Recipe: Smoked Sausage Jambalaya

Photo provided

NAPSI —- While Fat Tuesday this year was back on March 1, Jambalaya is an excellent savory recipe that can be enjoyed any time of the year. You can try your hand at the classic New Orleans dish, using the "trinity" (onions, bell pepper, and celery), tomatoes, chicken' and Zatarain’s Smoked Sausage available at Walmart and Kroger food stores. Crunched for time? Use the quick and easy Zatarain’s Jambalaya mix instead.

"Many people outside of New Orleans don’t realize that Mardi Gras is really a family holiday," said Claude Davis, Principal Scientist for Zatarain’s and a native of New Orleans’s Tremé neighborhood. "This time of year is as much about the food as it is about anything else and Zatarain’s Smoked Sausage is the perfect ingredient to bring home the flavor of New Orleans, no matter where you live."

Jambalaya is inspired by paella from Spain and West African Jollof. You can even add other cuts of pork, rabbit, and/or seafood, such as shrimp or crawfish, to this dish to give it your own signature flavor.

Smoked Sausage Classic Jambalaya

Prep Time: 15 minutes / Cook Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 8

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pound of Zatarain’s Andouille or Cajun Smoked Sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 medium tomato, chopped

2 teaspoons Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup extra Long Grain Rice

1 3/4cups Kitchen Basics Original Chicken Stock

Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken and sausage; cook and stir 5 minutes. Remove from skillet. Add onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic; cook and stir on medium heat until onion is softened. Stir in tomato, Creole Seasoning and cayenne pepper. Return chicken and sausage to skillet. Add rice and stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 25 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

Davis, Miller vote in favor of trade suspension with Russia

WASHINGTON -- Last week, U.S. Representative Rodney Davis (R-IL 13) and Mary Miller (R-IL 15) voted supported legislation to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus for their unwarranted war of aggression against Ukraine. Their votes, along with 200 other republican representatives, were in favor of the measures that suspended preferential tariffs applied under “normal trade relations” treatment for the products of the Russian Federation and Belarus.

It also subjects products of the Russian Federation and Belarus to non-preferential tariff rates on the date of enactment as well as empowers the President, until January 1, 2024, to proclaim even higher tariff rates for particular products from the two countries.

"We should inflict maximum financial pain on Russia, Putin, and his oligarch cronies for their war against Ukraine and the atrocities that are a result of their war," said Rep. Davis. "That’s why the United States should suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus by raising tariffs on them. We should not allow Putin to indirectly finance his war in Ukraine by trading with our country. We should use every financial tool at our disposal to make it as costly as possible for Putin to wage war against Ukraine."

The new legislation also empowers the President to raise tariffs after advance notice to Congress and an explanation of the basis for and potential impact of the increases.

After a large scale build-up on the border of the two countries, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to attack on February 24.

The foreign minister of Ukrainian said the incursion of nearly 200k Russian troops into his country was the "most blatant act of aggression in Europe since" World War II.