Meatless Jambalaya

Wikipedia says "The (Native American) Atakapa tribe claims the origin of the name (Jambalaya). The original word "Sham, pal ha! Ya!" means "Be full, not skinny! Eat Up!" with a French equivalent of "Bon appetit!". Spanish influence resulted in the current spelling of the name."  Jambalaya is a mix of veggies, rice and LOTS of meat; chicken, sausage and seafood to be exact.  Obviously, the meat isn't very appealing to me but the oatmeal like rice and mix of veggies is!  I tweaked Jamie Oliver's recipe and came up with my own that is equally delicious, without the heart attack.

See Jamie Oliver's recipe here.  From his book Jamie's America, which is pretty amazing by the way.  Not vegan but a lot of the recipes can be made altered.  I always loved Jamie Oliver for taking the initiative to educate america on the horrors of the food industry.  He still eats meat, but at least he takes that extra step to make sure what he is eating is what he thinks he's eating, catch my drift?

Anyways, enjoy :)

Meatless Jambalaya

serves 2-4

1/2 onion, sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

1/2 of a green serrano pepper (or red chili pepper), seeded and chopped

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 cups white basmati rice

salt and pepper

coconut oil

1 cup chopped fresh italian parsley

Fry the onion, bell pepper and celery in a tsp coconut oil over medium high heat.  Let cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic and chilies and cook 2 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.  Add 4 cups water, bring everything to a boil.  Throw in rice and stir.  Bring to a boil again, cover and turn heat to low.  Let cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice is cooked perfectly.  If it needs it, stir in enough water to make an oatmeal like consistency.   If too much water, pour some out and let simmer till desired consistency.  Stir in parsley, reserve 2 TBSPs, and put the lid back on for a minute.  Garnish with the reserved parsley and serve hot!

This recipe would be really good with some vegan chicken or meat substitute thrown in, but it's delicious and filling all on it's own so you don't even need it!