Thursday, July 8, 2010

Jambalaya Pizza from Yes, It's Me!

What can I say about my absence other than I can't even believe how long it's been. Time flies. To be brief, my plate at work has been more than full lately with a huge acquisition that took place. So in turn, the plates here have been pretty empty. I have been so burnt out that getting on the computer from home was the last thing I wanted to do, even though I have missed coming around to see everyone.

So, please, drop me a quick line letting me know if anything big has gone on with you & I will be by! For now, enjoy some Jambalaya Pizza. I made this way back on Mother's Day when we enjoyed a buffet of appetizers. Any ingredient can be easily substituted. I just LOVED the idea of the cheesy rice crust for this.

JAMBALAYA PIZZA
 

3 cups cooked long grain rice, cooled
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup finely shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1/4 cup each chopped celery, onion & green sweet pepper
1 tblsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup each thinly sliced smoked cooked sausage, diced cooked ham, & coarsely chopped cooked shrimp
1 16-oz. jar chunky salsa, drained
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (3 oz.)


Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In large combine rice, eggs & pepper jack cheese. Lightly coat a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread rice mixture evenly in pan. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees.

For topping, in large skillet cook celery, onion & green pepper in hot butter over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic, cayenne, sausage, ham & shrimp. Heat through.


Spread drained salsa over rice crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread vegetable-meat mixture over salsa. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through & cheese is melted. Cut into square pieces to serve.

{ Food for Thought }

As always, I suggest increasing the garlic to 2 cloves & use olive oil instead of butter when cooking the veggies. I also recommend decreasing your cooking time on the rice crust the 1st time around. Maybe 12-15 minutes when it’s cooking by itself and 10 minutes when it’s covered with all the goodies. If you try to cut this into pizza slices it will be messy & fall apart. Cut into squares for best results.


32 comments:

chow and chatter said...

wow cool pizza

RedHead said...

Welcome back! Was missing your posts!

Chef E said...

Ummm, can you come make it for us tonight :) Oh yes, you are pooped like me!

I know how you feel, I am so not wanting to cook tonight!

Missed ya though!

Unknown said...

Welcome back! I definitely missed you and am SO excited to see you. I just thought in my head the other day about you and your sweet baby! I hope Tristan is having the very best summer!

Jen said...

Very interesting pizza.

Glad to hear from you again. :)

Pam said...

Glad to see you are back! The pizza looks mouth watering. I wish I had a big slice right now.

starnes family said...

Never heard of this......so creative!

Happy to see you're back.

Pumpkin Delight (Kimberly) said...

Welcome back! I was just looking at my blog list and saw it had been awhile since we'd heard from you. I'm glad all is well. Busy work is certainly better than slow work.

This sounds delicious. I'd do it without shrimip, but the crust sounds fun.

Simple Daisy said...

Glad you're back!! I was wondering where you were!!!
I guess it's better to be too busy than to be bored!! :) :)

Kacey said...

Very interesting dear friend. LOL Brian would LOVE it.

Sook said...

Wow, Jambalaya on a pizza! What a fantastic idea!

Unknown said...

Welcome back. We missed you. A rice crust for a pizza sounds beautiful.

Healthy. Happy. Well. said...

mmm looks delish! How creative!

Chef Chuck said...

This looks like a very flavorful blend, I love rice!! Great concept!

FROGGITY! said...

was JUST thinking about you!! glad you are back!!! and, as always... yum!

Mary Bergfeld said...

I'm glad you are posting again. The pie looks wonderful, though I don't think you could put another thing on it. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

Tam said...

HI! I was excited to see you post! Nothing new here in GA just the heat. School starts soon and well that is it! Take care!

Kerstin said...

Glad you're back! This is such a unique and creative recipe - yum!

Val said...

Holy YUM!!!!

Angela said...

Oh, yum, Steph! This looks DIVINE! Hubby would LOVE it as well. We both love jambalaya!

I've been craving pizza, as well. This sounds great!

Hugs! And don't worry about being busy. I and just about every other blogger I follow each got run over by summer, too, lol! No worries!

Stephanie said...

I love this idea! One thing I always have around the house is rice. Yhanks for shraing:)

Ma What's 4 dinner said...

What a great idea. I'm totally making this later in the week. I'm so glad you're back....I'VE MISSED YOU!

Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner
www.mawhats4dinner.com

Reeni said...

Just as I was wondering about you...here you are! Missed ya' and glad your back. I love the idea of rice crust - I do this sometimes for quiche. Love the topping too - shrimp and sausage are two of my favorites!

Maria said...

What a creative pizza!

Mademoiselle Deva said...

that looks delicious!!!

Coco said...

Looks amazing.

Miss you my sweet friend!!

Tabitha Blue said...

I've missed you too!!!! And girl, I understand about the burnt out thing. I go day to day over here. Life has been amazing and wonderful, but making the time to be at the computer, well, that's the hard part... and when I do get on the computer it's for work, editing a photoshoot or designing something :) It's good to 'see' you!!!

~Tabitha

Kameron said...

I wondered what happened to you, but then again I've been on much of a break myself! Welcome back!

Anonymous said...

I would like to exchange links with your site www.blogger.com
Is this possible?

Cooking for Diabetes said...

In my book, this definitely qualifies as gourmet pizza. I can't wait to try this out!

Nabeela said...

this looks crazily yummy
thanks for sharing :)
http://www.matbakhun.com/

Janna Renee said...

i love jambalaya!! I must try this!