Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

The Cajun cuisine attempts continue..... This was less intimidating that the gumbo for sure but it was still something I wasn't sure if I could pull off. It worked though!!! With delicious results. My sister-in-law and my hubs are both super spice freaks ( I am not ) and added Tabasco and more crushed red pepper at the table.


You can easily make this with shrimp as well and there are instructions for that in the original recipe from Cooking Light. My hubs does not like seafood and that is why none of my dishes contain any! I will need to change that though... The link is under the name of the recipe as per usual! I doubled the recipe because I wanted a lot of leftovers and there certainly was plenty! It also reheats marvelously and would be an easy dish to make ahead of time if you are having company. One thing I really liked about this is there is no need for a side dish to go with it. This is also a man approved dish!!


I changed it up again as per usual and added more vegetables because I love me some veggie deliciousness. I also followed the advice of many reviewers on the original recipe and cooked the rice before I added it to the jambalaya. I cooked it significantly longer than the recipe recommended as well. I wanted the flavors to have time to really blend together and, in my opinion, it helped the rice to soak up the juices and become your typical jambalaya texture. 


Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Cooking Light
Printable Version

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons Tony Chacheres or salt and pepper
• 2 cups chopped smoked sausage
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 3 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups uncooked rice (I used boil in a bag brown rice from Kroger)
• 5 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• Tabasco sauce

Preparation:

• 1. Cook rice to your liking and set aside. I undercooked it a little bit so it would finish up in the broth.
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• 2. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with Tony's or salt and black pepper. Brown the chicken for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and remove from the dutch oven and set aside. Then in the same dutch oven brown the sausage for about five minutes.

3. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cover and reduce heat to medium and cook until vegetables are tender. About ten minutes. 

4. Add broth, paprika, thyme, red pepper, tomatoes and chicken. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming the fat off the top as it rises. Towards the end of these 30 minutes is a good time to start seasoning it to your taste with Tony Chachere's, salt and pepper, and Tabasco.

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5. Add the rice and simmer for another 15 minutes. Just keep an eye on it and when it starts to look like it's thickened up. 

6. Before serving stir in green onions and keep a few on the side to garnish each dish! I put hot sauce on the table for my beloved little heat seekers.

• Enjoy!

ME

Rum-Glazed Pineapple, Mango and Chicken Kebabs

The end of summer is approaching and I am sad to see it go... however... I have a feeling the heat will definitely be sticking around until Thanksgiving or longer... But, with summer goes some of the awesome summer produce and that I will definitely mourn. I had two of my friends over for dinner last week and was looking for a super summery dish to serve before Labor Day weekend arrived :)

I nosed around Cooking Light and then I found it! Rum-Glazed Pineapple, Mango, and Chicken Kebabs. I loooove the idea of kebabs and the fact they were Caribbean inspired made it even better. They are colorful and make it easy for people to choose their own portion sizes. I would definitely make this again! They would be awesome and easy peasy for a party as well. I only changed a few things from the original recipe and I would also recommend adding whatever fruits and vegetables you think would go with them! I really enjoyed how the flavors blended together and the colors as well. I included the amount of chicken, mango, and pineapple the original recipe required as well as what I used in parenthesis. I served four people with this. (Gotta feed my man too!) All of my guests ate two kebabs and I served them with a salad of butter lettuce, strawberries, green onion and balsamic vinaigrette and a packaged Caribbean rice I honestly bought as a joke but turned out pretty well! I just found it in the Caribbean section of the grocery store. I also cooked mine in the oven because I had no desire to grill in 107 degree heat. My oven is a little weird but you could definitely broil these or bake them like I did. If you want to broil them follow the grilling directions I also put below.

Rum-Glazed Pineapple, Mango and Chicken Kebabs Print Version

From Cooking Light

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/rum-glazed-pineapple-mango-chicken-kebabs-10000000226641/

Ingredients

3/4 cup pineapple juice ( I used a can of crushed pineapples for the juice and also threw some crushed pineapples in there)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rum ( I used Bacardi, it was in the bar!)
2 tablespoons finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 30 cubes ( I used 2 medium sized chicken breasts for four people)
2 mangoes, peeled and each cut into 9 (1-inch) cubes
1 red bell pepper cute into 1-inch squares
18 (1-inch) cubes fresh pineapple
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pkg of wood or metal skewers

Preparation

1. Cut chicken, pineapple, mango and red bell pepper into cubes and put aside. if you are going to grill them, preheat the grill and if you are going to use the oven preheat to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium saucepan mix together the pineapple juice, brown sugar, rum and jalapeño peppers and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Add the cider vinegar and bring to a boil again for 1 minute stirring constantly. Let it stand for 5 minutes and if it is still too runny don't worry about simmering it until it reaches the desired thickness. (The original recipe had 2 tablespoons of cornstarch but when I tried putting it in it didn't take and I would up picking it out when it turned into little nuggets.) Add in the cilantro and lime rind when it's ready.

4. Make the kabobs. I did a red pepper on each end with pineapple, mango, two chickens and repeat. Do whatever you think looks nice and have fun with it! If you are using the numbers from the original recipe it comes to 5 chicken, 3 mango, and 3 pineapple alternately onto each of 6 (12-inch) skewers.

5. GRILL: Place kebabs on grill rack, brush and cook for 4 minutes. Turn kebabs; brush with half of glaze. Cook 4 minutes. Turn kebabs; brush with remaining glaze. Cook 2 minutes or until they are cooked through.

OVEN: Brush the kebabs with 1/2 the glaze. Cook for about 10 minutes, then turn over the kebabs and brush with the second half of the glaze. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until cooked through and serve hot!

Enjoy!!!

ME

Citrus Soy Drumsticks

As a preface to this dish... My first apartment in New York City was crazy hot and I moved in at the end of January. Naturally, the best way to cure steam heat in the winter is to open the window and I happened to live above an insanely delicious Chinese food restaurant. While I lived there the cravings I had for Chinese food would make you think I was pregnant with triplets. Ever since, every once in a while I get a crazy craving for Chinese food (I'm not pregnant with triplets! Don't worry Scott!). However, after watching my rear expand eating Chinese take-out twice a week I decided to search for something a little healthier. Hence, the Citrus Soy Drumsticks!

I had a hard time finding something to go with it though. I thought about attempting a healthy vegetable fried rice but I wasn't sure if I would have enough time and I opted for a mixed greens salad with mandarin oranges and a choice of balsamic vinaigrette and a ginger dressing I snagged from from Kroger. I also managed to dig up some asparagus in the fridge and cooked those up right quick. I'm sure there are things that would go better with this but that's what I came up with!

This could also made with drumettes for an appetizer. Two Pounds should be about right! As always I changed up the recipe a bit but the link to the original is below.

Citrus Soy Drumsticks Click here for one page PDF to print!

I found it on Cooking light!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/citrus-soy-chicken-drumsticks-10000001173758/

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6 chicken drumsticks , skinned
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger halved (I use a medium grater instead of chopping)
Cooking spray
2 cup sake (rice wine) halved - You can
2/3 cup fresh orange juice halved
2 tablespoons brown sugar
6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce halved
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice ( I always use fresh. I think the bottled stuff tastes funny)
1/4 cup chopped green onions

1. Combine 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, 1/3 cup OJ, 1 cup of sake, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce in a bowl. Marinate the drumsticks in this mixture for at least 30 minutes.

2. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and brown the drumsticks on all sides over medium high heat with 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger. About 6 minutes

3. Add other halves of 1/3 cup OJ, 1 cup of sake, and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce as well as 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the chicken. Cover and cook for one minute, then simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

4. Remove the chicken from the pan. I put it in a tupperware container and in the microwave.

5. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce to about half a cup or until it is thickened to the point where it will stick to the chicken. The recipe says about 5 minutes but it always takes me longer than what they said. I'm guessing about 10... however I did want more sauce. Reduce it until it looks and tastes good to you! That's always my plan!

6. Once the sauce is reduced add the chicken back to the skillet and coat each drumstick. Afterwards add the green onions and serve!

A serving could be either one of two drumsticks. Two of my guests had one and two of my guests had two. Entirely personal preference.

Enjoy!!

ME

Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken!

Last night I had some my husband's family over for Sunday dinner. I had all day to prepare and that was a good thing! I like to serve a large crowd buffet style because it is easier and everyone is free to choose what they like and how much they like. For whatever reason I am terrible at proportions and pretty much always make way too much food! The buffet style also always looks pretty too. One of the advantages of this meal is everything was easy to make in advance. When all of our guests arrived I was able to sit down and enjoy a glass of wine and appetizers with everyone else before I moved the crock pot to the island and toasted the buns.

In this post is my new favorite Pulled BBQ Chicken recipe I found on Food.com, and in the following post a light potato salad that is my new favorite! I also served a big tossed salad (with cheese on the side) and mixed berries with fat free cool whip for desert!

PULLED BBQ CHICKEN Printable Recipe Here!

From Food.com by justcallmetoni

http://www.food.com/recipe/pulled-chicken-sandwiches-crock-pot-242547#ixzz1Qs3ZLiLe

First of all... Meet my best friend yesterday! Stubb's Original Bar B-Q Sauce. Please know I also modified justcallmetoni's recipe and will post my modifications instead of her original recipe. I doubled the sauce (I loooooove sauce!) and used a whole chicken instead of breasts. I feel cooking it bone on and with skin helps the flavor of it. Also, I looove dark meat...

Ingredients:

1 medium onion or 1/2 large onion, sliced

1 whole chicken cut into quarters (if it is not in the chicken section you can ask your butcher to quarter one)

Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Tobasco sauce

Liberal dash of salt or Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

1. Cut the onion into thin half rings and line the bottom of the crock pot with the onions.

2. Rinse the raw chicken and place on top of the onions in the crock pot.

3. Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce and pour over the chicken covering it.

4. Put the crock pot on Low for six hours, or if you need to get it done a little sooner on High for four hours. To help make sure the sauce does not get too watered down I place a paper towel or two under the lid to soak up some of the excess moisture. Check it every once in a while if you can because it will need changing!

5. I check it around five hours (or three for high) and usually the chicken is done by then. I snag a bowl, a bag and cutting board and take the chicken out one piece at a time to shred it. Put the shredded chicken in a bowl and the unusable parts in the bag for disposal.

6. After the all the chicken is shredded mix it back with the sauce and let is simmer for another hour. If your sauce is looking too watery even with the paper towel (and you have guests arriving in 30 minutes like I did the second time I made this.. First time it was fine!), take off the top and turn it up if it is on Low and let some of the water cook out.

7. Before serving I put margarine on both the top and bottom of the buns with a sprinkle of garlic powder and put them under the broiler for a little bit to get them nice and toasty.

I also put out pickled okra and pickled jalapenos which were both a hit with the sandwiches!

Enjoy! It's an easy meal to do and you can make the sauce the night before so in the morning you can just put it all in the pot and get on your way!

ME