The first time I made this I did it exactly as the recipe calls, except for seasonings & it was a total hit!
This time I played around a bit & added a can of original rotel, 1 large bell pepper, 1 stalk celery, Cajun seasoning, doubled the garlic. Stuck a smoked ham hock right in the center, pulled it out the last hour and shredded it adding the meat back in. Delicious!