but I digress. every year around this time, I just get so sick of the summer and start craving things like warm soups and cardigans and going to the mall just to feel the big, soft, knit blankets at pottery barn that come out in the fall (am I the only one who does that? once I sat on the couch and put one on me. it was awesome). I hate making my kitchen hot though, so I eat sandwiches. a girl can only eat so many sandwiches though, which brings me to the point of this post (yes, there is one). I came across a great vegetarian jambalaya recipe on pinterest about a month ago and even though I wanted to make it right then, I didn't -- because I hate summer and I hate july and I want to sit at pottery barn with blankets on!! jambalaya is hot, spicy, uses the stove, and dirties dishes -- 4 things my sandwich-eating-self couldn't mentally deal with in july.
so I just thought about it a lot. a LOT. and then I got sick of thinking and sick of letting july win, so I just made the f-ing jambalaya already. I was all like, "live every day like it's your last! carpe diem! fight fire with fire! YOLO!" (okay not the last one, I'm not that cool. I just heard that on the 'streets' the other day and knew that's what all the cool kids were saying. thought I'd incorporate that into a post about jambalaya. obviously.). anyways -- standing over my stove, sauteeing sausage and peppers in my 100 degree kitchen was not fun at the time, but the resulting pot of amazingness was worth it. it will be better in January after I get back from pottery barn though.
this recipe serves 6 and it's vegetarian -- I added meat though (this particular time, I added andouille sausage, bacon, ham, and shrimp).
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 pepper, in the color of your choice!, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 c. water
1 c. long grain rice
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
salt, paprika, cayenne, chili powder, pepper - to taste (I like it hot).
In a large skillet, saute the onion, celery, creen pepper, and garlic in oil until tender (add meat right ...NOW, if you want it in there). add the tomatoes, water, rice, soy sauce, parsley, and spices and stir and smile and sweat and love your jambalaya. this is a necessary step. once it's heated through, you can bring it to a boil and then bring it down to a simmer and cover it on the stove until all of the liquid is absorbed, OR transfer it to a baking dish and cover it and bake it for an hour at 350 degrees.
(*I apologize for the phone photo! my real camera died)
Also, pretending you're emeril lagasse while making jambalaya is absolutely a necessary part of this whole process, but I will let you use your own discretion with that.
-Hannah
