This week for dinner- Crock Pot Jambalaya

My husband has been out of work for almost a year now.  We were hoping to go back to school and my husband getting his PHD, but that isn't working out well either.  We haven't gotten accepted anywhere yet.  Either way though it's pretty tight around here, and isn't getting any better anytime soon.  So it looks like I might either go back to school myself or get a "real" job in the evenings.  I'm searching for good Crock Pot meals I can make before taking off in the evenings.  So here is my first try.  We love spicy food, and I've liked Jambalaya.  But this wasn't perfect.  I have some ideas for the next time.  Fresh herbs, instead of dried, and I'm thinking about trying it in the rice cooker, since the main problem was the overdone rice on the bottom and underdone rice on the top.

Crockpot Jambalaya
1 pound chicken breast sautéed and cut into pieces
1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
28 oz can stewed tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 C uncooked rice
3 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
In a slow cooker, mix the sausage, tomatoes with juice, onion, green bell pepper, rice and broth. Season with oregano, parsley, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, and thyme.
Cover, and cook 7 to 8 hours on Low, or 3 to 4 hours on High. Stir in the chicken during the last 30 minutes of cook time.

Daring Cooks Challenge- Satays

This is my first month working with the Daring cooks, I'm also planning on doing the Daring Bakers challenge too.  Of course I had in my mind the 15th, so I'm off by a day.  Next time I'll get it right.  I've been following their monthly postings for years now, but hadn't joined since I had my own cooking/baking days with friends.  But now that I've been here in UT I haven't meet anyone as interested as I am in food and cooking/baking.  So I figured why not?  It gives a clear goal and a clear deadline and I get to try new things.  Right up my alley.

This month was hosted by Cuppy and the challenge was to do a Thai Satay, it mostly involves marinading whatever meat you choose.  I went with Pork and enjoyed it.  Next time I might try chicken, salmon or shrimp.  They all look and sound great (based on the other Daring cook's pictures)

Thai Satay Marinade 
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Thai dragon (bird’s eye) chili pepper (optional)
2 T ginger root, chopped (4 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 T fish sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)
Directions:
1. If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic, ginger and peppers really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.
4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.
* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.


Peanut Sauce
3/4 cup coconut milk
4 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.

Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often. The peanut sauce literally takes 2 minutes to stir together on low heat (all you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, really), so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat later.

THIS was fabulous.  We all loved it.  It was easy to make and had a great flavor.   As for the Satay's, I actually doubled my batch, since we have so many people living here that I cook for, and we served it over rice with the Peanut sauce.  Overall we enjoyed it.  We prefer Indian food to Thai so we wished it was a bit spicyer, but the flavors were a great balance and I would totally make it again, maybe with a few tweeks.  But it has promise.  And I'm excited to get on with my Daring Bakers Challenge now!