillieknits
This recipe has been linked up at:
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck

Menu Plan 7/24 - 7/29

Happy Friday my friends!
Here is what is going to be on our plates this upcoming week, in no particular order:

• Jambalaya, Corn Bread
• BBQ Pork Ribs, Parsley Red Potatoes, Green Beans
• Grilled Steak, Unstuffed Mushrooms, Wild Rice Pilaf, Salad
• White Castle Sliders, Waldorf Salad, Potato Wedges
• Hot and Sweet Drumsticks, Basmati rice, Cucumber Salad
• Chicken Tortellini Caesar Salad

What is going to be on your table?

Crockpot Chicken Parmesan

I don't know about you, but it another HOT one today!   What do you eat when it is so hot out?  At our house, we do a lot of grilling, dinner salads, and crock pot meals.  I was looking for a meal that I could make these crazy good, phenomenal breadsticks with, but didn't want to spend a lot of time on dinner (heat makes me feel like a lazy slug) and certainly did not want to have the oven going for more than the 15 minutes needed to bake the breadsticks.  After a quick search of recipes on my "things to try" list, I found this recipe for Crockpot Chicken Parmesan.  It went together in a snap and was a quicker cooking crockpot meal, which is good because I rarely have my act together in the morning to get dinner going.  Throughout the afternoon, the house was smelling INSANELY good and the taste certainly did not disappoint.  The chicken was cooked perfectly, and even though you could not longer see the cheese, you definitely tasted it.  Everyone LOVED it! 

• 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese
• favorite jarred marinara sauce, I use Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Marinara

Spread the 1 TBSP of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot stoneware insert.
Beat the egg with a fork in a separate bowl.
Mix the bread crumbs with the seasonings and the Parmesan cheese in another separate dish.
Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides with crumbs, cheese and seasonings.
Place the chicken breast pieces in the bottom of the crockpot.
Layer 2-3 slices or 1-2 cups of mozzarella cheese on top, depending on how much cheese you like.
Cover chicken and cheese with entire jar of marinara sauce.

Close lid and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4. I cooked mine on high for about 3 1/2 hours and the chicken was perfect!
Serve with your favorite pasta.  ENJOY!


Recipe source:  A Year of Slow Cooking
This recipe has been linked up at:
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck

Upside Down Supreme Pizza

Did you ever have one of those recipes that every time you made it, you made a mental note to try something different next time?  That quest for perfection was a longer than expected on this dish I am sharing today.  I first got a recipe for this from my friend Mel, then my hubby got it from an old high school friend.  So, after making it a couple times, and tweaking the cooking method and layering a couple more times, I have it!  I found that cooking the meat AND the veggies then adding the pizza sauce to the meat/veggie mixture was key...NO LAYERING, it didn't hold together right.  The other key has putting some of the cheese at the bottom, that was the final piece to this puzzle.  I now present to you....perfection!  Well, at least in my eyes, ha ha!  Even though my kiddos would not eat supreme pizza if their lives depended on it, they LOVE this and eat it, veggies and all!  So, here is the recipe along with all of my tweaks and reasoning for them,

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of meat of your choice.  Hamburger is a good filler here.  I use 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of hamburger and then add 1/2 - 1 pound Italian sausage and a package of chopped pepperoni for the rest.  I find if you use too much of the pepperoni or Italian sausage, it gets too salty.
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 6 ounces mushrooms, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jar pizza sauce, 16 oz.  I use the Trader Joe's kind...it is fabulous!
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 2 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 TBSP Garlic Bread Sprinkle

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large skillet, brown your meat until cooked through.  Remove meat from skillet and drain excess fat.  Next, saute your veggies until desired consistency.  I found when I left them crunchy, they added too much moisture to the filling when cooking in the oven.  Add garlic and cook another minute.  Again, burnt garlic = BLECH!  If you need to, drain excess moisture or oil from vegetables.  Add meat back into skillet and add pizza sauce.  It will be thick, that is ok...we aren't going for a spaghetti sauce to serve over pasta, but if you need to add a TBSP of water to get your mixture completely coated, that is ok.  It will loosen up slightly when baking in the oven.
Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with non-stick spray.  Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on bottom of dish.  Spread meat/veggie/pizza sauce mixture evenly over top to cheese.  Add remaining shredded cheese on top of meat/veggie/pizza sauce mixture.
In a medium bowl, quickly mix together flour, milk, eggs, oil, and salt until thoroughly combined.  Slowly pour over top of the cheese covering evenly.  This will bake up to be your crust.  Don't worry, it will work ;)  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garlic bread sprinkle on top of crust and bake for 30-45 minutes until crust is set. 
As a side note, this recipe is completely flexible...add whatever veggies and meat into it.  It is a great way to hide extra veggies!  Come up with your favorite and share it with us here!  Enjoy!

This recipe has been linked up at:
Mommy's Kitchen Sunday Potluck