Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I looked up a bunch of recipes on line, and in my books, and came up with this recipe.
It's low carb on purpose, so, no roux, and no white rice....it's low fat, and not very spicy so I can actually eat it...so no andouille sausage.....but it's so full of veggies and meat, those things won't be missed!  (so, in other words, it's not really very traditional, but it is healthy and delicious!)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half, diced
1 package of smoked turkey sausage, cut into rounds that are then cut in half
1 sweet onion, diced
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 C chopped okra
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
Gumbo file powder
Louisiana style seasoning powder
thyme
basil
Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
oil
1 large box organic low sodium chicken broth

In a large soup pot, brown the sausage in a little oil. Remove from pan and set aside.  Brown the chicken in the same oil, with the Louisiana seasoning.  Remove from pan and set aside.
Add a little more oil to the pot, cook the onions, garlic, and scallions for a few minutes.  Add the pepper, celery and okra.  Saute until colors brighten, then add the tomatoes, beans, Worcestershire, other seasonings, and broth.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook a good long time, until all of the veggies are soft, and the flavors have melded. 

Livin for the weekend

So, we are going to test out the trunk mounted bike rack we got last weekend, and make sure it's secure.

It's a pretty cool thing.  It works on both the car with the trunk, and the one with the hatch back!  AND, it didn't cost hundreds of dollars!!  *smile*  We shopped around, went to three different bike shops locally, and the one everyone had, which has been recommended by biking friends, was WAY out of our price range.

So, we went to the local sporting goods store, and found a perfectly adequate one, we hope, for an affordable price.

It's not as cool looking as the one everyone recommended, but I don't give a rat's ass what it looks like!

Plans for an upcoming vacation have started to solidify a bit.  We have house sitters arranged for, we have the time off from work scheduled, and we have some idea of what to take with us.

I had been experiencing a great deal of angst about asking my sister if I could have my Trek bike back.  I had given it to her when I moved down here, because I knew the moving truck was already going to be very full, and I couldn't justify trying to shove the BEST BIKE I HAVE EVER OWNED in there, too....so, I tearfully parted with it and gave it to her.

Turns out, she never rides it and is perfectly content to trade it back to me for the one I bought down here, which is a simple NO SPEEDS cruiser bike.

I love the Schwinn "panther" that we got for me down here, but I really miss that BEST BIKE I HAVE EVER OWNED, and am SOOO excited that I can have it back without hurting feelings or being what used to be called an "Indian giver."
What the hell does that mean, anyway??

IN other news....the kittens are growing and thriving in the back yard, and we are running out of time for the spay and release people to get their asses over here and trap them.

We've been waiting for a call back for a week.  When Dave spoke to them, they said they'd come out and observe first, then come with the traps and get the feline family themselves.

Pretty soon, they're going to be fully weaned and gone.

I really hope we hear back from them post haste.

I think I'm going to love my new dance teacher.  After the show last weekend, I realized a LOT of things about having such a young teacher last semester.  She was NOT good at direction back stage at all ...she was basically absent and left us on our own to get ready and to be ready for our place in the queue.  She didn't tell us "GREAT JOB," or say one word to us after we danced, either.  She just pulled out her lap top and continued to ignore us.

The other troupes all had their pictures taken together on performance night, and we were never even called together by our teacher for ... well .... anything!! She was very disorganized and not at all supportive once it came down to it.

I am hoping the new teacher, who seems far more mature and seasoned, will do a better job.

Making my first attempt at Gumbo for supper tonight, and then tomorrow, we're, or rather I'm, cooking for friends.  It was supposed to be tonight, because the weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow, but they couldn't make it today...so we're taking our chances with a grilling-based menu in the rain!  Oh well!!

It's a sunny, windy day out there today, and we're off!  Have a great weekend!

2 pictures from May 12

The most recent pic of the kittens and mommy, between the heat/ac unit and the corner where the dryer vent exits the laundry room.

That's me, front and center, last night.

(remember, you can click on the pictures for a larger view)

So, the back yard family whom we thought had moved on re-appeared in our back yard a couple of days ago.  We have the number of the city's spay/neuter and release program.  

As there are no shelters that will take strays--  At. All.-- this program seems to be the most humane option.  I don't think this city even has animal control, because there are wild cats and packs of wild dogs all OVER the place...but Dave says they do have.

(They also for sure don't have a department that cleans up dead animals off of the streets.  They lie there and decompose.  It's absolutely disgusting.)

However, they won't come on to private property and trap wild cats, and if they did, they'd take them to a kill shelter.

SO--the only option we have other than just letting them alone and allowing the colony to continue to grow and grow, is to investigate this spay/neuter and release program.

From what we understand, according to the shelter people with whom we've spoken, they loan us traps, we trap the animals, take them to the place and drop them off, they do the surgery.  Then we have to go back and get them, and we are to release them back to the wild and feed them. 

That way, they live out their lives wild, but they don't continue to build the size of the colony.  

It's weird sounding to me, but I guess it makes some degree of sense, in a culture that has allowed the wild cats and dogs to get SO out of hand.

I think this letting animals run wild and procreate is a "southern thing."  Dave doesn't think it's strange at all.  He's used to it, and he's lived almost his entire life south of the Mason/Dixon.

AND, in other news, I finally made my first performance with the big fancy belly dance studio I have joined a number of times:  this time for the long term, I hope.  

After this semester, which ended last night, I will be moving up to the advanced level with a new teacher.  I'm very excited!  It's good to study with different people.

The next recital isn't until November, so I have the rest of this time between now and then to really work hard at getting in shape, learning new stuff, and working on technique. 

Should be fun!