Tomorrow is HWMMS birthday so I wanted to make him something sassy and spicy to take to work for lunch. He mentioned gumbo the other day, so…while he napped. I created a Jenny masterpiece I shall call Jenny Gumboayla.
And since I don’t *really* claim to know what either of these dishes actually entail without a recipe, I did a quick look up of “Jambalaya v. Gumbo” and realized, well, I sort of made both. Or neither.
All I know is HWMMS will think it’s delicious.
Now are you ready to hear the Jenny Gumboayla recipe? (It’s all over the place, shocker, I know.)
I started by looking in the pantry to see what I could see. I saw a random box of [amazon_textlink asin=’B00IEYGCWE’ text=’Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’allthijen01-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7aae1c98-e465-11e7-88a1-9ba99454fed4′] and a small bag of [amazon_textlink asin=’B00270V3CA’ text=’Jambalaya mix’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’allthijen01-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’91e086f6-e465-11e7-ae02-2fae31a8d149′]. I think the 1st box is from one of those TOPS meal deal offers and the 2nd must have been still hding from a package our southern friends Lainie & Cliff that I never used! My best guess since we don’t really buy packaged rice mixes.
I added 3 cups of water. A jar of tomato sauce. 2 cups of fresh chopped celery, 2 cups of fresh chopped onion, 2 cups of fresh chopped tomatoes, 2 cups of chopped kale, a can of red beans, a package of Bob Evans Hot & Spicy Sausage, a package of Bob Evans Sage Sausage, two packages of fake crab meat, a bag of medium shrimp, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper.
All of it thrown in the [amazon_textlink asin=’B06Y1YD5W7′ text=’Instant Pot.’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’allthijen01-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d3707908-e466-11e7-b2a3-c501255343d4′] And once it got up to pressure, it took 30 minutes to melt together into spicy tomato based love.
While the rice mix was coming together, I decided to make a stock made of leftovers. I threw in the rest of the celery stalk, a bag of baby carrots, a bag of onion peels I had saved in the freezer, a bag of spaghetti squash (it tasted really good last time so why not!) a whole lotta garlic and the shrimp tails. Low and slow for the night and then tomorrow I will strain out everything and cook it down a little bit before pressure canning. Although knowing HWMMS he will want a jar to add to the Jenny Gumboalya to make it more like a soup instead of a goop.
This is why I could never be a food blogger. I really rarely follow directions and just go with the flow—of what I find in the pantry and freezer.
I do have to say it smells amazing. And my wee sample was delicious. (But a tad spicy for my liking!)
AND at least half of this is going in the freezer for the future, because it is impossible for me to make anything for just two people.
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