This recipe was surprisingly delicious. Well, not to me. But to certain picky children who reside in my home, it was indeed surprising. 

It is now one of my favorite crockpot recipes and I plan on putting it into heavy rotation until my children beg for mercy.  We are now entering football season, which means many nights away from home, at the field practicing.  I will be embracing my crockpot once again, because after the neverending baseball season I do not think that I can eat anything from the snackbar for a long, long time.
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Yet another thing that you can make from those bananas that are over ripe and in danger of going bad.

You would think that at this point of my parenting tenure I would be able to properly estimate the number of bananas that my children go through in a given week. But my children like to mix things up, just to keep this parenting thing challenging. Sometimes I buy a big bunch of bananas and NO ONE WANTS TO EAT THEM. Then the next time I buy only a few and all I hear is complaints because THEY WANT TO EAT BANANAS.
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These are so easy to make… are you beginning to sense a theme with my cooking? Yesterday I whipped up a platter of these and brought them outside to my sons’ friends that were hanging out in yard with him. Yes I realize teenage boys will eat anything, but they will also tell you if it isn’t good while they are eating it. They inhaled the peppers.

One boy picked one up off of the platter and said, very seriously, “Everything is better with bacon.” If I had a teenage daughter I would have immediately proposed an arranged marriage.
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I like saying jambalaya. Jahm-bah-LIE-yah. It sounds like something that takes a lot of effort and time in the kitchen. But the truth is that it is one of the simplest meals I make. Shhhhh, let’s keep that our little secret, okay?

Even better than saying jahm-bah-LIE-yah over and over while you cook, is the fact that all the magic happens in one pan. YES, one pan! Don’t you love that? Doesn’t that make you want to cook jambalaya?

You will need*:

1 lb sausage sliced, I use mild Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 small red bell peppers, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 1/3 cups long-grain white rice
2 2/3 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (adjust this according to your own taste)
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning (adjust or omit according to your own taste)
4 scallions

Step One: Brown sliced sausage over medium high heat.

Step Two: Remove sausage from pan. Put onion, bell pepper and celery into the already hot pan. Stir until vegetables are cooked thoroughly and onions are soft.

Step Three: Add sausage back to pan. Stir in rice, broth and spices. Bring to a quick boil.

Step Four: Cover pan. Reduce heat to very low and allow to cook for twenty minutes or so until all the liquid is absorbed. The same way that you would cook plain rice.

Step Five: Once cooked add the thinly sliced scallions and fluff well with a fork.

Enjoy your one pan wonder.

* I triple this recipe for our family, except for the vegetables. I use 2 lg onions, 3 lg bell peppers, and 4-5 celery stalks. I share this just to encourage you that recipe are not written in stone. You can change them up a bit and it will be just fine. Really. I promise you that cooking is not an exact science.