Pow! Sock! Bam! Jambalaya

PER SERVING (1/4th of recipe, about 1 1/2 cups): 6 Points+
256 calories, 5.5g fat, 688mg sodium, 30.5g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 6.5g sugars, 20g protein 

The recipe: "300 under 300", page 242
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1603

The other night, I actually had some time to cook dinner for my family!  I chose this recipe because I thought it would be something different for a change - not to mention I love jambalaya.  Unfortunately, the recipe didn't turn out.  The photo above is the giving up point of this recipe.  Sadly, it wound up in the garbage after I rescued some of the sausage from the pot.  I was disappointed to say the least, since it was my first Hungry Girl recipe for the blog in quite some time now. 

My problem was the rice.  When I saw that the recipe called for uncooked rice, and that it was supposed to be cooked for 35 minutes, I had a feeling it would actually take much longer to cook the rice.  My rice NEVER got cooked, though, and I'm not sure what the heck I was doing wrong.  I covered it and reduced the heat to medium low, like the recipe said to.  Perhaps the heat wasn't up high enough?  It was hot enough to bubble the entire time, though.  The liquid in the pot got completely soaked up into the still-undercooked-rice, so I added some hot water, thinking that would help.  Nope!  After an hour and a half - yes, an hour and a half! - I gave up on the recipe and called it a day.  Luckily, I never did add the shrimp, so I didn't waste so much food.  But, I really hated having to throw everything away.  The rice was crunchy, though, and it is almost impossible to eat something with undercooked rice in it. 

I am not saying this recipe is hopeless, though.  The flavors were very good, and I could tell it would have turned into a nice and flavorful jambalaya.  It definitely had some heat to it, but I like spicy foods.  My recommendation is to cook the rice separately, and to use that in the recipe instead of uncooked rice.  There shouldn't be a problem with having too much liquid, since there wasn't enough liquid to cook the uncooked rice in the first place.   

Hopefully I will have more success with the next recipe!  I will try to make this again in the future and do a new review for it.  Next time I will be cooking the rice before adding it to the pot!