Spicy Cajun Stew

This is actually quite fast and easy to prepare. 30 minutes, start to finish. Not nearly as involved as my gumbo. Very tasty meal!

16oz. package of Smoked Polish Sausage or Kielbasa, cut into 1/4" slices

Two 10oz. cans of tomatoes and chilies (like Rotel)

1 can of chicken broth

10oz. fresh spinach (or frozen in a pinch - thaw and squeeze dry)

Rice for serving

************************************

In a large frying pan, cook up the sausage until browned, drain away fat.

While sausage is cooking, Slice your spinach, after washing, into thin strips. 

Add tomatoes and broth, once meat is browned. Bring to a boil and stir in the spinach.

Bring back to a boil.

Cover and cook until spinach is to your liking. Serve over hot rice. 

Gather ingredients

Slice sausage

Get the cans open

Brown the sausage

Drain away fat. 

Add tomatoes

Add broth

Stir well and bring to boil

Slice fresh spinach

Add spinach a handful at a time. It will wilt in and you can add more.

Cover and simmer till spinach is done.

Serve over hot rice. Delish!

Sausage Lentil Soup

A wonderful warm meal on a chilly, foggy, rainy day. 

Ingredients you'll need:

Lentils, about 2 cups, 16 ounces, 450gr. 

Onion, one large or two smaller

Celery, about 2 cups, sliced

Carrots, 3 or 4 medium

Frozen Spinach, about 1/2 cup

Canned tomatoes, small can

Liquid Smoke, Optional

Garlic, one large clove, minced

Thyme

Pepper

Bay leaf

Chicken stock or bouillon

Smoked Sausage, 4 links

It's foggy and dreary outside. We haven't seen the horizon in days. 

Perfect time for a nice hot pot of soup! 

Gather your ingredients 

Chop your vegetables and get them started into the broth.

Soup is very forgiving. Adjust the amount of bouillon to the amount of water you use. I'm using a 5 liter pot. The best US equivalent is about 5 quart. It's not an overly huge pot. You can adjust your ingredients to make a larger or smaller pot.  

Everything goes in the pot, including... 

Spices and garlic.

Stir it up

 Bring to a boil, low heat to simmer.

Cut your sausage thin.

Add to your simmering soup. Allow to cook for about an hour. 

 After about an hour, add chopped, canned tomatoes.

 If you'd like, add about a teaspoon of Liquid Smoke.

And your lentils. 

The 500gr bag held about 2.5 cups. I used 2 cups of the lentils.

 In they go. Cover again after stirring and allow to simmer for another hour. 

After about 2 hours total cooking time, everything is done.

 A very hearty soup. 

How warm it makes us feel on this chilly day!

Smoked Sausage Chicken Soup

I was looking for something different to make with a chicken carcass... I didn't want to just repeat the basic chicken soup. So here's what I did. 

I started with basic chicken soup recipe: 

https://whats4dinnerbymarie.blogspot.com/2020/04/simple-chicken-soup_11.html

From there, out of necessity, I used vegetable bouillon, rather than chicken. I also added some frozen spinach.  I did pick the meat off of the chicken carcass, but in addition, I added two cut up smoked sausages. For a starch, I used pasta pastilles. 

So, to the original chicken soup recipe, these are the adjustments to make:

I used vegetable bouillon instead of chicken.

I added two smoked sausages, cut thin. And a handful of frozen spinach. 

One cup of pasta pastilles 

Here's what the pasta looks like before cooking. 

Here you go.... It's very tasty!