New Year's Jambalaya

Berwyn showing off his Christmas presents, a fluffy bed and Blue Dog

Well, it is the 2nd day of the new year and so far so good. I thought I'd share with you something that I'm eating today, since it is Recipe Monday and also it's a New Year's tradition.

First, the story. It was New Year's Day 2009. We had been partying for about 3 days in our small Austin apartment and had quite a few people still in town. I had planned to make Black Eyed Peas, our usual traditional dish for luck in the new year, but I was worried that my tiny can of peas would not feed everyone. So several of us ladies (myself and two good friends, both named Mrs. A but no relation) started digging through my pantry to see what we could add to the peas to make it go a little further. Here's what resulted.

Kick-Ass New Year's Jambalaya

Boil 3 cups rice with 1 T. butter in appropriate amount water (according to package). Toss in some cut-up beef jerky for flavor. Now add canned goods: Ro-Tel tomatoes, black eyed peas, & black beans. Add 1 chopped onion and about 3 cloves minced garlic. Season with Tony's or other Cajun seasoning as hot as you can stand. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer, covered, about 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Reheats well for a few days and serves a lot of people. Pretty good on a hangover.
*Not kidney friendly!

Now in other news, I have resolved to de-clutter. Yes, I should go to the gym more. Yes, I should eat less melted cheese. But I think my big, life changing resolution is going to be to get our stuff reduced as much as is reasonably possible before we move. This sounded like a great idea on New Year's Eve, but after a 4 hour car ride back to Waco, our house looked like a bomb went off and I was tired. Today I have graded papers and made my grocery run (back on that cleaning plan and on schedule so far), but we have Christmas gifts to find homes for and so much laundry! I am really itching to use my brand new Dyson vacuum (!) but I have got to put things away first. Baby steps.
Anyway, I found a neat little calendar online that has de-cluttering tasks for every day so that I can work gradually toward my goal instead of charging at it haphazardly and feeling inadequate until it's done. If I can follow this and my cleaning schedule at the same time, boy will I be a happy girl!