Lonely Leftovers

February is a tough month. The magic of winter slowly loses it's sparkle and you're faced with cold days, colder nights and dingy grey streets from all the snow and mud. Valentines Day is a nice bright spot (and in fact, we've kept up our Valentines in hopes of spreading the love and cheer throughout the entire month).

Potluck Mondays definitely help as we trudge through February - so close to Spring we can almost smell it (...and then it snows). However, along with moving closer to warmer months, February also brings with it s a host of unavoidable ailments...stomach bugs, croupy coughs, and icky colds.

And so, as Monday progressed, emails started filtering in bringing news of sick kids or parents and slowly but surely everyone had bowed out of potluck for the night. But not before we had roasted an entire chicken, plus a few extra legs/thighs.

While my family dined on chicken, tiny potatoes and some peas, we talked about our missed friends and hopes for future potlucks. Of course, we'll try it all again next Monday in hopes that everyone is healthy and ready to hang out again.

In the meantime I'm left with dirty pans and extra chicken.

And while a bit of elbow grease will help with the pan, I'm not quite as sure what the fate of the leftover chicken will be.

Normally our leftover chicken finds its way into a pot pie or possibly shredded and simmered with BBQ sauce. However, I'm always on the lookout for something new. If you have a favorite recipe that includes leftover chicken, please share! 

Cooking Cajun

Having never attempted Cajun cuisine, I had no idea how this dish was going to turn out. I figured that since I was using a jambalaya mix that included the rice and many of the important seasonings that I was half way there.

As I mentioned before, my friend Nicole had sent me a variety of Bayou Magic - a special blend of her grandfather's special Cajun spices. I still needed to get a few more ingredients, but the overall preparation of this dish was pretty easy.

When I assembled the rest of the ingredients I realized that I didn't have the can of diced tomatoes it required, but a trip out into the garden and a quick dice/saute of a handful of squishy tomatoes ended up being my substitute. I hadn't even really begun cooking and was already putting my own, "not-quite-a-cook" spin on things.

I crossed my fingers that my eye-balled proportions of chopped tomatoes would roughly equal the missing can and plunged ahead. I had been at Whole Foods when I realized that I needed a few other ingredients for this dish, and after a panicked call to Nicole, I was able to get the last few things - a can of cream of celery soup and some french onion soup. 

Nicole let me know that her family usually goes for the Campbell's, but seeing as I was in Whole Foods, this jambalaya was quickly turning into some New England/bougie version. 

You also need bay leaves & some extra Bayou Magic seasoning

Almost everything else was pretty much by the book...I followed the recipe right on the label of the jambalaya packet.

I started by poaching four large chicken breasts (instead of a whole chicken) in water seasoned by the Bayou Magic powder. Then, once the chicken was cooked, I took it out and added the soups, tomato, bay leaves, contents of the package and some sausage. 

Since we keep kosher, I had to change up the recipe, and instead of using smoked pork sausage, added some delicious turkey and chicken andouille sausage I picked up at Whole Foods. While I let that come up to a boil, I cubed up the cooked chicken, only losing a few pieces to my son's belly. 

I added the chicken back in and then let it cook. The house smelled absolutely phenomenal and it actually looked like jambalaya! 

Then it was time to taste test. I needed to try a bit to see if the rice was fully cooked, and when I went to taste it, I literally had to fight back tears. It was really spicy. I thought that perhaps I had bit into a spicy part, so a little later I tried some more. I swear my tongue turned numb, and my lips burned for a good five minutes afterward.

I panicked, thinking that I had somehow ruined the dish, perhaps added too much Bayou Magic at the start. But, once people started filling up their bowls, and then their stomachs, it became apparent that I was the problem, not the jambalaya. 

My new goal? To toughen up my taste buds for the next time I attempt some Cajun Cooking.