Red Beans and Rice

I'll be the first to admit it, I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.

Most days I don't want to be bothered with it and I scavenge for the easiest meal I can muster up in my fridge. I am the guiltiest of guilty when it comes to "single person food behavior." Unfamiliar with this behavior? You must eat with other people... I can make a bowl of oatmeal and call it dinner; eat dried ramen as a snack because I've run out of everything else and don't want to go to the store; and I've even sunk low enough to take out a head of lettuce, an unsliced cucumber and put salad dressing in a bowl and created a "salad" by taking a bite of lettuce, dunking the cucumber in the dressing and then taking a bite.... voila! Salad!

Not buying this whole single person methodology of nourishment? It's pretty sad some days but when I don't want to cook I REALLY don't want to cook. Other days, however, I return to the realm of normal eating habits and actually cook things.  Today my stomach was fortunate as I decided to get really fancy and make some good old red beans and rice. This particular recipe is the best one I've found yet and you really have to try it!

For this recipe you’ll need one lb. dry red kidney beans, 6 cups of water, 1/4 lb chopped smoked sausage (I use turkey sausage), 5 bouillon cubes, a chopped onion, 5 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp. Creole seasoning, 3/4 tsp. of: cumin, coriander and oregano, 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of paprika.

Ready for this? I get really fancy and technical when I cook:

This step comes later but I thought I needed a picture here to add suspense...

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and let cook on high for 5 hours or let simmer all day on low. Yup, I'm a wiz in the kitchen...

When the beans are tender, mash a good majority of them against the side of the crock pot and then season to taste with salt, pepper, or more Creole seasoning. Once the beans are mashed let them simmer on low while you prepare the rice. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and toss in 1 tbsp. of white vinegar and 2 cups of white rice. Cover your pan and let the rice steam for about 20 min.

At this time, please do the I'm-so-hungry-I-could-eat-my-left-sock dance around the kitchen and try not to think about just eating the red beans sans rice. To distract yourself, chop some green onions for the next step (or cut them up with kitchen sheers like I do).

When you have patiently waited for about 20 minutes, test your rice to make sure it's nice and moist and kind of fluffy. Once mission fluffy rice is accomplished, grab a bowl and dish in about a cup of beans and half a cup of rice. Throw some green onions on top for the "ooh, that's pretty" effect and there you have it- a meal!