Quick, Easy, Delicious Jambalaya

Ok you purists, bite your tongues. If you look up the definition and then look at this recipe this IS a Jambalaya!

I was going through a cook book the other day looking for something new to make and ran across this. I'd never considered making it before because I thought Mr. Picky Pants wouldn't like it but I showed it to him and he said it sounded good so lets go!
First off, I took a few shortcuts. My energy level is low these days and I didn't feel like standing over a stove for too long.

You're going to need:
12 small sausage Links - cut into one inch pieces (See Below)
1 cup finely chopped onion (I just used a whole medium sized onion)
1 cup finely chopped green pepper (I used a whole good sized pepper)
4 garlic cloves, minced (I used like 8 cloves :D )
2 tablespoons or so of olive oil
1.5 cups of cooked cubed chicken (See Below)
1.5 cups of cooked cubed ham (See Below)
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes un-drained
1 cup uncooked long grain rice (brown)
1 can (14.5oz) chicken broth
3 tablespoons fresh parsley (or just shake a bunch of dried in there)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

OK HERE GOES!
In a LARGE skillet, saute the sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic in the oil until the vegetables are tender. Add in the chicken and ham. Cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Transfer to a 2 qt. baking dish (go bigger if you want. 2 quarts was VERY full). Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour or until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Personally I cooked for about 1 hour and 20 minutes for ALMOST al dente rice and some liquid left (we like broth).

ATTENTION!!! This comes out of the oven EXTREMELY HOT! Please let sit for a little bit, especially if you're going to be serving it to little ones. Thanks :)


My shortcuts:
For sausage I used Johnsonville Italian Sausage (mild with 6 big ones to a pack).
For chicken I used Oscar Mayer Carving Board Roasted Chicken w / no additional flavors. I used the entire container.
For ham I used Oscar Mayer Carving Board Slow Cooked Ham w/ no additional flavors, the whole container.

(Thanks for your help making it too, Baby!)

Quagmire update!

Hi people,

I haven't updated about Quagmire in quite some time and since he just had another round of blood work a few days ago I thought I'd take a moment and update people.
His valley fever (1 to 32) is right where it was 3 months ago. They'd like to see it around 1 to 2 or 3 to 4 so we have a little ways to go. He really needs a dental cleaning but they can't do anything about it until his valley fever drops. They are estimating he should be ok for that in November so keep praying.
His pancreatic levels are a little high but they said that is normal for dogs who have previously had pancreatitis.
His liver enzymes are elevated mostly due to the fluconazole that he's on for his valley fever. I'm picking up a liver-protecting pill for him in a little while.
His thyroid is PERFECT! We FINALLY got the right medicine at the right level. That's only taken .... 9 months!
His triglycerides are a little high. He needs to stay on the low-fat/high fiber that he's on right now. And bland, very very bland.
Um... A few other things are a little elevated but it all points back to his valley fever. Man that valley fever is a pain in the butt.

His weight is down almost a pound. I was looking at his records on Wednesday and his highest was 20.8 about 9 months ago and now he's down 16.2 so over 4 pounds and that's a LOT for a little guy. We'll be happy with about 2 more pounds. But with his diet and his thyroid under control now that should be going down just fine.

I think that's it. He's looking good!

Love you guys and thanks for all the prayer for my little dude.

Not really sure...

... what you're looking for here but you're not going to find it :D

I need your help again.

For those of you who do not know the story behind my recent store postings I'll briefly explain.

My best friend (who I call my sister) Melia, was in a terrible car accident on Feb. 19th of this year. Her 15 year old son (my nephew, Riley) was in a coma for a month. They didn't expect him to live. They didn't expect him to wake up and "be normal". He has defied the odds. He is a walking miracle thanks to all the prayers and thanks to God himself. Her 11 year old daughter (my niece Destiny) was killed.

Since 2-19 I have watched this little family struggle to get back on their feet. I've seen the pouring out of support to help them. Melia is in NO WAY shape or form ready to go back to work. She spends 5 of the 7 days of the week taking Riley to and from his Physical therapy, Occupational therapy, speech therapy, eye therapy ... and so much more. She takes herself to and from doctor appointments.

We raised a crap ton of money in February and March to help cover medical costs and funeral costs and help Melia pay normal every day bills on top of EVERYTHING else she's been smacked with since then. However, she's been hit with something else now.
On Thursday I went with her and Riley and her oldest daughter Hailey (who was not in the car) to the funeral home. I had to watch my sister pick out a headstone for her 11 year old baby girl. It was heartbreaking. We cried all day long. I cry every time I think about it. I'm crying now.
It was honestly a lot cheaper than I was expecting but it's still $2600 that she just does NOT have laying around.
This is where we come in. I'm asking.. no I'm BEGGING for just a little more help.
Our dear friend Jan drew the most gorgeous rainbow in honor of little Destiny back in February. We've taken that rainbow and put it on tee shirts, sweatshirts, magnets, notepads, note cards, mouse pads, mugs... just about anything we could think of and put it all in this little store.
She gets $3 for each item that is purchased so if you see anything in there that you'd like I'm begging you to help us out. If you don't see anything but still want to help out we have a Paypal account set up. You don't need a Paypal account to donate, you can just use your debit/credit card and make your donation. Every little penny counts. If I get $5 from each of my friends that raises $955. How many friends do YOU have? I'm just dreaming of the possibilities.

If you can't help out financially can you help out by sharing this Facebook note or the link to the blog post I have made? I'd appreciate it SO much, you have no idea.

Here is the link to our store: http://www.cafepress.com/Team_Melia

Here is the donation link to Paypal:

Thanks again,
Rachel Doyle

Gummie's Brownies

<----- ready to pop into the oven!


Do not misread that title. These are not "gummy brownies". Gummie is what me and my siblings called my maternal grandmother for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure if it's just something that stuck because one of us couldn't say grandma or if she named herself that. Either way, these brownies can also be referred to as "little chocolate bites of heaven".


You are going to need:
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of butter (TWO STICKS)
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (this comes in bar form. Usually individually wrapped squares)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of flour
2 cups of miniature marshmallows

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs until they are thick and lemon yellow.

2. Melt the butter and all of the chocolate. You can do this over the stove or in the microwave. I used the microwave. I did it for 5.5 minutes on 40% then I stirred it up and did it again for another 3.5 minutes on 40%.

3. While the chocolate is melting, add sugar to the eggs gradually. Continue to beat and add in the vanilla.

4. Mix the chocolate/butter mixture into the bowl with the eggs and mix together.

5. Fold in the flour and then stir in the marshmallows.

6. Bake in a greased pan (I used a 9x13) for about 30 minutes at 350. (My sister said DO NOT OVER COOK - so I'm not!)

She also said to let this sit as long as humanly possible to actually LET chocolate sit around uneaten before cutting and serving. They DO taste better then next day to be honest. which is unfortunate because they are baking right now and the smell is driving me CUHRAZY! I WANT TO EAT THEM NOW RAWR!

These brownies do have a copyright. You may NOT alter this recipe in any way and still call them Gummie's Brownies. If you do make these brownies you must pay tribute to me by making me a batch and sending them to me. Period!

Eight years ago today...

Eight years ago today I was out in Texas visiting Gary while he was in tech school. We woke up one Tuesday morning and he said "Hey, let's go get married today!". I thought he was joking at first. Not that I didn't WANT to marry him, it was just very spur of the moment. We had talked about it a lot for the year before so it took NO convincing me at all. I knew he was the love of my life and I knew that I wanted to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him.

Now, it's been an eventful 8 years. We've had great ups and some serious downs. I know in life it's hard to remember and think about the "ups" when you have so many "downs" flooding your thoughts but if I write it all down in my head we've had a million more good times than bad and that's what I try and focus on every day.
This man is one of a kind. He IS the love of my life. I couldn't imagine life with out him as my husband and most of all my best friend.

I love you Gareth John Doyle and I'm looking forward to allllllllll the years we have ahead of us.
You've made this week great and today is going to be special and I'm never going to forget it.
I love you so much baby.

Check your comments at the door.

Ok, Short and sweet.
I KNOW it's dry here about 9 months out of the year but our hottest months consisting of July/August/September is Monsoon season. Google it ok?
It's over 110 most of the time and our humidity is 50% and up. Is it as high as the south east coast? Nope but it's NOT dry.
I don't see any of you guys packing your bags to come visit us those months because you're a bunch of chickens. ;)

If I hear "But, it's a dry heat" one more time do NOT be surprised if our phone call is suddently disconnected. K? Thnx and Bai.

p.s. The day I took that picture it was 68% humid outside. Is that dry? No, I didn't think so. :)