Diva-licious Jambalaya

Happy Tasty Tuesday Fit Diva & May 1st ????
Another Diva-licious style recipe came about after buying the wrong chicken sausage for a breakfast side. Ok, maybe it wasn’t wrong, but it tasted like it should belong in a dinner dish not alongside my eggs in the morning!  I love to try new things, because of moments like this!  It lead me to create a super healthy, lean, less sodium style JAMBALAYA!!
The Trader Joe all natural, no nitrate sun-dried tomato flavor chicken sausage would have been great sautéed up with some fresh tomatoes, garlic and tomato sauce served over zoodles BUT I thought, why not make something you haven’t tried before.  Its one of my absolute favorite passions to create super clean, lean and of course Diva-Lish Dishes!

Jambalaya for All

I made this traditional heavy dish full of sodium into a lighter, so much less sodium and the option of having it over rice, if it’s a carb day or meal depending on your goal OR you can serve it over cauliflower rice for a lower carb full of fiber option.  Personally, I actually liked it over the cauliflower rice better!
The recipe below is created for the regular rice option.  If you prefer cauliflower rice, only use 1/2 cup of water instead of the full cup. Also, buy your cauliflower rice already chopped as rice fresh in a bag or you can even get it frozen now!

Lower Sodium

As we sweat in our fit diva workouts we need to replensih the salt we sweat out. That is a fact. However, I would choose to add pink salts and electrolytes, not high sodium foods that bloat us.  Jambalaya is very high in sodium because of the meats, spices and sauces. I made this recipe with no sodium tomatoes, used no nitrate, lower sodium chicken sausage and found this creole seasoning with the least amount of sodium.  OH and low sodium organic broth.

Diva-licious Recipe

JAMBALAYA

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, cored and diced
• 1 small yellow bell pepper, cored and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tablespoon jar minced garlic
• 1 lb.  lean chicken or turkey sausage, thinly sliced into rounds (I used TJ sun dried tomato chicken sausage)
• 2 cups organic low sodium chicken or veggie stock
• 1 cup water
• 1 (14 oz.) can crushed tomatoes no salt added
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white or brown rice
• 2 Tbsp. Cajun or Creole seasoning (**more/less to taste. Found mine at Publix
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp. thyme, crushed
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used Frozen)
• pepper & little sea salt *taste first and add last

(optional garnishes: chopped fresh parsley, thinly sliced green onions, hot sauce)

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
• Add celery, onion, bell peppers, and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and mostly cooked.
• Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, chicken sausage, and keep stirring to combine. Continue sauteing for an additional 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, rice, Cajun spice, bay leaf, thyme, and cayenne, and stir to combine.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until the rice is cooked, stirring occasionally. (Don’t forget to stir, or the rice may burn on the bottom of the pan.)
• Once the rice is tender, add in the shrimp and stir to combine. Let the mixture continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked and pink.
• Remove bay leaf and season the jambalaya with salt and pepper and hot sauce and additional Cajun/Creole seasoning if needed.
• Remove from heat and serve with optional garnishes if desired.

Leftovers

This Diva-licious dish almost tastes better the next day.  I even had mine over a big plate of mixed: baby, spinach, baby kale and arugula!
Buon Appetito & As always keep it simple and get creative.  For more ideas follow and check out:
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Laura DalSanto  | BellaDivaFitness  | laura@belladivafitness.com