With a busy last week, the BOY stepped up having dinner ready most nights.
Now that he starts school tomorrow, it’s my turn to make some dinners. We had a wonderful weekend with our close friend’s in town, but I was left Sunday with a bad cold/cough. I knew it was coming as I’ve been pretty healthy ALL year. I dosed myself with some Musinex (a personal favorite) and tried to drink as much water as possible. I also needed some naps with Cooper.
I dragged myself out of the house for a walk (I haven’t exercised since Friday’s long run) and a trip to the grocery store. I found an easy and healthy recipe for dinner that looked promising. I put Tuesday’s dinner into the crockpot and got started on the jambalaya.
Since we are having chicken later in the week, I left that out of the original recipe and used a little more turkey sausage and shrimp.
Confession: I have no idea how to make foil packets and ended up with two very different configurations.
Which made this meal seem a whole lot more difficult than I expected. When it came time to check my rice, I was nervous, but it was done. But not all of my sausage pieces were cooked through. I put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes, which did the trick.
The spices in this dish are super, and the BOY told me that he definitely wants me to make the recipe again!
We devoured it quickly, and I have some leftover for lunch tomorrow!
This is a great easy week day meal to add to your list.
Meal Plan 8/18/13
Sunday: Cajun Jambalaya
Monday: Clean Peanutty Thai Chicken
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Out
Thursday: Mediterranean Grilled Chicken
Cajun Jambalaya
Makes 6 Servings
Ingredients
1/2 lb raw shrimp, 26/30 size, peeled and deveined, tail on
4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into 1-inch pieces
1 all-natural low-sodium turkey sausage, sliced
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, stem and seeds removed and discarded, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 handful of cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp salt-free Cajun seasoning
1 cup all-natural instant brown rice
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a large mixing bowl, toss together all ingredients except cooking spray, mixing well until combined.
Prepare 2 foil pouches. Spray each piece of foil with cooking spray. Divide mixture evenly among both pieces of foil and seal.
Place pouches on a baking tray and slide onto middle rack of preheated oven for 25 minutes or until rice and proteins are fully cooked. (NOTE: When cooked, rice will be soft and proteins will be firm and opaque.) To test for doneness, carefully open 1 pouch and taste a few grains of rice from the center of the pouch. If necessary, close pouch and return to oven for 5 more minutes.
Carefully open pouch and pour mixture into a large serving bowl; serve immediately.
