Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Italian Jambalaya

I got this recipe from a friend,  Heather who loved this recipe so much she shared it w/me. She received the recipe from her mom who got the recipe from a
2008 Southern Living Annual -December 
 




1 lb. Italian sausage, casing removed
2 skinned boneless chicken breasts, coursely chopped apx. 1 lb.
2 boneless center cut pork chops, chopped apx. 1 lb.
1 onion diced
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
several stalks celery chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 ten oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 six oz can tomato paste
light beer or White Wine(if needed)

Brown sausage in Dutch oven over medium high heat, stiring often, 5 minutes or until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove sausage using a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings. I had to add some EVOO here bc my sausage didn't have enough fat. Cook chicken and pork in sausage drippings over medium high heat, stirring 4-5 minutes or until brown on all sides. At this point, the bottom of my pan had the "gunk" on it so I deglazed my pan. I would suggest using a light beer or white wine here.  Add onion, peppers and celery and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in diced tomatoes and green chilies, tomatoe paste, 1/4 cup water, Italian sausage and all seasonings. Cover and reduce heat to low, stirring often for 20 minutes.

Stir in hot cooked orzo just before serving or serve over pasta or rice.

I served ours over rice that had Saffron in it. I love Saffron yum yum.  My husband enjoyed it quite a bit I'd say,his bowl was clean :)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Tex-Mex Stew

 






I found this recipe in a Family Circle cookbook and thought that I would give it a whirl. I did change it up a bit for our taste preferences. It smells so good right now!

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef(I used ground Turkey)
2 1/4 C water
1 can (15 1/2 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1C frozen chopped onions,green and red peppers
1 can RO*Tel Mexican Lime and Cilantro
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 TBSP ground cumin (I used 1 1/2 TBSP bc I love this spice)
1/2tsp salt(I added less bc of the onion soup mix)
1/2tsp dried oregano
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
Corn chips-optional
avocado-optional
cilantro-optional

In a large pot, brown the ground turkey and break it up w/spoon. Add 2 C water,beans, corn, soup mix, cumin, salt, oregano, cayenne, peppers, and rotel. Stir til combined and let come to simmer for about 10-15min. Stir 1/4 C water into the flour and mix together til smooth. Stir into stew; cook about one minute or until thickened. If desired garnish w/corn chips,cilantro and avacodo.

* It takes no time at all to put this recipe together. It's very very easy, and like I stated, it smells so good as it cooks. Next time you are in a hurry and need to put together something fast, this is the meal to do. Very good!


This is the Ro*Tel that I used. Sorry for the blur in pictures but my Camera actually died while I was taking the pics LOL. Also, this has a kick to it, so if you don't like spicy stuff, do not add the cayenne pepper ;)