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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A day in the life....my "go to" meal

As a full-time buyer, mom, business owner, and wife, I need fast meals that my family will like.  Unfortunately, I have 2 picky eaters at home so I often have to prepare
more than one meal.   
I HATE to do this and try very hard not to.
We try to make the kids at least TRY whatever we are having but it is often met with sour faces.  My oldest is a little strange in that he won't eat noodles, not of any kind.   
What kid doesn't like noodles!
My 2 year old likes basically bread and fruit.  He's also just finicky, one day he'll love something and the next he refuses it.  Flat out spits it out....drives me nuts. 
Thankfully I have a few "go to" meals that never fail to make us ALL happy.  I received the "Cheap, Fast, Good" cookbook as a gift and have found several good recipes in there but this one is my favorite.

Bayou Stew

I usually make it in the morning or even the night before.  It just seems to have an extra bit of flavor if it has "sat" a while.



Bayou Stew
from Cheap, Fast, Good!

1 cup long grain rice
2/3 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 large onions
8 ounces kielbasa sausage
1 medium sized green pepper (about 1 cup chopped)
2 cans (14 oz each) beef broth
2 teaspoons Cajun blend seasoning
2 tablespoons flour

For Rice: Bring 2 cups lightly salted water to boil in a covered saucepan. Add the rice. Stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
Melt butter in 4 ½ qt Dutch oven over medium heat. Peel onion and finely chop them, adding to the pot as you chop. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces adding them to the pot as you chop. When all the chicken has been added, raise the heat to medium high. Cook stirring until the chicken is almost cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Meanwhile cut the sausage in half lengthwise, the slice both halves into roughly ¼ in pieces.
Add broth to the pot, raise the heat to high and add the bell pepper, cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil.  Add Cajun seasoning and cook at a moderate boil until the green pepper is tender, about 3 minutes. (Uncover the pot partially if pot begins to boil over.)

In small jar with lid, mix flour with 3 tablespoons cold tap water. Cover jar and shake well until the mixture is combined and the lumps have disappeared. Gradually add the flour mixture to the soup stirring constantly until the soup has thickened slightly. Remove the pan from the heat. Divide the hot cooked rice among four large soup bowls and ladle soup over the rice and serve at once.  Four generous servings.

For more great recipe suggestions and just plain good-reading visit Sprigs of Rosemary.

Happy Eating!!

Also swing by The Busy Budgeting Mama where I am linking up today.



3 comments:

  1. Yum! That sounds good! Your 2 year old sounds just like Jack! That kid loves bread and fruit. I'm hoping the finicky, love it/hate it is just a stage that will pass quickly! Makes dinner time really difficult. HA!

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks really good. I'm going to try it, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. No noodles!!! Does that mean no mac-and-cheese, too? At least he'll eat the kielbasa! The stew is really good. Simple and good is one great combination.

    ReplyDelete

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