I missed a whole day yesterday.  Because of a perfect storm of events I ended up staying in bed all day yesterday.  Which sounds perfect to most moms but the stomach flu that accompanied the day was awful. I was the last to get it in our family and actually thought my Super Mom powers had beaten it back but it snuck in during the night.  Ugh.

When I came downstairs this morning I can’t believe my family actually lives like this when I am not around.  Pizza boxes stacked on the counter, school papers all over the couch and floor and the dishwasher was never emptied or filled.  Harumpf. At least today is a snow day and I have little minions around to help with fixing this mess.

So, on to dinner from Mardi Gras.  My children LOVE to celebrate the little holidays all during the year.  National Pancake Day they want pancakes.  Chinese New Year I better serve Chinese Food with fortune cookies and everything!

For Mardi Gras I went searching for a recipe that had everything I already had on hand because it was too cold to have to head out to the store.  We were out of rice so that left quinoa to serve with the dish.  Thankfully, I had a frozen bag of okra leftover in the freezer from a dish I never quite got around to making so this was perfect. The best part is that it did not call for shrimp so I was set.

Verdict:

This was pretty good.  Both children ate two bowls of it.  The okra was a bit mushy but they both got over that quickly.  They wished it had a bit more chicken in it as I only used a pound.  The flavor was pretty good not too strong but you could add heat as you wished.

I served this with a green side salad.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 cups water
• 2 lbs. cooked smoked sausage links, sliced
• 1 lb. chicken breast,  cubed and raw
• 1 (10 oz) package frozen okra
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large green pepper, diced
• 2-3 stalks of celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 – 1 tsp creole seasoning, to your desired taste
• 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
•  hot quinoa for serving

Directions:

1. To make the roux, stir together oil and flour in a medium saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir constantly about 10-15 minutes more until it turns almost brick colored.
2. Cool mixture before placing in slow cooker! Place water in a Crock Pot and add roux; stir.
3. Add sausage, chicken, okra, onion, pepper, celery, garlic, creole seasoning, and red pepper.
4. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-9 hours, or on high heat for 4 hours.
5. Skim off the fat, and serve over quinoa.