Recipes Around the World

Name: Jill Corkern (yes, that's me!)
State: Louisiana
Hometown: Central (a small town outside of Baton Rouge)
Three words to describe yourself: creative, playful, loving

Recipe: Red Beans & Rice, Jill's Way ;)

Ingredients:

1 1lb bag dried red beans
1 lb Manda's pork sausage, sliced
1 medium onion chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bell pepper chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp of Tony's Chacheres
Rice

Now before I start, let me just say that writing a recipe for this with measured ingredients was difficult. I don't measure. I go by taste and memory. If you are not big on spicy, add a little of the spices, stir and taste. Repeat until it suites your tastebuds.

I don't do any prepping of the dried beans, for example, soaking them like some people do. I like easy meals and I don't find a need for the extra step.

Dump the red beans in crock pot. Cover with water. Add all of the chopped veggies, stir, cover. Put on high. During the first two hours check on pot and add water as needed. Don't let the beans shrivel from lack of water.

After about 2 hours on high, add sliced sausage and all of seasons, including garlic. The red beans should be getting thicker by now and less soupy.

Let cook for another 5 hours on low, stirring every 30 minutes or so. Eventually the red beans will become thick, almost like a chili. If your red beans do not get thick simply leave the cover off and let simmer for another hour.

Cook rice on stovetop separately. We use about 3 heaping tablespoons of cooked rice per bowl, pouring the red beans over the rice.

Review: This is a staple in our home. Both the Baberhusband and I love this high protein, high fiber recipe. Sometimes I sneak in brown rice, but I've yet to find one J cannot detect. We usually eat on this for three nights, but on the rare occasion we finish the pot we just put in the freezer for later. It's even better the second time around!

Feel free to comment with questions. Enjoy!

**********************************************************
To submit your recipe for Recipes Around the World, email Jill at JillryLove@gmail.com.
**********************************************************
Image of red beans and rice from blue-kitchen.com.