Recipe: Super duper jambalaya

Merry Christmas! We actually have snow on the ground here in Duluth, Georgia, on Christmas Day (now evening), which just doesn't happen around these parts often. The last time it even flurried in these parts was 1993!

Anyway, we had a great Christmas and have just put Will and Reese to bed for the night. Tomorrow morning, I'll be headed up to Ohio to collect Ben and Jonah through the New Year. But before I go to sleep tonight, I wanted to give the gift of a great recipe I use to make jambalaya.

Why jambalaya of all things? Well, Tammy and I are on our second straight year in establishing a Christmas tradition of having jambalaya for lunch. If you've hit your limit on traditional holiday foods, such as turkey and ham, then jambalaya may literally spice up the holidays for you.

Here's my jambalaya recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
8 oz diced ham
8 oz sausage
1 large onion (or 1 tablespoon of chopped onion seasoning)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoon parsley
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
1-1/2 cups rice (white or brown)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-1/2 tablespoon hot sauce (I prefer Frank's Red Hot sauce)
14 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I prefer chardonay)
4 oz cooked, peeled shrimp


Preparation:

1. Heat oil in sauce pan and fry ham, sausage and onion for 3 minutes.
2. Add garlic, thyme and parsley. Stir well.
3. Add chicken stock, rice, cayenne pepper and hot sauce. Mix well.
4. Add tomatoes with juice. Again, mix well.
5. Bring contents to boil while stirring well. Then, cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
6. After 15 minutes is up, stir in bell pepper and wine. Then, cover and cook for 3 more minutes.
7. Add shrimp to mixture and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

I find this dish usually takes me about 45 minutes if I'm keeping myself busy chopping up the bell pepper while step 5 is simmering. It's ready to serve hot off the oven and can easily feed four (or more if everyone's not stuffing themselves). Plus, this dish re-heats well in the microwave. In fact, the extra time in the fridge allows all the spices to mix together even more. Mmmmm...speaking of which, maybe I should re-heat our leftovers from earlier today.

You can add more hot sauce to this dish, but I find it's better to go easy on the hot sauce while cooking. After all, it's easier to add more spice at the dinner table than it is to take spice away.

Enjoy! And again, Merry Christmas!

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• Cusinart MCP-12 Multi Clad Pro Stainless Steel 12-Piece Cookware Set (Pots, pans, etc.)
• Ginsu 7112 Chikara 12-Piece Stainless Steel Knife Set With Block (for cutting your onions, peppers, sausage, etc.)
• Progressive GT-3520 International 19-Piece Measuring Cup and Spoon Set (for making all those measurements from 1/4 teaspoon to 1-1/2 cups of whatever)