Kandi's Jumbalaya w/ Tortilla Soup

This was a total "I don't want that again, so I am just going to throw some stuff together" item. It was a Wednesday, Mexican night and I have been in that nothing sounds good first trimester mode for a while now. I decided burritos sounded too thick, we had just had ole's and cheese and gauc with chips and apple grande's so I was determined to find something different. A great substitute for Mexican night is always Cajun.

Then I remembered all the Cajun mini meals I had gotten from the frozen section to try and how they'd been wasted ....and my frustration level with food in its entirety rose.

I had found these Zantarans frozen meals that looked yummy and decided to try them out. now....when we go to the register at Wal Mart (I switched back to a checker from self check out a while back deciding that I just didn't have the speed or nich for the grocery clerk business), I always unload my cart by the sections it is organized into, frozen, dry goods, dairy, canned goods, meats, breads and produce, then all non food. Any good cashier will follow this same system when bagging your groceries and it saves you when you get home and go to put it all away. You don't want to forget that block of cheese between your 2 boxes of mac and cheese you shoved into the cupboard.
Well this time the cashier seen the Zantarans and figured it was rice (despite the frozen feel of it) and placed the frozen meals next to the actual rice. When we got home I was in a hurry to put stuff away so we could eat the Papa John's pizza we picked up on the way out the door (our WalMart is awesome like that and has Papa Johns instead of McNasty's). I did the same darn thing! Grabbed the frozen Zantaran's out of the bag with the Zataran's rice and stuck them in the pantry. A couple days later we found this watery stuff all over the pantry shelf and could not place it. Finally it was traced back to the frozen meals who's seal had finally broke and begun to leak. BUMMER! At least they hadn't started to smell yet.

Anyhow, so I decided to take the Zantaran's rice box and prepare it then throw in sausage and mix a bunch of beans together and some veggies and call it Jumbalaya.

Ingredients:
1 box Zantaran's rice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c celery diced
1 onion diced
1 peper diced
1 can green chilies
1 pkg long roll sausage (I used chedderworst as it was there)
1T cumin
2T Worcestershire





Directions:
In pot prepare rice according to package. Meanwhile in skillet fry sausage with peppers, onions & celery with cumin and Worcestershire. When rice is no longer crunchy add tomatoes (undrained) and green chillies. Finally mix skillet ingredients in. Serve with Tabasco. Viola! Jumbalaya al la Kandi.



I served this with Tortilla Soup. It just wasn't my night, however, as I thought I had seen a can of enchilada sauce in the pantry and it turned out to be chili beans! Apparently the tops of the cans are similar. So after sending Wayne to the store, and him getting all the way to the register and realizing he didn't have his wallet, then asking all the neighbors if they had a can, I decided to make it from scratch!




Enchilada Sauce:

When all else fails, go to AllRecipes.com for any ingredient or meal.
Here is the recipe for Red Enchilada Sauce:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/red-enchilada-sauce/Detail.aspx

Tortilla Soup:

Gayle's Recipe (Mother-In-Law)

Chicken Etouffe with Pasta

Prep and Cook Time: 25min

It was Wednesday afternoon, the boys had taken a good nap and were content to watch a movie on the couch so I went right on working on one of my afternoon projects until I looked up and noticed it was 4:30. In our new post wrestling season schedule we have been eating at 5 and loving it. I hadn’t thawed any meat but I follow a self-proclaimed routine of nightly themed menus and Wednesday is Mexican, therefore that narrowed down my dilemma (normally I have a monthly menu hanging on the Chef menu board but I am converting to an excel spreadsheet and haven’t printed March yet). The project I had been working on just so happened to be the same fore mentioned excel spreadsheet.

 I picked up the last cookbook I had been selecting recipes from and flipped through for a quick recipe that fit the theme. I came across this one which is Cajun. I figured Cajun, Mexican, interchangeable enough…both suggest a bit of spice in your life….I UNDERESTIMATED HOW MUCH spice. Though this may have been due solely to the fact that I had thought Wayne had said be home at 5 when it had really been Wrestling Gear Check-in STARTS at 5 so it simmered an extra 45 minutes and had plenty of time to absorb its every seasoning. Turns out that by this time it was too spicy to serve to the boys even after adding tons of vinegar to cancel out the spice from the peppers but Wayne loved it and added Tabasco on top. I kept my napkin near to blot the eyes and nose and managed half a bowl.

SAVE YOUR TONGUE, ONLY USE THE 25 MINUTES!

Recipe taken from:  All Time Favorite Recipes: Incredibly Easy Chicken

Ingredients:

¼ cup vegetable oil (I used EVOO)

1/3  cup flour

½ cup finely chopped onion

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut across the grain into ¼ inch thick strips

1 cup chicken broth

1 medium tomato, chopped

¾ cup sliced celery

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (I used yellow, red, orange mix)

2 Tablespoons Creole or Cajun seasoning blend

Hot Cooked Pasta (we were running very low so I had to choose between angel hair and country egg noodles which is what I used and they weren’t bad, though I would suggest a firmer more Italian pick)

1.       Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add flour; cook and stir 10 minutes or until dark brown. Add onion; cook and stir 2 minutes.

2.       Stir in chicken, broth, tomato, celery, bell pepper and seasoning blend. Cook 8 minutes or until chicken is cook through. Serve over pasta.

        

Makes 6 servings.

       *Etouffe is a traditional dish from New Orleans. This Cajun stew usually features chicken or shellfish, bell peppers, onions and celery.