Crawfish & Chicken Jambalaya

Enjoying the Crawfish at the LA State Society Boil  

Operation use things in my freezer commenced.  This afternoon, I started thinking about a stash of cleaned, cooked leftover crawfish from the Louisiana State Society's annual crawfish boil in July that I still had in my freezer.  After pigging out, the organizers let everyone take home bags of crawfish.  By the end of peeling those bad boys it was like I dragged my fingers on sandpaper covered in hot sauce.  But it was worth it.  As I am enjoying them 6 months later and mighty grateful. I heart the freezer.  I also had some leftover shredded rotisserie chicken and chopped bell pepper in the freezer. Go ahead and judge.  I use the heck out of my freezer.  But it's mostly whole foods that I've processed, soups, or frozen meals like the one you're reading about now.

Anyways, I stopped off to grab most of the ingredients on the way home to make a lightened up a Jambalaya recipe.  I looked up a few and modified.  I do that a lot.  Read like a dozen recipes and modify.  My only wish is that I remembered how long brown rice takes.. I don't like eating dinner immediately before bolting out the door to yoga.  But this made the discomfort of my full belly in shoulder stand worth it.  This came out infinitely better than I even anticipated.
  

Jambalaya
Serves 8; ~1.5 C portions (Dinner, 3 fridge portions and 4 freezer bag portions)

Chicken Sausage, Frozen crawfish, frozen
rotisserie chicken, and veggies

Ingredients
2 tsp canola oil
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken (could cook raw chicken as well and set aside)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 link of smoked turkey sausage (I thought I had some in my freezer.... made a trip to corner market for a substitute of 1/2 lb of chicken sausage...)
1.5 cups crawfish (or you could use raw shrimp)
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper

Veggies Cooking

Small bunch of celery chopped
3 minced garlic cloves
1 1/2 C uncooked brown rice
1 3/4 C fat-free chicken broth
1/2 C water (maybe)
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne
sprinkling of cajun spice - like "Slap Yo Mama"
1 can of diced tomatoes

Voila!

Heat oil in skillet medium high.  Cook sausage.  Set aside.  Cook onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook covered on low until vegetables are tender. 10-12 minutes.  Add rice; broth; spices.  Simmer 30 minutes.  May need to add water and cook longer, brown rice takes awhile.  Cook until a rice grain has the right bite and liquids are mostly absorbed.  Stir in meats (frozen crawfish, frozen cooked chicken, cooked sausage) and tomatoes and cook until heated. Eat.  I sprinkled a tad more cajun spice as I served.  Divide and freeze leftover portions.

Curried Chicken Salad

Friday night was glorious.  I had an overdue date with myself.  I stopped by the grocery on the way home with plans to roast my own chicken.  But genius-ly noticed the rotisserie chickens were $6 and a raw whole chicken was $8.  I'll save roasting my own for another day.  It was already pushing 6:00 pm and I was hungry.  I took my garlic rosemary chicken home, had one skinless breast, made some homemade hummus, had lots of veggies to dip, and cracked into a bottle of Jefferson Vineyards Meritage and stopped the remote on some trashy British comedy show on public broadcasting.  I need evenings like that more often.

But what to do with the rest of that chicken?  I shredded it, froze half, and with the other half, made some yummy chicken salad for lunches this week.  I'll probably so the same with the frozen portion - later.  I just don't like committing to 4 meals in a row of the same thing.


Curried Chicken Salad
Makes 2 servings

~1.5 Cups shredded rotisserie chicken
2 T reduced fat mayo
Enough curry that you can taste it ~ 1 T ?
2 T raisins
A dash of Splenda
Nuts optional.  It'd be good with slivered almonds.

Mix.  Enjoy for lunch 2 days in a row.

Roasted Spicy Chick Pea Snack or Salad Topper

Chick Peas going into the oven

 

I first saw this recipe in some health magazine over Christmas.  I'd always wanted to try roasted chick peas.  Seemed like a delicious snack with some crunch.  And I do love some protein.  I made it a few times for family and friends to rave reviews.  I made a few tweaks to the spices and I think I have a new snack staple.  I recently took it to watch a hockey game at my friends' casa.  The obvious next step was to put it on a salad and bring it to their Super Bowl gathering.  Well, I did.  And check and mate.  There is usually plenty of sweets, chips, and dips at parties and I often show up with hummus and carrots.  This was a much more fun way to bring a veggie side. (I hope the friends enjoy the leftovers I accidentally left in their fridge.)  And #smurffail because I forgot to take a pic of the final product.  But I think you all know what an assembled salad looks like.  Also, the chickpeas are delish on their own.  Also, it's pretty easy to half the recipe.  

Spicy Chick Peas
 2 15-oz cans of rinsed and drained chick peas*
 2 T canola oil
 1 1/2 T sugar
 1 tsp smoked paprika
 1 tsp garlic powder
 1/2 tsp salt
 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
 1/4 tsp black pepper



 Mix all of the things.  Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet at 425 for 20-25 minutes.
 *I found dried soaked and cooked chick peas work well also, they aren't as mushy and get crunchier much easier. But canned is faster.  To each their own.

Salad Additions:
1/2 C reduced fat crumbled feta
1/2 English cucumber diced
3 roma tomatoes with seeds removed and diced
Plenty of mixed greens. 3-4 cups.

Dressing: 
Juice of 1 lemon, 1 T olive oil.  Salt and pepper.

Mix everything together.  Enjoy!

Sauteed Kale and Shrimp

Threw this in a skillet while I was eating breakfast this morning to have some lean protein and greenery for lunch.  At first when I was eating lunch, my co-workers thought I was slacking because all they could see was pretzels, cheese, and an apple.  But then they saw my bowl of yum.  (This was the perfect precursor to my Ben and Jerry's fro yo treat since it's pushing 70 degrees in January...)

Sauteed Kale and Shrimp
Ingredients
2 oz frozen shrimp (thawed under running water)
3 stems of kale
1 tsp canola
1 T slivered almonds
1 T raisins
Hot sauce of choice; Garlic Powder; Salt Pepper.


Heat canola in skillet.  Add in kale, garlic, salt, pepper.  Saute a few minutes.  Add in shrimp.  Cook until pink.  Toss in raisins, almonds, and hot sauce.  Eat for lunch cold.

Lentil Hodge Podge

If you haven’t gathered, I am a busy girl.  Yesterday, I wanted lentils.  And I wanted them when I walked in the door.  I had a 30 minute window after work to change, eat, say hi to my roommate, and then leave for pilates and a date.  So, yesterday morning I threw some stuff in a crockpot.  And I let it simmer away for 9 hours.  I could have given myself more time, but I wanted to earn my tea and lavender lemon sugar cookie by walking to pilates.  Amazing how a 30 minute walk can become 20 minutes when it is "feels like a single-digit" cold.   (Not gonna lie, I selfishly set up dates at tea/wine bars next door to pilates.  Then I think about cookies all day.)

But back to the lentils.  Nothing like walking into the apartment to crockpot smells on a 17 degree evening so that I could enjoy a warm bowl of comfort.  This was a full meal in a bowl - vegetables; protein; and grain and delicious.  It wasn't all that photogenic, because it probably only needed 4 hours in the crock.  9 hours turned it into a delicious bowl of baby food mush.  But I swear, the key word there is delicious.    

Lentil Hodge Podge
Makes 8 - 1 cup servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 C lentils

1/2 C barley

1 package frozen block of spinach

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can light coconut milk   

3 ish cups of broth of choice (I used frozen turkey stock from Thanksgiving)
1 cup of water (I was worried about leaving everything for 9 hours)

Miscellaneous Indian spices that I didn't measure: tumeric, curry, corriander, garlic powder, cumin, garam masala, salt and pepper

Directions
Put all of the things in crockpot on low.  9 hours for mushy deliciousness.  Less time for less mushy.  Delicious regardless, I'm certain.  

Acorn Squash Half with Chorizo and Potato Saute

I am super glad I cook for one.  I get to combine cravings like chorizo and hashbrowns in a pretty little vegetable bowl known as an acorn squash half.  I had chorizo in the freezer.  I bought a giant link at Whole Foods awhile ago because I wanted chorizo breakfast tacos.  Which were delish.  But I divided the chorizo link into thirds and froze the portions for a rainy day.  Turns out, today was that rainy day.  Made this before scurrying out for the evening.  (It's true.  Sometimes I say I'm busy and can't meet til later, simply because I want some me time in the kitchen.)  Anyways, so what do you get when you combine these three things?  Magic.  Or maybe just a delicious dinner.      

  

Acorn Squash Half with Chorizo and Potato Saute

Ingredients
1 small red potato
1/2 acorn squash
1/3 of a giant Chorizo link
1/2 tsp canola oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions

• Pull out your frozen portion of chorizo the day before to muse for a day about what you wanna do with it.  So it's nice and defrosted by the time you have this craving.
• Shred potato with a cheese grater.  Leave the skin on.   
• Cut acorn squash in half.  Put half in a ziplock for a rainy day.  Put other half cut side down with a smidge of water microwaving in 2 minute intervals until a fork pierces the squash. 
• Meanwhile, back on the stovetop, heat a skillet to medium heat.  Put canola oil in pan and heat.  Add potato and chorizo. Add salt and pepper and garlic powder.  (You know how much you like.)  Cook for ~ 5 minutes. 
• When everything is done, put chorizo and potato in squash.  
• Voila.  Chow down.  Add more salt, pepper, and garlic powder if necessary.  It looks weird, but trust me - yum.  

Pumpkin Smoothie

Pumpkin, also known as my favorite food, is not just for fall. Here is my favorite smoothie recipe delish all year.

1 - frozen banana
1 C - dairy (sometimes I go all milk, and sometimes I go halfsies with yogurt)
1/2 C - canned pumpkin
Pumpkin Pie Spice to taste
Sweetener to taste (real sugar or your substitute of choice)

Blend, then enjoy.