Thyme Flies

Hard to believe it's been over a year since my very first blog post. I had had a food blog in mind for a long time, and had known for months that when I finally did it, it would be called Thyme Well Spent.


When I finally decided to give it a go, I sat down one Sunday morning and was surprised to find how easy it was to create a blog. Certainly, I was at no loss for material, given how much we like to go out, eat out, and cook in.

What I grossly underestimated was how hard it would be to come home after eight to 10 hours of sitting in front of a computer at work and finding the motivation to blog in the evening. I also had no idea how much fun it would be to read my friends' and family's comments, nor did I have any inclination that my most frequent commenter would be our friend Jim.

I'm way, way behind on posting. It's been over a month since my last message, and there are a number of recipes, restaurants, plays, and weather disasters worthy of writing about. I'll start with a terrific Crock Pot Jambalaya and promise to get caught up before too much more time goes by.

Thank you for reading - and for commenting!!

Crock Pot Jambalaya

• 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 lb. andouille sausage, diced
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, reserved 
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cups cooked rice

Method:

1. In a slow cooker, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, and celery. Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, and thyme.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours.
3. Add in reserved chicken stock as necessary, to reach the consistency you desire.
4. Discard bay leaves and spoon mixture over cooked rice.

I started with this recipe, but because we had no shrimp on hand, upped the amount of chicken and sausage. I also drained the tomatoes a little, fearing it would be too thin. Next time, I would drain even more liquid, as it was a little more soup-y than we'd like. The flavor was perfect, though!