Recipe Club & Whats Cookin' Wednesday

What's Cookin' Wednesday

&

Recipe Club

 

Cajun Jambalaya

 ~This recipe is compliments of Mr. Emeril Lagasse, with my slight twists :)

 

Photo Credit

 ~

 

What You Need:

12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

2 large chicken breasts, diced

1 ring of Andouille sausage, sliced

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning (recipe below) or store bought

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic

1 can petite diced tomatoes

3 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce

3/4 cup rice (I used brown)

3 cups chicken stock, more or less to your liking

Salt and pepper

 

What You Do:

In a bowl combine shrimp, chicken and Creole seasoning, and work in seasoning well.

In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat, add onion, pepper and celery...

Sauté for about 3-5  minutes.

 

Add in your garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves.

Then splash in the Worcestershire and hot sauces.

 Stir in rice (yes rice first) then slowly add broth.

 

Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. This is the point where you may need more liquid, if so add a little, if not, proceed to the next step...

When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and sausage.

Cook until meat is done, about 10-15 minutes more.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

**This is spicy - taste as you go along!**

 

Creole Seasoning

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast)

1 1/2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoons garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1/2 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

*You can double this if you want more spice... I halved Emeril's original recipe

~

I made this last week for Ted & I

It's typically a fall/winter dish, but I was in the mood for it for some reason.

So I whipped it up pretty quickly and we enjoyed it on our bistro table outside one night with an iced cold beer. It was a nice change up/break to all the grilling we've been doing.

 

Linking up with Andrea today

 

 

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

 

~Tiffany~

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday was the last day of school for the kiddos.

I was hoping to get out early, but did not (insert mad face)

I headed home and laid low while Ted went surfing.

This big mama gave me kisses...

Ted brought home a meatball parm for dinner....heavenly!

I watched The Best of Me - again.

Love that dang movie!!

 

 

I made chocolate chip M&M cookies for my nephews 6th birthday party...
and only managed to eat some of the dough....

 

The finished product!

 

Our neighbors dug a MASSIVE hole....

Turns out they are leveling their yard...

but that dirt pile was HUGE!

 

Saturday,  I dropped the cookies off for my nephew and hung out with my mom for a bit then headed back home.

Ted & I grabbed dinner and headed to our friends house for some drinks and card games.

 

The ducks are still chillin' at my mom's house in the front yard....

Naturally I feed them :)

 

I call Teds dad Pops...

So I made him a cake for Father's Day...

This day has been hard for me for the past 4 years, but it was nice to celebrate my father in law this year

 

I'm a huge Phantom of the Opera fan.

I've seen it a few times on Broadway and I LOVE IT!

Texas Manda and I sing the music all the time.

I sent this to her last night and laughed out loud.

 

 

We have a showing for our house tonight...keep your fingers crossed!

 

Have a great week!

 

~Tiffany~

Friday Favorites ~ Getting in to Summer

Happy Friday!

Happy Last Day of School!

 

Today is the last day of school for students!

My summer hours officially begin next week and I'm so happy I get an extra hour in the morning and Fridays off! Since summer is officially kicking off this weekend, I'm sharing some of my summer themed favorites right now...

 

Linking up with Andrea & Erika to share my faves:

~
 

Chuck Taylor Slip-On Sidelines

Find them here

Shay wrote about these shoes a few weeks ago, and I totally impulse bought them.

I'm so happy I did ! I love them.

They are such a comfy cute shoe for summer!

 
~
 

Starbucks Unsweetened Iced Tea

I'm a huge fan of unsweetened iced tea.
I love it from Dunkin' Donuts and from Starbucks.
I also make my own and drink Pure Leaf all the time..
but Starbucks in the summer is a fave for sure...

 
~
 

Ice Cream Sandwiches & Chipwiches
It's no secret that I love ice cream.
But in the summer, I love old school Ice Cream Sandwiches and a big ol' chipwich

 

I made my own chipwich's last year and brought them to a BBQ - they were a huge hit and SUPER easy. I just grabbed a big box of cookies from Costco and put different yummy ice cream in the middle of them. I got pints of Hagen Daas and cut cirles right through the container and stuffed it between two cookies. Easy peasy!

 
~
 

Hot Dogs on the grill

I love all things grilled.

But I love a grilled (almost burnt) hot dog in the summer.

They have to be the all beef Thumanns hot dogs and I have to grill them myself (or Ted)

but I loooove them in the summer! With a whole lotta ketchup!

 

~

 

Kayaking
Ted & I have only gone once this summer, well Ted went twice... but it's so fun!
We have a huge bay right down the road from my mom and a few creeks.
So we've been really loving the option to get in the water and paddle around!

 
~
 

The Beach

 I'm going to sound like such a snob right now, but I like the beach in early June and September and October. The beach in the summer is such a mess.
It's full of BENNIES, vacationers, people who trash it, all kinds of crazy stuff...
so us "locals" love the summer in the "off" months.
Local summer starts the day after Labor Day and it's kind of a big deal around here.
We like to walk Jake on the beach and let him run free and jump in the water.
We do this on a huge beach where we can drive on.... it's so fun.

There it is.... Ocean on the left, Bay on the right...
 

 We also love to go down to the inlet and watch the boats come and go.
There's the Barnegat Lighthouse

 

Don't get me wrong - I'll go to the beach in the summer and I love living so close but it's so nice in the off months. And it's super pretty in the fall...that sounds weird, but it is.

 

~

 

Have a fantastic weekend!!

 

~Tiffany~