Quick & Easy Jambalaya

I started to shop at Aldi regularly this month.  I’ve shopped there before, but found it to be a little bit of a hassle because I would always need to go to Wal-Mart for something, and I didn’t want to have to make 2 stops every week.  Well… after we spent a small fortune on Lexi’s birthday party, we needed to figure out a way to tighten the budget for the rest of the month and saving money groceries was the first thing that came to mind.  I went to Aldi on a Monday afternoon (my regularly scheduled (weekly) trip) with the whole intention of only getting exactly what we needed to have meals for 1 week.  I’m going to expand on my experience in a post following this one, but I’ll just start by saying that it was SO successful and I’m making it a regular thing!  The cost of that 1 week of groceries was $39.62.  That’s right!  A grocery bill for a family of 4 for 1 weeks under $40!  Pretty exciting!

The past few times I’ve been to Aldi, I’ve gone without a list.  It makes planning meals super easy believe it or not!  I don’t have to spend the time searching for recipes, putting a list together, etc.  I simply pick out a meat, a veggie, and a starch.  For this week, I thought I would make one recipe, then build off of that for the rest of the week.  At Aldi, most of the vegetables come in a small bulk.  For example, instead of buying one onion, you have to buy 5 or instead of buying one bell pepper, you have to buy 3.  So, I came up with this jambalaya recipe (I found something similar on All Recipes, then I made it my own) and built the rest of the meals for the week based on the veggies left over.

This recipe makes 8 servings.  So this is a great meal to make on Monday and have leftovers for lunch the rest of the week!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, I used Deliciously Simple Spread
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 3 stocks chopped celery (Aldi didn’t have celery so I used some zucchini I had in the fridge)
• 1 chopped green pepper
• (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth (more if desired)
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Serendipity
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 slices of cooked chicken breast tenderloins, chopped
• 3 sausage links, sliced
• 2 cups cooked shrimp, peeled (I didn’t buy the shrimp this week, I think it’s just as good without)

Directions:

1.  Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

2.  Stir in onion, celery, and green pepper; cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

3.  While veggies are cooking, in a separate saucepan, season chicken and cook until done, then chop and set aside.

4.  When veggies are softened, pour in diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and rice; season with basil, garlic, pepper, hot sauce, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.

5.  Once the rice has cooked, stir in chicken, sausage, and shrimp. Simmer for a few minutes until heated through. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Stay tuned for more!  I’ll be sharing more of my excitement and experience from shopping at Aldi soon!

xoxo,

Lindsay