Red Beans & Rice

We all know that May is a busy month.  Well, May 2012 was no exception in our household.  One of the many things that I learned this past month (both positive and negative) was that Catherine is anemic.  It's kinda ironic because I was convinced Logan was not getting enough iron and never thought that maybe Cat was not.  Regardless, I have been feeding her lots of beans along with other foods and iron supplements.  

I know I have gotten countless recipes from my friends blogs so I wanted to return the favor.  

Happy Monday.

Red Beans

Ingredients

1 lb beans (Camellia are my favorites)

1 onion

2 sticks of celery (off the stalk)

½ bulb garlic

1 ham hock

1 lb sausage (I prefer Kielbasa)

3-5 squirts Tabasco

1 tbs Tony’s (heaping or any other Cajun seasoning)

Other seasoning to taste if needed

Directions

Night Before – Rinse beans and put into pot with water covering them by 2 inches.  Bring pot to rolling boil.  Stir.  Turn off stove and let soak over night.

Next Day (anytime) – If beans have soaked up water, add more, about 1 inch above bean line.  Add seasoning, crushed garlic, diced onions, celery and ham hock.  Bring to a heavy simmer.  Stir occasionally so bottom of beans don’t burn.  Cook on medium for 1 hour and 15 minutes…keep stirring occasionally.  After about 1.25 to 1.5 hours, beans should be able to smash to side of pot.  Smash some up to create a thicker sauce.  Add sausage at 1.5 hours and cook for 15 minutes or until sausage is hot. (most sausages are pre-cooked so you are really just heating it up) Serve.

- If you find that the ham hock is too salty, you can always do 2lbs of beans for one ham hock

- When I do a double batch, I use 1 package of Zatarains Red Bean seasoning mix INSTEAD of the     tony’s…good luck finding that in Texas grocery stores though.

- In my calorie counting days, I used a turkey Kielbasa which works fine as well.

- Lastly, beans are a perfect freezer food.