Chicken and Sausage Quinoa Jambalaya

A few weeks ago we went to visit our friends who had recently had a baby. :) I browsed recipes quite a bit beforehand, trying to decide what to make for the dinner we were planning on bringing over and eating together. I have no idea why, but some notion got into my head to make jambalaya (I've never made it before). But as I read recipes and saw that most all of them called for rice, I wasn't too excited about making it with rice and began to wonder if anyone had ever made jambalaya with quinoa (I've been on a quinoa kick for quite some time). Such a silly thing to wonder; of course someone has made a quinoa jambalaya before! I had no trouble finding a delicious looking recipe on the web.

The recipe I loosely followed was this one for shrimp, sausage and quinoa jambalaya, from Relish, which is pictured here.

(photo source)

The ingredients I used to make this dish differed slightly, however, and are written below. All in all, this was very easy! And it was sooo good. We all loved it. In fact, we ate the whole dish! There were no leftovers to be had once the four of us got through with this. :) And I think it makes 8 servings... Guess we were all hungry!

In addition to just being plain yummy, the other great thing about this recipe is that it's quite versatile! You could make this completely vegetarian and add a larger assortment of veggies and maybe even some tofu? You could also add different meats or seafood (e.g., shrimp, of course!). And you can certainly kick it up a notch and add more heat/spice to this dish too, if that's your preference!

Ingredients:

-4 and 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, divided

-2 cups quinoa (I used white; you could use red)

-3/4 to 1 pound cooked sausage or kielbasa (it's your choice really as to what exact kind of meat!), cut into bite-sized pieces

-3/4 to 1 pound cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (you could roast, grill, saute, etc. the chicken - again, totally up to you)

-1 large onion, chopped

-1 medium to large green pepper, chopped

-1 medium to large red pepper, chopped

-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

-1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes (the brand I used were "spiced" diced tomatoes)

-1/2 to 3/4 tsp. chili powder

Instructions:

Cook the 2 cups of quinoa with 4 cups of broth according to the quinoa package's instructions until it's done; set aside. Heat 2 to 3 tsp. of olive oil over medium heat in a large pot, and add the onion, peppers, and garlic to it. Saute about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of broth, can of diced tomatoes, and chili powder, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the cooked quinoa and the cooked meats, and mix everything together well. Heat a few more minutes, if necessary, until all ingredients are heated through.

Serve and enjoy!

As you can see, I don't have any pictures of this delicious dish to share with you. :( I was kind of in a rush when I was making it at home and I guess I wasn't thinking about taking pictures (which is really rare when it comes to me being in the kitchen; I am always taking pictures of what I make!). And I also didn't think to take pictures while we were eating. I blame the fact that I was distracted by the cute baby who was nearby... But, this dish was totally blog worthy, so I do wish I had snapped a few photos for you to see it. Oh well!

Instead, I'll show you a couple baby pictures. I definitely think that baby pictures are much more fun to look at than food pictures anyway! ;)

I can't stand the cuteness! Love being around little ones. :)

Mike's first time ever holding a baby this young and his first time feeding a baby! He looks like a natural, wouldn't you say?!