Shrimp Gumbo (sort of)

So, last night I made my first foray into cooking for a massive group of people. The plan was to make 60 servings for the Wednesday night church dinner. Carl had class till late so I thought, "What better way to entertain myself than cooking a huge meal?" Thankfully, my friend Xander was awesome enough to step in before I really got myself into trouble and offered to help me cook the dinner and shop for the groceries. There's no way I would have gotten it done otherwise! And, with God watchin' over, we did it! The food turned out great, everyone got fed (tho we ran out of green beans - don't underestimate people's love of veggies!), we made some people sweat, and the Wednesday night study was enlightening! All in all, a fabulous success :D

If anyone is interested, I've posted the recipe below. Turns out (thankfully) that it multiples well ;). The original recipe is from a (now defunct) magazine called EAT but I made a few "Cali" tweaks (those roots... they're hard to pull up)

Shrimp Gumbo (with Pasta) (and thereby, not real Southern gumbo, :) )

8 ou. bulk hot Italian sausage (if you can only find links, that's fine, just remove casings and break it up)

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green sweet pepper, chopped

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 14.5 ou cans stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 14 ou can chicken broth

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 lb frozen, uncooked, medium shrimp, thawed, peeled & deveined

?? pasta (I just judge by what looks like enough - rotini works well)

Cook sausage, onion, green pepper and celery until sausage is browned.

Drain, add garlic, tomatoes, broth, paprika, black pepper cayenne, and pasta.

Bring to boiling.

Reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes

Add shrimp, cook, covered 4 minutes or more until shrimp are opaque.

Remove from heat.

Cover, let stand 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

Per serving: 338 cal; 14g fat; 144mg chol; 971mg sodium; 28g carb; 4g fiber; 24g protein