Crockpot Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

So obviously I haven't been terribly regular with this blog. My apologies indeed. But hopefully there's someone out there who still gets a little excited when they see Feauxcajun pop up on their Friends List.

So... how've you been? Alls good wit'cha mom & dem? Okay. Me...I got married this year. Thus the insanity which prevented me from doing much cooking at all, aside from making about 500 cream cheese mints in the shape of little blue & green roses & leaves.

But things are finally starting to calm down a wee bit, acclimating to sharing a space with another human being (and our dog), and having a smaller kitchen (less than excited about that bit).

But I was all to excited to take our new Crockpot for a test drive on some feauxCajun food!

CROCK POT JAMBALAYA!!!


(FYI, this is a stock image, because we devoured the jambalaya so fast that I never had a chance to take a picture. But this IS what the end product should look like, just so you have a point of reference during your cooking.)

In all honesty, this was possibly the best batch of jambalaya I've ever made. It's a creole style (aka, tomato base), but the crockpot just got the rice SOO perfect & full of flavor.

Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pound lean smoked turkey sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds and then halved (I like to do this just so every bite is guaranteed to have some sausage in it)
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice (I used the garlic & oregano variety, because it's nice to add in flavor wherever you can, and sometimes straight-up canned diced tomatoes just end up being too sweet.)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 tbsp Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tbsp hot sauce
3 c. brown rice, uncooked (we used minute rice to speed things up, and I HIGHLY recommend this method)

Directions

1. In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, celery, and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, and thyme. Stir well.

2. Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High.

3. Stir in the rice during the last hour of cook time (or the last 30-45 minutes of cook time if you're using quick rice). If you are lucky enough to have a hubs who works out of his home, he can help you with this step so that everything is ready and your kitchen smells like Cajun Heaven by the time you get home from work. This is also a good time to taste test, and add additional seasonings to your preference

Makes about 12 servings.

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Nutrifacts:

Calories 198.1
Total Fat 4.7 g
Saturated Fat 1.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 45.2 mg
Sodium 726.4 mg
Potassium 229.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.0 g
Dietary Fiber 1.5 g
Sugars 1.4 g
Protein 16.3 g
Vitamin A 4.3 %
Vitamin B-12 2.4 %
Vitamin B-6 12.0 %
Vitamin C 7.8 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 0.8 %
Calcium 4.0 %
Copper 6.1 %
Folate 1.9 %
Iron 8.0 %
Magnesium 8.8 %
Manganese 4.3 %
Niacin 27.1 %
Pantothenic Acid 3.5 %
Phosphorus 8.1 %
Riboflavin 2.8 %
Selenium 10.0 %
Thiamin 5.8 %
Zinc 5.5 %