Red Beans

 With this cool weather, it's time for a pot of beans. I use Camellia brand, I've learned to trust them over the years. I've been using them for 60 years and I've never found a piece of gravel in them.

In other parts of the country, it is pinto beans, or white beans, but in Louisiana, it's red kidney beans.  I've cooked them every way you can imagine.  I've used all sorts of sausage, salt pork, bulk breakfast sausage, ham, or anything pork.

These days, my recipe is simple.  Get out the Crock pot. Rinse your beans, cut up a pound of good sausage.  Drop the beans ad sausage in the Crock pot with a little salt and ten cups of water. One pound of beans, one pound of sausage, ten cups of water.  For two pounds of beans, 16 cups of water.  Put the lid on the Crock pot,  Set it on low, and go to bed.  When you get up in the morning, give them a stir.  At lunch, make a pot of rice.

Yesterday as I was prepping the beans, I realized that I had a half-rack of ribs left over from lunch.  I dropped that in the bean pot along with the sausage. This morning, I fished it out, removed the bones and shredded the pork. It will be just fine and cleaned up a leftover that I didn't want to deal with.

If I'm using bulk sausage, I brown it first. If you want to use an onion, dice it fine and drop it in the pot. For cheap, easy fixings, a pot of beans is hard to beat. I'm going to feed six folks today for less than $10.

Red beans and rice.  It's what's for lunch.