Over the last month, my cooking style has radically shifted. Instead of grandly planned, time consuming meals, I've been making quick and easy things. In the beginning of the gout attack, I had to focus on lower protein foods and gumbo fit the bill nicely:

Quickly Mumbled Gumbo

beef and chicken stock (1-2 cups each...I use sodium free powder)
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1-2 medium tomatoes
5-6 pods okra or 1/2 eggplant cubed
meat (usually chicken or fish)
sage, thyme, black pepper, cumin, cayenne pepper, liquid smoke
1/4 cup complex carbs (brown rice, black beans, cracked wheat..any will do)

optional rue (tastes 100x better with it, but adds about 300 calories):
2tbs unbleached flour
1tbs vegetable oil (extra optional)

If you choose to make the rue:
with oil:
heat oil and flour in skillet slowly over low heat, stirring constantly. Never stop stirring. Seriously. You stop and it will burn. When the color changes to the tone of peanut butter, remove from heat and add to holy trinity mix below.

without oil:
add flour to skillet and heat slowly over low-medium heat. Keep stirring. Same as above with oil, but it will take longer.

The purpose here is to cook the flour so that it develops a nutty flavor.



Toss your holy trinity (peppers, onions, celery) and tomatoes into a nonstick skillet and simmer for about 10 minutes.
To a crock pot or rice cooker, add holy trinity and the rest of the ingredients and spices. Make sure to add plenty of cayenne pepper.

Turn on crockpot or rice cooker and cook until your carb is fully cooked.

Now, to thicken it up even more, you can do one of 2 things:
1. Add okra to the pot before cooking
2. Sprinkle in some Gumbo File

Serve with your favorite greens and die from deliciousness!