pa•el•la (pä- l , pä- lyä, - yä) n. A saffron-flavored Spanish dish made with varying combinations of rice, vegetables, meat, chicken, and seafood.
[Catalan, frying pan, paella, from Old French paelle, frying pan, pot, from Latin patella, diminutive of patina, pan; see paten.]¹

This is one of my favorite things to make for a crowd. It does take some time to prepare but is well worth it! 

Saffron gives the best flavor but is not always something I have on hand or can afford.  In those times, when I'm hungry for paella but don't have the true spices, I use a mix of lemon pepper, basil, Cajun / creole spices and a little bit of Cavender's Greek seasoning.

Paella is wonderful because you can tailor the ingredients for the preferences of your guests.  I often adapt it based on what I have available seasonally or in the pantry and freezer. For a selection of paella recipes you might want to click here.

Basic paella ingredients:

• Chicken legs & quarters pre-browned in olive oil and garlic
  
• Pre-browned brats but can use any kind of sausage. Chorizo or spicy italian sausage is good.
  
• Can add shrimp, oysters, clams, etc.
  
• rice
  
• chicken broth
  
• tomatoes
  
• frozen green peas
  
• green peppers
  
• pimentos or red bell peppers

Pre-brown the chicken legs & quarters in olive oil with garlic.  Also pre-brown the sausage.  Layer ingredients in a paella pan or a 9 x 13 baking dish works well, too.  Add the chicken broth.  Cover tightly and bake.  The individual recipes will have specific quantities, baking temperatures and times.

Converting the left over paella in to soup in the crock pot:

I took the left over Paella and threw it in the crock pot then added

• 2-3 15 oz cans diced and/or stewed tomatoes
• 3 more stalks of celery with the leaves, sliced
• 2 green peppers, seeded and sliced
  
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
  
• 5 slices of crumbled bacon
• more chicken bouillon, est 5-10 cubes plus water, to taste
• 1 bunch chopped green onions
  
• a little more basil, est 1 tsp

Let the soup simmer for about 4 hours then enjoy with a crisp salad and crusty bread.  These ingredients can also be adjusted into a great soup substituting left over turkey for the chicken.

Lake Williamson Soup Group Recipes.

¹The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved., http://www.thefreedictionary.com/paella

²A variety of paella recipes are available at http://www.google.com/search?q=paella+recipe&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a 

For menu quantity conversion you may want to consider using one of the web-based tools like http://www.fruitfromwashington.com/Recipes/scale/recipeconversions.php