Jambalaya and my first homemade bread!

I am exhausted! I took the day off from work, and spent a good 11 hours or so in the kitchen making Christmas goodies... who knew it could be such hard work?! Certainly not me since that is definitely the first time I have spent that long baking! I will blog about my cookies later because I don't even want to think about them anymore :) Everything went well and seems to taste great - phew!

Yesterday, after spending an insane amount of time at the grocery store to get all of the items needed for today's baking marathon, and before going to volunteering, I figured I had just enough time to make a loaf of bread. I had bread flour leftover from making the garlic knots on Thanksgiving, and wanted to try my hand at making actual bread. I saw this Honey Wheat Bread on Annie's Eats - since I had all the ingredients and it sounded good, I set forth to make it!

I had my doubts as I kneaded the bread - my hands were COVERED in the dough, and it was not coming off... Yet another time that I was craving a stand mixer! It was definitely sticky but did get better as I continued to knead. Other than cleaning off my hands, I didn't find this bread difficult to make at all!

This bread is delicious! It is soft but yet..... firm? Does that even make sense? Put it this way - it is firm enough to withstand slightly cold butter but not super dense. I have already eaten ..... more slices than I'd care to admit :) Yum! I will definitely be making this again, and I'm very glad the recipe yielded 2 loaves!

While I was at volunteering, my sick husband whipped up some jambalaya. He has a potluck at work on Friday and signed up to bring this dish, so he wanted to do a test run. My fellow MCDA board member Janet brought this to Scottoberfest, and Ben immediately demanded that I get the recipe from her.

This Jambalaya is REALLY good - I have eaten it twice now and it reheats well. It is spicy but not overpoweringly so. It was an excellent meal to have as the temperature dropped to approximately -10. Ahh, Minnesota winters.

Here is the recipe as Janet wrote it to me:

Sausage and Barley Jambalaya

1 lb mild or hot Italian sausage bulk or removed from casings (I use hot)

2 onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 long red chile or jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (I use jalapeno)

2 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp dried chopped oregano l

1 tsp salt (I omit and salt later, if needed)

1/ tsp cracked black peppercorns

1 cup pearl barely, thoroughly rinsed under cold running water

1 28 oz can coarsely chopped tomatoes, including liquid (I think an organic brand,

like Muir Glen, is more flavorful)

3 cups chicken stock

8 oz medium shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped (bottled or to roast: preheat over to 400F,

place pepper(s) on baking sheet and roast, turning 2-3 times, until skin on all

sides [about 23 minutes], transfer pepper(s) to a heatproof bowl and cover with a

plate until cool, remove skins with a sharp knife, discard skins and chop finely) (I

omit)

1. In a nonstick skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up with a spoon until no longer pink. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker stoneware. Drain all but 1 Tbsp of fat from pan. Reduce hear to medium.

2. Add onions to pan and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, chili pepper, Cajun seasoning, oregano, salt, and peppercorns, stirring for one minute. Add barely and stir well. Add tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

3. Pour mixture over sausage and stir. Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIG 3-4 hours. Add shrimp and roasted red pepper. Cover and cook on HIGH for 20 minutes, until shrimp is heated through.

From Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes, Judith Finlayson