Stuffed Bell Pepper and Fried Okra

Made this spur of the moment tonight after picking the okra and bell pepper from the garden and it came out delicious!  No measurements on this because I was originally making dirty rice and decided to steal some of the meat from that before adding the rice and did this last minute.
I made 3 small stuffed peppers.

Stuffed Bell Pepper:
Whole Bell Peppers (stems cut off and cleaned)
Ground Turkey
Diced Onion
Diced Bell Pepper
Minced Garlic
Salt, Pepper, Italian Seasoning
Bread Crumbs
Parmesan Cheese
Feta Cheese


 Preheat oven to 400.  Brown the turkey, add onion, diced bell pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Cook down until veggies are soft.  Mix in bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.   Put mixture in bell peppers then top with feta cheese.  Bake until bell peppers are soft (took mine about 25 minutes but they were small).

Fried Okra:
8 fresh okra, diced.  Mine were cut in about 1/4" pieces
Egg wash (1 egg with about 1/4 cup milk)
Corn Meal seasoned with a little salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
Coconut Oil (you can use any oil you want)

Pour enough oil in a pot to cover bottom about 1/4"
Coat okra in egg wash then corn meal.  Drop in oil.  Cook about 5" then turn and cook another 5".  Take out with slotted spoon and put on paper towel.  Sprinkle right away with a little salt and black pepper. 

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

I forget to take a picture but I also don't want to forget my recipe for this :)  I usually just throw things in the pot but I actually measured this time since sometimes my jambalaya comes out good and others not so good.  Luckily, this batch was good since I measured/wrote it down.

1 tablespoon olive oil
14 oz andouille sausage
2 boneless/skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 green bell pepper - diced
1 medium onion - diced
Seasoning Mix (see below)
1 cup rice
2.5 cups water (I use 1/2 cup more water than my rice directions call for)

Seasoning Mix:
1/4 tsp dry basil
1/4 tsp dry oregano
Pinch of dry thyme
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1.5 tsp onion powder
1.5 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paparika
1/2 tsp salt (you may want a little more, we aren't big salt eaters in my home)
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Start by dicing up about 14 ounces of andouille sausage and 2 boneless/skinless chicken breast.  Pour about one tablespoon of olive oil in a pot and let it heat.  Add the meats and BROWN.  Browning is very important with jambalaya.  My first attempt at making it, I just cooked and did not brown anything and it looked like just chicken and rice.

Once the meat is good and brown, add in your onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Cook this down and BROWN.  Don't burn, but you do want it good and brown.  It takes me about 15-20 minutes to brown good.  Then add in your dry seasonings.  Mix.  Add in your water and rice.  Cover and cook per rice directions.  I use brown rice so it always cooks about an hour.  I find brown rice NEVER cooks in only 45 minutes.  I also sometimes have to add a bit more water towards the end because it will dry out but the rice is still hard.