Slow Cooker Jambalaya

This recipe with additions/alterations. For some reason, this smelled very sour and "wrong" for the first 5 hours of cooking... but then it evened out and was delicious. Weird. A half-teaspoon of cayenne red pepper is about as spicy as my family can take it and still enjoy the flavor; I will consider shorting it a bit to a strange 1/3 teaspoon next time.

Recipe
1.5 pounds cubed chicken breast
3 andouille sausages, sliced* (roughly 1~ 1.5 pounds)
2 cans (14 oz) diced tomatoes with juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped celery (4 stalks)
1 cup chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (suggest Tony Chachere's)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 pound shrimp, tails removed
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
4 cups cooked long-grain white rice***



In a slow cooker, mix all the ingredients except the shrimp, butter, and rice. Cover and cook 6 to 8 hours on low, stirring occasionally.

In the last hour of slow cooking, melt the tablespoon of butter or margarine in a pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and sautee until shrimp are pink and curled tightly (cooked through). Add the cooked shrimp to the slow cooker and stir. Increase slow cooker temperature to high and allow 30 minutes to an hour for flavors to blend.

Serve over white rice.

* To make raw sausage easier to cut, boil sausage in a pot of water on the stove to partially cook, then remove from water and let cool a few minutes before slicing -- it is not important to fully cook the sausage in this case, as the long slow-cook process will take care of it. Smoked sausage (pre-packaged) does not need to be boiled and will slice easily.

** 2 cups dry + 4 cups water, bring to boiling at medium heat in a covered saucepan on the stove. Drop to low heat and keep covered until water is fully absorbed/evaporated. Remove from heat and leave covered until ready to serve.