In crock pot, add half can of beer, 1 cup water, about 1 cup of beef stock and a few sprinkles of dried basil leaves. Set to high.
Preheat a large sauté pan with a bit of oil and Worcestershire sauce. Enough to cover the bottom of the pan.
Cover chicken breasts with Cajun seasoning, both sides, and put in pan. Cut sausage links lengthwise and add to pan.
Cook chicken for about 5 minutes each side, just to get a sear. Sausage will cook faster so only a couple minutes each side.
Remove to a plate and let sit for a couple minutes.
Put pan to the side, we're not done with it yet.

Chop chicken into cubes or chunks (don't worry, it's supposed to be undercooked at this point)
Cut sausage into about 3/4 inch pieces
Add to crock pot with a few more shakes of Cajun seasoning. Be sure the liquid just comes to the top of meat pieces. If there's not enough add more water. Let cook for approx. 2 hours.

After you get the meat in the crock pot put your frozen shrimp in a large bowl. Make a marinade for the shrimp out of whatever you have laying around. I dug through the fridge and used a bit of steak marinade, balsamic vinegar, lime juice, Italian dressing Frank's red hot sauce and olive oil. Add to the frozen shrimp and cover all shrimp in marinade. Sprinkle with paprika. That's gonna sit at room temp almost till the end.

After the meat is in the crock for the 2 hours dice your veggies. Preheat the pan we used for the meat, with the leftover oil, add a bit more oil, a pat of butter and Worcestershire sauce.
Sauté the diced veggies ,except for the celery, until onions are slightly translucent. A couple minutes at most. There still going to cook in the crock so we don't want to cook em to death and get mushy. This is just to bring out some flavors.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer sautéed veggies to crock, draining as much oil as possible. Set pan to the side again.
Add the chopped celery and can of tomatoes, drained, to crock.
Chop the fresh basil/parsley and add to crock.
Add about 2 tsp of file powder.
Add the rest of the beef stock.
Set crock to low.

Now we make the roux. That's just a fancy term for a thickening agent.

Now this is where I made one of my mistakes before going to N.O. I always made a LOT of roux. I went more for a stew consistency. While at Mardi Gras I don't think I ate one batch of gumbo that was thick like beef stew. They were all closer to a soup consistency. So now the roux for me is more of a flavor enhancer than a thickener.

So in that pan that we have all the delicious leftover juices from our meat and veggies, we will make the roux.
Set to medium low heat. The worst thing you can do is burn it. Add another pat of butter and water till you have about 1 1/2- 2 cups worth of liquid.
Add salt and pepper and another 2 tsp file powder.

Add the potato flakes slowly, stirring constantly. (This is another method I use that I like. Most recipes call for flour, not instant potato flakes. It's just a little easier to work with and tastes better in my opinion)

The roux will be thin and liquidy at first. Add the flakes till it's about the consistency of runny grits. Continue to stir constantly. It will thicken and turn darker the more you cook it. About 7-10 minutes of stirring and it should be nice and thick and the color of peanut butter. It also should've reduced to about 3/4 cup of liquid give or take.
Add that straight to the crock. Stir everything together well.

Let all that sit in the crock on low for about 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
About 30 minutes before its done, add the shrimp that have been marinating, to the crock. Stir well.

Serve in deep bowls with a spoonful of white rice right in the middle. Yum!