Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya, and my version

(This photo is from the link for the recipe)

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2009/11/oven-baked-cajun-chicken-and-sausage.html

This is the recipe I used and so I'm posting the link here. But as usual , I change things around. I read the recipe and it sounded really good. I am able to "taste" a recipe by reading the ingredients. I know it sounds weird but I have a good palate and knew this would be yummy. And it was....however, the picture here from that site.......turned me off. I almost didn't make it. IT just looked so pale and unappetizing.

And so I'm going to post here the changes I did with the recipe. And in fact since I made this, I see a few more changes I might do in the future. First I cut the recipe in half because there's only two of us here.

But as I read it , I saw browning the meats in the oven and then I noticed them using another fry pan to do the onions and such. Now Im always looking for shortcuts. And this dish is a good one if you want a yummy, fast, ez meal you don't have to watch much. And so I decided to use my lg. cast iron fry pan. I turned the oven on to the temp. and then put the fry pan in the oven while I was assembling my ingredients. When I was ready to cook the meats I put the oil and butter in it right there in the oven to melt. It called for chicken with skin and bones and I didnt have anything but boneless, skinless breasts here. So I used one of those and cut it in 2 chunks to cook faster. I had about a half lb. of kielasa sausage too. It just didnt look like much meat so I got  a boneless pork chop too. I cut that in half also and then put the meats in the oil/butter mix in the pan, rolling them around to coat them. Then I let them brown forabout15-20min...checking them and turning them over to brown on the other side.
Ive decided next time to use whole chicken thighs and more sausage and no pork unless its a well marbled piece. This was too dry this time. It was tasty but just too dry for my own taste.

After the meats are brown , remove pan from oven and remove meats from pan. Toss in the onion and garlic. I used 1/2 red onion and two garlic cloves, minced. You don't even have to have heat under the cast iron pan since its so hot from the oven. Just stir so they don't stick and burn. Meanwhile cut the meat up into bite size pieces.

Once the onion/garlic mixture is almost done, toss in the spices. I used half the amt. since I was making half the recipe. Stir well to release some of the oils. Sure smells good about now too. I used one of my home canned qt. jars of chicken stock and poured that in. Now you can turn the heat back up to high. Stir a bit then add two c. of rice. When it comes to a boil, add the meats, stir and put in the oven and cover,  to bake for about a half hr.

 (This is what mine looked like, much darker than the original recipe. I like that much better)

I served this with an Italian salad and I'm glad I did. As I said this recipe is a bit dry. And so next time, I'm going to use fattier meats and ones that stay moist. Thighs I think would be much better for this than breasts, the dark meat doesn't dry out. And I didn't have enough sausage to make this but its really good with it. I also think I just might add a bit more chicken stock to this to make it a bit sloppy. But we did love this very much otherwise and doing it this way, the color was much improved. It took advantage of the meat juices that were in the bottom of the pan. If you did it the original way, those would be wasted.

You can buy Cajun spice if you wish but I make my own. Here's my recipe:

Cajun Spice Mix
2 1/2 tb. Paprika (I use Hungarian paprika)
2 tb. garlic powder
1 tb. ground black pepper
1 tb. crushed red pepper or cayenne
1 tb. dried thyme
1 tb. dried oregano
1 tb. dried onion flakes or powder ( I like flakes better)

Mix together and store.
I like to add some to my rib rub, and of course on blackened fish.