Chicken Sausage Gumbo

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds chicken, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 package savory breakfast sausages, sliced
• 1/4 cup oil (grapeseed or olive)
• 6-8 medium tomatoes, chopped (or 2-14.5 ounce cans stewed tomatoes)
• 32 ounces chicken broth
• 2 cups fresh okra
• 1 large onion
• 2 cups green beans
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 large green pepper
• 1-2 hot peppers
• 1 medium zucchini
• 6 stalks celery
• 2 cans beans (white, pinto or blended work well)
• 3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp Italian herbs
• 1 tbsp paprika (smoked paprika is nice here)
• Salt and pepper to taste (cayenne if you want spicy)

Instructions:

1. Chop all the veggies into bite-sized pieces
2. In a large skillet, add oil, green beans, chopped peppers and celery.  Cook for 5 minutes then add onions, okra and minced garlic and cook until vegetables are still slightly crunchy
3. Meantime, cook chicken in broth and set aside until cool enough to chop
4. Add sausage, tomatoes, beans, Italian herbs and paprika to sauce pan the broth is in and set to low/medium heat
5. Reintroduce chicken after it cools enough to chop
6. Add veggies and cook 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend
7. Salt and pepper to taste

My garden has been trickling okra and it took me nearly a week to collect enough for this recipe, but it was worth the wait!   -Patty