We’re starting to throttle back and get into winter mode here in Seminole Campground. Neil spent Saturday and part of Sunday getting outside things setup and we sat down this morning and ordered 300 bucks of stuff from Amazon that we’ve been needing. We’re planning on a Fun Stuff trip probably on Friday and will have Bingo at the Elks tonight and Mexican Night at the Elks on Thursday…we’re looking forward to visiting with our friends there after the summer on the road.

Neil also has on his list to wash the house, car, and BAT and to do all of the annual maintenance on the house…we’ve got a spreadsheet from the New Horizons Rally back in the spring and it’s amazing the number of things that need maintenance when you subject your house to an earthquake every time you move it. He’s going to spread the maintenance out of the next 5 or 6 weeks though…got to get in some bike rides, hikes, and doing other Fun Stuff.

I did want to pass along the really, really great recipe he invented for Jambalaya last night…this was mighty, mighty tasty and pretty easy to make to cook as well. The ingredient list, particularly the protein part, is highly variable as well. He made it with Andouille sausage and leftover Fennel Marinated Chicken Breast but you could use chicken wings, shrimp or pretty much any other protein you like to have. Here’s how to make it…the recipe below served two quite comfortably but it’s easy to just scale it up if you have more mouths to feed.

1 medium onion chopped

2 T celery flakes (or maybe 1 rib finely diced if you like that better…Neil doesn’t like the texture of cooked celery so always uses flakes instead)

1 can chopped green chili’s from the Mexican aisle (these aren’t too hot)

1 link Andouille sausage (about a hot dog’s worth) chopped however you like…Neil split it lengthwise and then cut into half moon shapes about 1/8 inch thick

3 or 4 chopped garlic

1 can (the 4 oz or so size) V8 (use Tomato if you like)

1/2 t Smoked Paprika (can use Cayenne if you don’t have Paprika; although cayenne is a little hotter)

Protein of your choice…he used about 4 oz of leftover cooked Fennel Chicken…chopped into small pieces

1/2 c dry white rice…you can scale this up to about 3/4 of a cup of rice without adding more of anything else except liquid

1 V8 can of wine (he used about 1/4 can red and 3/4 of red but whatever you have is fine)

water if necessary (add maybe 1/4 cup at a time as needed until the rice is done.

Condiments of your choice: we used Habanero hot sauce (great flavor and not as hot as one might think) and cheddar cheese but chives or chopped raw onions or sour cream or broken up corn chips or whatever you like works.

1. Sauté onion (and celery rib if you used that) in about 2 T of EVOO until translucent, adding a good pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. When partway cooked add the chopped Andouille so that it will brown and then add the garlic about 2 minutes or so before it’s done so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the chopped chili’s once the remaining veggies are done. The goal is to have all done at the same time. He also added the celery flakes about 2 minutes after starting the onion…this is about 10 minutes total.

2. Stir in rice, adding a little more oil if necessary so it doesn’t stick and toast for a couple minutes.

3. Add protein of your choice (if it’s shrimp or seafood wait until the rice is done), the V8, Paprika, salt, and  wine.

4. Set over low heat and cover, simmer until rice is done. Scrape the bottom every 8 or 9 minutes and add more water as necessary.

5. Put in seafood if you’re using it enough before the end so it’s done; shrimp take about 4 or 5 minutes to cook and fish/oysters/clams a little longer.

Serve in bowls with condiments…nothing else needed except a glass of wine or a beer.

Cyas.