Hey everybody! I'm making GUMBO!

This.  This recipe is shut-the-front-door delicious!  And, it impresses folks, so you know... it's a keeper.

Backstory.  (Because with me, there is always back story)

I was taking my kiddos down to play with some friends at their RV for the day, and I realized that I needed to have plans for dinner.  The boys had been asking to try gumbo for a while, so I thought "today is the day!" and I grabbed all the ingredients from the grocery store, then it hit me: I had chicken and sausage and veggies in my car.  In TUCSON. In March (It had already hit the mid 80's, so I couldn't just leave it in the car).  AND its a crockpot recipe.  Dangit.
So I messaged my good friend, Nikki.

Me: "I will have a chicken breast and kielbasa with me - can I put it in your fridge?'
Nikki: "Yes.  I totally get it.  I travel with those too."
Me: "Lol. You would if you were making gumbo!  Yikes! Its a crockpot recipe.  Can I bring my crockpot to your house to start it?"
Nikki: "Lol! Yes"
Me: "I'm a mess"
Nikki: "No problem!!  I have room for gumbo!"
(Isn't she just the sweetest friend? Hosting us at her house for a play date AND letting me make my dinner at her house!)
Me:  "I should make a double batch and leave some for you guys.  You want?"

And wouldn't you know? She DID want.

We had a great time visiting.  I was busy chopping things in the kitchen and tossing them into my crockpot and her multicooker (which I totally now need). Kiddos were outside playing in a fort and riding bikes.  Idyllic.  And then as the afternoon wore on, the smell of that gumbo wafted out of the house and we were all drooling.  When it was time to leave, I packed mine up and headed home.  Just as I put a batch of cornbread in the oven, I get a text from Nikki.

"I'm gonna need this recipe!!!!!!"  Six exclamation points.  I counted.

I swore I would send it to her shortly, and of course, never did.  Then I saw her later for her daughter's violin lesson (being the violin teacher, I was there).  She asked for it again.  I said "Sure".  And forgot.
Then she and her kids came up for my son's birthday party, and she asked for it again.  I laughed and said "Ooops!  I'll send it to you!" And then today, I just got a text from her.  Short and sweet and to the point: "I need gumbo recipe!"  So... here I am writing a blog post about it, instead of sending her the recipe.  I suck.  BUT... I figured that if she wanted it badly enough to ask me for it multiple times, others may enjoy it to.

So.  Here is my gumbo recipe.

Jessi's Evasive Gumbo Recipe

• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1 link kielbasa (or smoked andouille sausage, or beef sausage, or whatever you'd like), sliced into rounds
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 oz okra (I've only ever used fresh, and instead of measuring okra, I grab "some") sliced into rounds
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 28-oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt.

Combine in your crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve over cornbread or rice, or just eat it plain - either way, its delicious!

There you go, Nikki!

For Real... Chickens

Now, I don't like birds.  At all.  That's the first thing you should know.  I despise going in to the aviary at the zoo.  I don't like it when birds fly around me, or near me, or where I can see them.  I'm going to blame it entirely on this one time when I was feeding the birds in Paris and they swarmed me for the breadcrumbs.  Because that makes it sound like a more realistic fear, and not that I'm weird at all.

But I digress.

We wanted chickens.  We wanted fresh eggs, and clucking, and silly birds, and kids going outside to feed/water/clean/gather eggs.  We wanted them to scratch around in our garden and to poop and help things grow.  So when we had moved into the house, and we saw the sign at Ace Hardware that says "We have chicks!" I marched right in, picked out the 4 I would want, and paid for them.  You don't get to bring them home right away, you have to wait for your chicks to be delivered to the store, and then you can pick them up.  So, I had to wait a week.  Which felt like forever. In the meantime, I got their brooder all set up for them
.

Super easy (since we were unpacking and had a TON of boxes around).

Here's what you need (my notes are in parenthesis - these are things I learned after we brought the chicks home from experience):

• box (sometimes you will see suggestions that you use a round brooder, because apparently chicks can get stuck in the corners of the box and suffocate.  I never had a problem with it.)
• Lining for the box - maybe some plastic sheeting or a cookie sheet or something because
• chickens make a mess and it soaks through your box
• they spill their water  and it soaks through your box
• they peck at the bottom of your box and when you pick it up, the bedding falls out of your box and makes a mess on your newly-mopped floor
• Pine shavings - they sell this in a big bale at the store as well.  We buy ours from a local tack & feed shop, because I have to spend the money on it, and I would rather support a local business than a big chain like Wal-Mart, but you can buy it there too.
• Chick feeder (maybe $3 at the store - not a big deal)
• Chick waterer (again, a couple of bucks - but ESSENTIAL!  Chickens are very succeptible to dehydration.  Keep water in there AT ALL TIMES)
• Heat lamp (they will need heat on them 24 hours a day until they are fully feathered.

Ok, so now I have all of supplies... I need chickens,

Ah!  Aren't they adorable??  Lookit!  I got the box, and the guy at Ace Hardware placed the 4 chicks into the box and then I felt like I was just nailed to the floor.  I walked over to the paint counter where J was buying some paint and showed him the chicks.  "That's nice, honey."

Wait.  "That's nice, honey"?!  He wasn't instantly enamored with their sweet little peeps?

"Babe? Why don't you put the box down in the shopping care so you can help me with this paint?"

"I can't."

"Uhm... why?"

"Because if I put them down, how will they know that I love them?"

*huge eye roll*

Guys.  I'm serious.  These chicks were the sweetest things!  After we got them home, I would sit with them on the sofa (on top of a towel, because their poop is disgusting) and just talk with them and watch TV with them.  They fall asleep so fast - its kind of like an infant.  One minute: playing.  The next: sleep.  And they didn't know how to settle down and sit yet, so they literally just fell over and slept.  

This is Cali, by the way - see her cute little black spots?  Couldn't you just squeeze her?  But please don't.

J says "I want a refund.  These aren't chickens.  These are fluffy marshmallows."  And he was right.

This is Claire.  Her full name is Chanteclaire - because J and I are 80's kids, and we couldn't have chickens in our house without a 'Rockadoodle' reference.  She's a black Cochin.  And probably the cutest thing ever.  See those little feathers on her feet? Cochins have feathers on their legs and feet!  It looks like she's wearing a frumpy set of sweats!  I love it.

You know what else I love?  That my kids think these chickens are adorable, too!

G2 is holding Del, who fell asleep.  Because that's the only thing that makes this any cuter.

The only thing more fun than having chickens in the house?  Taking chickens outside to play in their playpen!  They were still too young to just be turned out there, even if I was watching, so I fashioned a play pen out of PVC pipe and bird netting.  Closed on the top and all 4 sides, so you basically plop your chicks down, and then slip the pen over the top of them.

Safe and sound and getting their first taste of being outside.