It was a quiet and lazy Sunday afternoon

So I actually started this post on the Sunday, as in relation to the tittle. Then things got really busy and I'm just getting to look at it now, Friday night. Hopefully things will settle down here soon (I am starting a new job, part time, but time consuming in the prep portions.)

So I decided on Sunday afternoon it was time to finally make my husband his favorite recipe, one I like as well, jambalaya. I had bought the hard to find sausage for it several weeks earlier (it comes vac packed and has a very long shelf life in the fridge.)

I like this recipe, but it does involve a fair bit of prep work, chopping up all the vegetables, then the chicken and sausage, prepping the shrimp and then stirring along the way. Sometimes chopping is relaxing though, so I was happily "playing" with my good chef's knife, cutting up my pile of veggies into a good dice, when I was interupted by children.

Children wanting to help me.

While I was cutting.

With a very big, sharp knife.

Time for a bit of a detour from our regularly scheduled cooking!

So I took a break from dinner preperation and made playdough for the kids. They were happy because they got to help (or at least my little one, the real "I want to help!" kid did - see, that's him pouring the koolaid powder in the bowl,) and then they were even happier because they got to play with it right away.

Now normally I'd only post recipes for things that are edible here, but technically this playdough can be eaten, I just don't know why anyone would want to unless they were starving to death! So here is a recipe for "edible" playdough:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup salt (don't waste your good salt on this, not even kosher)
2-3 packages of koolaid, one color only
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water

Mix the flour, salt, koolaid and oil together in a large bowl. Pour the water over top (your children will love this part because the water instantly changes color to whatever color of koolaid you use.) Mix it well, or as best as you can, then let it cool for a bit. When it has cooled some (don't wait too long), knead the mixture together well until it is uniform in color and fairly smooth. Keep in an air tight container or bag. Can be frozen if necessary.

So two batches of playdough later (aren't they pretty colors?) I finally got to go back to making my jambalaya.

Distraction for me was not a good thing. I got it made, it looked pretty too, but I ran into a little misstep along the way.

I forgot to peel the shrimp.

You'd think I would notice something as obvious as shells on my shrimp. I didn't. I took out frozen, uncooked, deveined shrimp and put it in a bowl to defrost some while I was doing my prep work. Sprinkled some spice on them to soak into the shrimp. Noticed the tails but wanted to keep them on so it would be easier to find the shrimp in the pot later (I like lots of shrimp, my husband does not - hence I wanted to find the shrimp so I could eat it, and he wanted to find it so I could eat it!)

Dinner was tasty. Once you took out the shrimp, which btw, ended up being perfectly cooked, not chewy at all, it was easy to de-shell them and add them back in. I really did end up with the majority of the shrimp, something I have no complaints about. Despite that bounty for me, I doubt I'll deliberately throw shelled shrimp into the pot again.

Next time I just won't let batches of playdough distract me.