Ellie (CEiMB) and some brutally HOT tennis

I'm going to try to make this a somewhat coherent post, but tennis in 110 degree heat is literally frying my brain.  The good news is that we won our morning match 4-1 and our afternoon match 5-0 so we're off to a REALLY good start.  The morning win was huge, because it was over another Birmingham team that had beaten us three times during local league play.  The afternoon match was against a pretty good Dothan team, so we're feeling really good about ourselves at this point, but we have to do it all over again tomorrow.  I think this is my sixth year to come to Mobile for the state tournament and I don't ever remember it being this brutally hot.

Anywho....this post is supposed to be about Ellie's Jambalaya as chosen by Anonymous New York.  

(Jambalaya is not very photogenic)

This is my first Ellie post and I was excited to try the recipe.  Unfortunately I made some changes that probably added a few extra calories.  Not exactly the point, eh?

Whatevs.

After reading the reviews of the recipe on the Food Network site, I decided to make some changes to add a bit more flavor.  I'm not a ham lover so I substituted Chorizo.  I started by browning the chorizo in the olive oil, removing it from the pan but leaving in the rendered fat and sauteeing the onions, bell peppers and garlic.

I also substituted some of the spices as noted below.

I have to say that I really liked this and would probably make it again.  I'm going to have to work harder at keeping the recipe as written and not adding additional calories.  I'm not saying I will, but I'm gonna try!!

Here's the recipe and my changes:

Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham

from Ellie Krieger on the Food Network

1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more, to taste
1 teaspoon paprika (I used hot pimenton, a Spanish smoked paprika)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I used fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I used fresh)
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 ounces diced, smoked ham (I substituted chorizo)
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can no-salt added diced tomatoes (Mine had added chipotle)
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
Hot pepper sauce

Directions

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over a medium heat. Add the onion, peppers and garlic and saute until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Mix in the next 11 ingredients, salt through the diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Stir in the rice, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until rice is done and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the shrimp and cook, covered, for 5 minutes more, or until shrimp is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with hot pepper sauce.