Yum-balaya, The Anytime Soup

I haven’t written since May. Before you get on my case for being a lazy slacker, I must announce…. drum roll please… I’m pregnant!

I’ve had a bit of a tough time sticking to my usual Diet It Up routine. Spending time cooking means taking precious hours away from my new favorite pastime… sleeping!

Now that I’m into the second trimester, my energy is slowly making a comeback.  I even found a full hour to cook a real meal this weekend that wasn’t covered in cheese, peanut butter or pickles. The husband was thrilled.

I was flipping through my recipe binder and found this JAMBALAYA recipe that I saved. I don’t even remember making this. But, if I went through the effort of three-hole punching, I must have liked it. Getting the three-hole punch treatment is a pretty big deal.

Jambalaya is a soup-meets-stew concoction that we can thank our good friends in Louisiana for popularizing. It’s a great way to use up leftovers. Got some chicken lying around? Throw it in. Want to use crab instead of shrimp? Go right ahead. Shoot to include a seafood, poultry and smoky sausage element in your own version.

To avoid using a really greasy pork sausage, the supermarket had these neat little turkey/chicken andouille sausage bites that taste exactly like the pork version. I’m completely going to buy these again and turn them into pigs-in-a-blanket for football season.

I topped each bowl of Jambalaya off with a big ice cream scoop of brown rice. Don’t be turned off by making a stew in the middle of August like your crazy pal Trish. The sauce/broth is light enough that it’s perfectly appropriate any time of year.

I will try my best to post up delicious words of healthy wisdom on a weekly basis. One the managers in the office just referred to my growing baby belly as “huge” so I’ll be making a conscious effort to stay on track!