Lazy Sunday Of Football and Trying A New Recipe

Today has been a balmy 32  degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska and where I grew up in North Dakota it was -22 Fahrenheit with the wind chill of -57 below., BURR!! I spent today going to the gym and trying out a new recipe.  The original recipe was found on Pinterest.  Here is the link to the original Jambalaya. I have modified it for healthy substitutions.

Peggy's Healthy Jambalaya
1 green pepper chopped
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 red pepper cut
1/2 jalapeno
4 Turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 28oz can of Crushed tomatoes in the heavy sauce
2 chicken breast
2 cups of brown rice
4 cups of Chicken broth (I like mine a little soupier than normal, and you can use less)
3 teaspoons of Cajun Seasoning
Frozen Okra

Chunk the chicken, brown it, and remove and set aside

Put the Peppers, onion,  and kielbasa in the pot with a tbsp of canola oil. Cook until they are tender.

Put the chicken back in the pot and add the rice. Stirring it around so that the rice gets coated.
Then you put in the chicken stock and Cajun seasoning in and let it simmer for 45 min.

Once it has simmered for the time allotted, add the tomatoes and okra, stir together. Let it simmer

It turned out AMAZING, and it froze well for a leftovers.   

Walnut Pesto

Final product

I LOVE pesto!! But, cannot stand the stuff that is in the jars at the grocery story. I have a ton of basil growing in a pot in my kitchen right now and put it to good use.  With this recipe, you will need a blender or food processor with a powerful motor. Interesting fact, you do not need to have basil for pesto. A person can use spinach or arugula.

Homemade pesto
1 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
1/2 cup packed spinach
1/3 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup light olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
lots of pepper

Yumminess, in progress 

Put the basil, spinach, walnuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese in your food processor pulsing until coarsely chopped. While the processor is going, slowly add the olive oil from the top until it is the consistency you want. I leave me a course chop, but you could make it as smooth as you like.  Pour into jar, covering with a thin layer of olive oil. This will last in the fridge for about a week.

Smoother it on everything and enjoy!