New Year's Eve Gumbo Part 1

Yes, I am a coon-ass, although transplanted a few years ago to TX. So, for the past couple of years at our New Year's Eve celebration I have been making a chicken and sausage gumbo. We get together with our best friends and their families and ring in the New Year together. It is always alot of fun. Especially for the kiddos. They get to celebrate with us, play games, watch the ball drop, and drink sparkling cider from plastic champagne flutes. Oh what fun.

This year we are going to our friends house and I am making the gumbo (no one else knows how or wants to learn). Anyway, I decided to go ahead and make the roux tonight so it's easier tomorrow.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
1/2 c veg. oil + a little for browning meat
1 lb sausage of your choice (we like jalapeno sausage) sliced
2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
seasoning blend (I use Emeril's Essence)
1 cup flour
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped celery
cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves
8 cups chicken stock

1. Brown sausage in a little veg. oil.

2. Remove sausage from pot with slotted spoon and place on paper towels.

3. Season chicken with seasoning and brown chicken in sausage drippings and left over oil.

4. Remove chicken and place in a bowl to cool. Refrigerate when cooled.

5. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup veg oil to pot, and start stirring. Cook over med. heat stirring continuously.


Cont. stirring for about 20-30 min. Make sure it doesn't burn! This is what it will look like...
and then...
It should be the color of chocolate.

6. Add veg. and cook until soft about 5 min.

7. Add cayenne pepper, bay leaves, sausage, and chicken stock. Cook on low for about 1 hour.

8. Add chicken and simmer for 3 more hours. ( Pics to follow. I stopped at step 7 and refrigerated to finish tomorrow.)

9. Serve over rice.

PS. Don't eat the bay leaves;)

Late Post on Christmas Eve Dinner

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner with our families. Mine came in from Louisiana for the holidays, and R's came from down around town. It was great. Everything was perfect in my eyes! We had new recipes that I found, combined, and made my own. I don't have any pictures of the food. I was feeding 14 and did not even think to stop and take photos of the food. We had Beef tenderloin, zucchini with crushed tomatoes, roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls, and your choice of desserts. I enjoyed every minute and I hope everyone else did too! My hubby did get a photo of the desserts. Here they are...

We had Rum cake, Pumpkin Pie (a la Sara Lee), toffee, heavenly hash, oatmeal cranberry cinnamon chip cookies, and Marshmallow Snowflake Cupcakes (a la Culinary Concoctions by Peabody).

Our new favorite Christmas cookie!

We have a new favorite cookie recipe. It is for a sugar cookie with a twist. The twist is that it has sour cream in it. I found the recipe here at Acme Instant Food. It sounded so interesting that I had to try it. I did have help though. My little baker C loves to help in the kitchen as you can see...

She is my picky little eater. She will make anything, but eating it is another story. Oh, I wish I had that problem. She absolutely loved these cookies. She was hesitant to taste them at first, but once she did, she ate more than just a few.

Starting a food blog.

Because it is what I love to do, and everyone has to eat. I enjoy cooking for family and friends. Especially those that like to eat. So, if you don't like to eat then go away;)