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As I thumbed through this month's issue of Essence magazine, I was excited to see a recipe for Jambalaya. Its been a while since the last time any has filled a pot in my house. I'm one of those people who always needs to consult a recipe, yet, who has never taken the time to create handy recipe cards for all of my favorite dishes. Each time I want to make mac & cheese or some other delicious soul food dish, I have to call my grandmother, who reminds me that she has no idea how many teaspoons of vanilla should go here or cups of milk should go there, because she does just as Rachel Ray does and eyeballs it. My last jambalaya recipe disappeared so I made sure to neatly rip this one from the magazine and safely tuck it away in the same kitchen drawer that housed the last one.

My favorite part of this meal is the preparation. I love chopping things. The celery, bell pepper, garlic, onion, and smoked sausage. I'm a dicing queen. I even like to make a big ass mess chop herbs! When chopping up all of that hardy comforting goodness you just somehow know that your taste buds will be overjoyed once the two meet. What taste buds don't like veggies? Especially when you add a little shrimp.


Then, finished it off with some fresh flat leaf parsley.