Gumbo!

First of all, let me just say thank you to the various folks who emerged from the woodwork and left comments in my previous post! I was very glad to "meet" you!

Second, this dish has become a staple in our house. It's a Weight Watchers recipe, but I've tweaked it slightly to fit my tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp canola oil
  
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
  
• 6 scallions, sliced
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 14.5-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 1 bay leaf
• salt
  
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1/2 lb cooked shrimp
• 1 turkey kielbasa link, sliced (I don't know the exact weight but it's one link from a package of two Oscar Mayer brand turkey polska kielbasa)

Get the brown rice going while preparing the rest of the dish. The rice will go into the pot with the rest of the stuff after a while. My brown rice (Lundberg long-grain) takes about 50 minutes to cook fully, so factor the cooking time of your rice into the recipe. I set my timer for the rice cooking time and use that as the basis for the rest of the dish.

Heat the canola oil in a soup pot or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, onion, celery, scallion, and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomato, chicken broth, spices, and bay leaf. Salt to taste, stir to combine, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.

When the brown rice has about 20 minutes left to cook, add it to the vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Cover and continue cooking. With about five minutes left on the rice cooking time, add the kielbasa slices and shrimp and simmer uncovered for the remainder of the time.

Makes 4 servings.