Jambalaya

My husband is wonderful and a fantastic cook. Have I mentioned this before? Again, this is an older dish, but due to delays, is only being posted now. Just know that I loved this and coming home to that home cooked delicious smell is one of the best feelings in the world.

Aaron found this recipe on allrecipes.com (original here) and used our slow cooker, which is one of the greatest things ever invented. He did some substitutions and took some things out that we didn’t have at the house, but this was delicious nonetheless. I’d also like to point out how many times I’ve misspelled jambalaya in this post and had to correct it. The answer is a lot. I am constantly misplacing the a’s.

Jambalaya modified from allrecipes.com:

A couple of chicken breasts, cut into 1” cubes
A couple of chicken andouille
1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
½ large sweet onion, chopped
1 c. chicken broth
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried parsley
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (we got this at the Saturday Market, which I first mentioned back in this post)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. dried thyme
1 c. cooked rice

In a slow cooker, mix the chicken, sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.



Cover and cook seven to eight hours on low or three to four hours on high. Aaron said it was closer to four hours on high. When it is done cooking, mix in your favorite cooked rice, serve and enjoy. This was spicy and delicious! If you took a look at the original, Aaron took out the shrimp as we didn’t have any, but next time he said he’d definitely put some in. I also had this as leftovers this next day and it was still fantastic!

Homemade Pasta with Pesto

I could use a thousand excuses for not posting, like grad school and working overtime, but they are just excuses. I do love you, dear food blog, and I intend to keep posting. Give me time and I will get back into the rhythm of posting all of my food love.



So let’s get into it! I made this forever and a day ago, but it was quite, quite, quite tasty. The pasta recipe is from the back of the Bob’s Red Mill bag and I did it just like Carrina did back in this post. The pesto recipe (yes, I know, even MORE pesto) is wonderful and I can’t tell you what it is. It’s something my parents made and I am not allowed to share it. Believe me when I tell you that it is delicious and the brightest green pesto I have ever seen.





Homemade Pasta with Pesto:

Serves two with leftovers

¾ c. semolina flour
¾ c. all-purpose white flour
½ tsp. salt (optional, which I did use)
2 eggs
2 Tb. water
2 Tb. olive oil
Pesto
Parmesan cheese







Combine flour and salt. Add beaten eggs, water, and oil. Mix to make a stiff dough. Knead 10 minutes or until dough is elastic. Wrap dough in towel or place in plastic bag and let rest 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to desired thickness and cut as desired. I had a lot of difficulty with this part. Mine ended up being a bit thicker than I had intended. It would just involve flattening, flattening, flattening. Or buying a pasta machine. It does look kind of look like the continent of Europe though.



Bring large pot of water to a boil and add pasta and cook until tender. Toss in a bit of pesto and stir. Top with parmesan cheese. Eat and love it. Even if you don’t know the super secret recipe.

Meatball Sub

Lately, Aaron has been doing the majority of the cooking around here. I love that we can both cook and I love the ideas he comes up with. A couple weeks ago or at least sometime between now and the August 19, the last time I posted (sad, I know), Aaron made meatball subs. No, Aaron made THE meatball sub. It was delicious and I barely had time to take a picture before I scarfed down the whole thing. If I had blogged about this sooner, like a normal person, the following recipe would be a bit more accurate. As it is though, Aaron tells me he can give a ballpark of what he did. So good luck and hopefully yours are as tasty as his!

Meatball Subs from Aaron’s mind:

Serves 2

½ loaf French bread
½ lb. ground turkey
1/3 lb. ground buffalo
2 tsp. oregano (maybe more)
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Possibly other seasonings, to taste
Enough fresh mozzarella to cover the meatballs
Marinara sauce



Mix together turkey, buffalo, egg, salt and pepper, and oregano (plus possible other seasonings) in a bowl and form into balls. Fry meatballs in a medium size pan over medium high heat until cooked through. Cut ½ loaf into two pieces and split open, but not all the way through. Ladle sauce into bottom of bread. Place meatballs in and ladle more sauce on top of them. Cover with mozzarella and bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

The combination of turkey and buffalo was fantastic. Both are leaner meats than beef and they play really well together. Aaron mixed them because traditional meatballs are a variety of meats and while I don’t eat most of those, this plays along those traditional lines. I’m also a huge oregano fan, and it works so well here. This is an easy meal and is perfect for midweek dinners. We had ours with mixed greens. I look forward to eating these again!