Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew

The container of leftover stew.

Last night I made Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew, it was quick and really tasty.  I can never seem to follow a recipe exactly, but use them as a guideline for what type of ingredients should be added.  Plus I always feel like I know a lot about cooking and how I want a dish to turn out.  So I generally followed the recipe, but made some slight variations -- I used pepper & onion stir fry, Cajun chicken sausage, vegetable broth (what I had leftover in the freezer), and I a can of diced tomatoes plus 1/2 can of diced green chiles.

The reviews indicated it was a little bland, which makes sense since there's barely any spices in it. I wanted to add some Cajun seasoning, but I forgot that when I organized the pantry to alphabetize my spices in my new spice rack (hand made Christmas gift from Husband Jeff) that I discovered the jar of the Cajun spice blend was cracked and I threw the whole thing away.  So I followed this Simple Cajun Seasoning recipe to approximate the flavor I was looking for. 

We had some leftover rice in the freezer from a recent Chinese takeout meal, so I reheated that in the microwave and we put the stew on top of the rice.  Dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes.  Well, I didn't time it, but close enough.  The point is, it was quick.  And Jeff and I thought it was great, a definite repeat.