Red Beans & Rice

Makes everything nice :)

Cooler weather arriving makes me long for comfort foods that hang out in the crock pot making the house smell amazing and tempt your taste buds all day. One of my favorites is this savory slightly spicy big pot of love.

I like to make it in my crock pot slow cooker or in a big Dutch oven. You can soak your beans to cut down your cook time if you want to eat sooner than 6-8 hours.

1 small bag of small red beans

2 celery stalks chopped

1/2 green and/or red bell pepper diced

1/2 large or 1 whole medium onion diced

2-3 cups chicken broth - recommend low sodium

1 small can of tomato sauce or, 1 can of diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons or to taste Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon Creole seasoning

Few good dashes of hot sauce - I prefer Frank's

2 large bay leaves

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

1 large hamhock

1 pound smoked sausage , sliced If you want to really spice it up use Andouille sausage...I can't handle that heat!

Make as much rice as you want - we usually go the easy way and make 1-2 bags of the instant rice.

Add all ingredients except sausage (and rice - it's kept separately) cover all with water - about 5 cups. Stir but leave ham hock in center of pot. You can add the smoked sausage at this point too, I just like to add it at the last hour or two so that it doesn't get too soggy. Cook on high for 6-8 hours or until beans are very soft. At this point I remove the ham hock and remove the good meat, shred then add back to the pot of goodness. To thicken sauce once beans are softened - mash some beans against inside of pot and stir until consistency you want. Remove the bay leaves! :)

Serve over rice and enjoy!