New Recipe: Jambalaya with Corn Bread

          So I'm always on the lookout for new dinner recipes, mainly because I get super bored when I eat the same thing for dinner all the time. It's good to keep things fresh, first of all you gain a skill (woohoo I can cook!) and second of all who doesn't love to eat delicious food? Last week I made a Jambalaya for dinner using the crock pot. If you don't own a crock pot, put it on your Christmas list because it allows you to put all these raw ingredients and spices in a big bowl and THATS IT, you get to sit back and watch Netflix while the crock pot magically blends all the ingredients to make a whole dinner. I've cooked plenty of meats in my crock pot (corned beef and cabbage dinners, pot roasts with potatoes and veggies, even a couple of homemade soups....). Just wait till my winter recipe blog posts, you'll be eating good during those cold months! 
         Anyways, here is my recipe for Jambalaya in the crock pot and corn bread for dipping that I made last week. Since putting all the ingredients in the crock pot takes all of 3 minutes, I figured I should bake some corn bread from scratch with the extra free time I had. The corn bread takes like 10 minutes to prepare so when all is said and done it looks like you've been slaving away in the kitchen for hours but really you've been in there for 20 minutes tops. Also check out my fellow blogger Meggie July's jambalaya recipe because we weirdly made jambalaya for dinner on the same night... great minds think alike!

Jambalaya Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cubed
• 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil
• 1 bag frozen mixed peppers and onions thawed
• 1 pkg jambalaya rice mix (I use Zatarain's)
• 1 lb large shrimp cleaned
• 1 lb hot sausage broken up into little pieces

Jambalaya Directions:

• In crock pot, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes and vegetables. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Add rice mix and shrimp during the lat 30 minutes of cooking. 

Cornbread Ingredients:

• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/4 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)

Cornbread Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• In a large bowl combine milk, egg, and oil.
• Add dry ingredients (corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) to milk mixture.
• Stir until blended
• Pour batter into an 8x8 greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until top is golden brown

I added the shrimp and rice to the crock pot then prepared the cornbread and put it in the oven. They should be ready at the same time.

Enjoy!

xoxo