One Pot Fake Jambalaya
- 1 14 oz package of polish or smoked sausage
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil or bacon grease or shortening
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 onion
- 2 stalks of celery
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp of dried oregano,
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
- 1/8 tsp salt and pepper
- 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1 cup of white rice
- 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken broth (can use bouillon cubes)
- Slice the sausage into ¼-½ inch thick slices. Add the sausage and cooking oil to a deep skillet or Dutch oven or deep soup pot and sauté over medium heat until the sausage is well browned. Don't worry if the sausage begins to brown on the bottom of the skillet. That's extra flavor that will cook into the rice later.
- While the sausage is cooking, dice the bell pepper, onion and celery. Once the sausage is browned, add them to the skillet and continue to sauté for about one more minute.
- Add the spices (smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, cayenne, salt and black pepper) to the skillet with the sausage and vegetables and continue to sauté for one minute more to toast the spices.
- Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), rice, and chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine and dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let the skillet simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest, with the lid on, for an additional 5 minutes.
- After the skillet has rested, remove the lid, and fold the sausage and rice to redistribute the rice and sausage throughout.
Note: You can use frozen pepper, onion, celery mix, called mirepoix to save time. If you have a cajun seasoning you like, feel free to use that instead of the spices called for here. You can also add or substitute chicken and shrimp.
Here we are in the first week of January and it is COLD. I am planning plenty of warming meals this week, one of them being my one pot fake jambalaya. Real jambalaya has chicken and shrimp in addition to the sausage, so I came up with a way to have jambalaya but keep the cost down. We use the inexpensive polish sausage from Save-a-lot, but you can substitute pretty much any sausage. This meal appears quite often in the winter as it makes a good sized batch so we can take some for lunch, and it mixes the more expensive protein with cheaper rice to keep it budget friendly. Plus, we like it spicy, so we add hot sauce, and that warms us up.
How is meal planning going? For me, the planning takes such a burden off me. I don't have to get home and then go "Ah! What are we having for dinner?!?" I can plan easy, fast meals on our busy days or days someone else has to cook and plan meals that take a little longer for when I have time. I can also get things ready ahead of time when I have extra time if I know what we are having, when. Or, I can ask someone else to get it going because it is all planned out and the food is bought. Here is our plan for this week, plenty of warming foods to help us feel cozy.
You will see a lot of recipes using refrigerated biscuits, they are on a great sale this week
Monday-
- Breakfast- Cereal and toast, 1/2 a banana
- Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us sandwiches and ramen cup of soup
- Dinner- Chili and corn bread (unless you are my husband, who grew up eating peanut butter sandwiches with chili)
Tuesday-
- Breakfast- Toast and scrambled egg, orange slices
- Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us leftover chili and crackers, carrot sticks
- Dinner- Jambalaya and coleslaw
Wednesday-
- Breakfast- Oatmeal with canned peaches
- Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us leftover jambalaya and an apple
- Dinner- Vegetable soup and lunchmeat sandwiches
Thursday-
- Breakfast- Toast and scrambled eggs, whatever fruit we have left
- Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us leftover soup and a sandwich
- Dinner- Easy Pan Pizza using refrigerated biscuits, bag of salad * we use spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce, it is less expensive for us and no one notices
Friday-
- Breakfast- Cereal and toast, whatever fruit we have left
- Lunch- Kids at school, Us sandwiches, pretzels, fruit
- Dinner-Chicken Enchilada Soup, bread and butter
Saturday-
- Breakfast- Cooked apples, Biscuits and gravy using refrigerated biscuits
- Lunch- Tomato soup and grilled cheese, fruit
- Dinner- Tacos with half ground beef/ half lentil filling * we use one packet of taco seasoning
Sunday-
- Breakfast- Egg and sausage breakfast sandwiches, fruit
- Lunch- Spaghetti with Bacon, green beans, bread and butter
- Dinner- Super Easy Chicken and Dumplings with a can of mixed vegetables mixed in
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