Chicken Jumbalaya

This week’s new recipe was chicken jumbalaya. Brian’s dad was visiting this weekend and I thought this would be a good dinner for Sunday. Brian and I had soccer so we didn’t end up trying it until Monday. I was a little nervous about serving it without trying it first, but I was reassured that it was tasty.

This was a pretty simple and easy recipe and it used the crockpot. I actually made quite a few modifications to the recipe which isn’t something I usually do the first time making something.

The recipe called for frozen onions and peppers and that’s not really my thing. I prefer fresh, and I didn’t think this should affect the recipe too much. Also the recipe called for diced tomatoes with jalapenos. Instead I used Rotel tomatoes with green chilis. I chopped up the onion and bell peppers and into the crockpot they went. Then I added the canned tomatoes, turkey sausage (which was already cooked), raw chicken and water. The recipe I was following also said to add the seasoning from the jumbalaya rice package. Well the rice that I got didn’t have the seasoning packaged separately from the rice so it didn’t go in yet. This cooked up in the crockpot while I was sleeping (definitely lazy cooking!) which was about 3 hours on high. Then I added the packaged rice (and seasoning). At this point I was worried that there wasn’t enough rice. I used about 20 ounces of canned tomatoes and the recipe only called for 14 ounces. After I got the rice in the pot, it just seemed that there wasn’t enough so I added about ¼ cup of plain brown rice too. Then I let it cook for another 45-50 minutes on high.

Well, there is a lot of rice now. I think there would have been plenty without that extra amount so I probably won’t do that next time.

Here’s what it looked like stewing in the crock pot.

Here’s the recipe (modified):
Servings: 6
1 medium to large white onion – chopped (larger pieces)
2 bell peppers – chopped (larger pieces) I used green and orange for the colors
2 - 10.5 oz cans Rotel tomatoes with green chili, undrained
2 cups water
8 oz turkey sausage, cubed
8 oz chicken breast, sliced
1 – 8oz packaged jumbalaya rice

Add onion, peppers, canned tomatoes to crockpot. Add water. Add sausage and chicken. (If your rice has the seasoning separate, add it now). Cover and cook on high for 2.5-3 hours or low for 5-6 hours. Then add rice, cover and cook on high for another 45 minutes or until liquid is soaked up and rice is tender.