A student's experimental Jambalaya

As I am moving out of this house in only a couple weeks, my food stores are getting desperately low. It has come to scrounging for what to make for dinner out of the few odds and ends that do remain in my cupboards.
I am so excited to be moving out! I have lived in this particular house for the last 3 years with some very interesting roommates, some good, some not so good. And I have liked this house while I have been here, but it is time for me to move on.

Next year my girlfriend and I are going to move into a nice looking house a lot closer to the University. The kitchen is huge!!! Lots of cupboard space and fairly new counters, we are both excited to finally have a complete kitchen that we can be in control of. No more roomie power struggles! No cleaning the sinks and counters, no more trying to find space in the fridge for groceries, and no more fretting that the frying pan I need has been sitting in the sink for the last week!

However, the dire straits of my cupboards have left me scrounging for food. This means that it was time... for another student experiment

As I have said before, student experiments can turn out one way or the other. This one turned out really well!
When I made this, I had less than half an onion and a freezer burnt sausage. As I was short on ingredients, this recipe will reflect what I wish I had on hand.


Jambalaya

Sausage - 2 - chopped into large slices
Shrimp - 1-2 cups
Garlic - 2 cloves
Artichoke Hearts - 1/2 a tin - chopped
Black Beans - 1/2 a tin
Frozen Corn - 1 cup
Peppers - Green and Red - half each diced
Jalapenos - 1, finely diced
Onion - 1 diced
Diced Tomatoes - 1 can
Tomato Paste - 1 tbsp
Rice - 2 cups (I cooked mine separate in the rice cooker, two cups of rice, four cups of water)
Beef Stock - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups - enough to cover all the veggies


Hot Sauce - Your choice,depends on your taste
Bay Leaf - 1
Basil - 1 tbsp
Thyme - 1 tbsp
Salt and Pepper - pinch

In a large frying pan, saute the garlic and onion on medium heat until soft. Add the sausage and brown. Remove the sausage from the heat. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock and the other vegetables.
Pour in enough water so the vegetables are mostly submerged. Add the spices and hot sauce.
Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for about 20 minutes. If you cook with shrimp, add to the pot and cook until they are pink and plump.

You can either serve the rice and then add the Jambalaya on top, or add the rice to the mixture and serve together. I like the latter so the rice can soak up all the sauce. Make sure you remove the bayleaf before serving, although its a good game to see who finds it first.

A fairly simple recipe and it turned out great! I was missing a couple things, and I may have added too much hot sauce, but it was still a tasty dish! I may cook more rice next time as well, but we shall see. I hope you give it a shot!