I hate it when my husband raves over a meal.  OK, I don’t hate the raving, but I hate the meals he chooses to rave over.  I can make the most delicious butternut squash ravioli, shrimp and scallop scampi with linguini, or the world’s best salmon (according to me, at least), but what does he think beats that?  This.  This stuff I am choosing to call “trash.”

OK, so it is good trash, but it kinda drives me crazy that he prefers things like this, that is just a bunch of stuff thrown together, rather than something beautiful and refined. MEN!

But he makes up for it with his sense of humor.  When I asked him what I should call this meal, he said, without hesitation, “Mongolian Massacre.”  (?!)  When I asked why, he said, “Because it’s cool!”

Gotta love him.

Jambalaya Trash

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (8 oz) box Jambalaya-style rice mix
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained well
1 (15.25 oz.) can corn, drained well
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning (like Tony Chachere’s), or to taste

Follow the package directions for the rice with only 1 tablespoon of oil and without adding any meat, but start it in at least a 3-quart pot so there’s room for the meat mixture later on.

After you’ve got the water heating to a boil for the rice, start on your beef mixture. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the ground beef, onion, and green pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat, until meat it cooked through. Drain off all the juices and then stir in the tomatoes, corn, and a teaspoon of Creole seasoning. By this time you should already have your rice and seasoning packet in the water and it’s probably got another ten minutes or more of cooking time left. Go ahead and throw the beef mixture on top and stir it all up. Replace the lid and increase the heat if necessary to get it simmering again, then turn it down to finish cooking. When the timer for the rice goes off, stir and add additional seasoning to taste. This stuff comes out of the pot at a million degrees Farenheit so you might want to serve it on plates so that it cools faster because you’re going to want to inhale it, even if it is trash.

Serves 4-6

Per serving (1/6 of recipe): 354 calories; 9 g fat; 49 g carbohydrates; 5 g fiber; 22 g protein; 9 Points Plus.

Recipe by Veronica Miller, inspired by Natasha’s Kitchen