Thursday, April 15, 2010

Beans and Rice Recipe

Yesterday I made a great beans and rice recipe, and I wanted to pass it on to you because it turned out so great! I had everything I needed except for the sausage, so it was a very cheap meal for us. I was proud of myself because I took an allrecipes.com recipe for red beans and rice and added my own flavor to it, partially because of what I had in my pantry and partially because I thought it might taste good. The picture to the left is not of my beans and rice, and actually uses red beans instead of pinto like I did, but it looks pretty close. I eyeballed all my measurements, which means it'll probably never taste the same again, but it'll be close.

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups dried pinto beans
  • 1 clove chopped garlic
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 2 t salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 t white sugar
  • 1/2 t Tony Cachere's
  • 2 t celery seed
  • 1 t ground cumin
  • 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1 t gumbo file
  • 1 t paprika
  • 1 can Rotel, undrained
  • 1 lb jalapeno sausage, sliced

Directions:
  1. Place all ingredients except for Rotel and sausage in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I started with just beans and water and used the 35 minutes to get everything chopped and stirred in. That made it fun because I really don't like the smell of cooking beans, and then it just got better and better and better!)
  2. Transfer everything into a crock pot. Stir in Rotel and sausage. Add enough water to cover ingredients. Simmer on low for 6 hours.
  3. Skim grease off the top (I used slices of bread to soak it up), and serve with rice.

Notes:
Jon and I like things a little spicy, so we added Tabasco to our individual bowls, leaving it a little milder for Caleb. Today instead of Tobasco I used more Tony's on my leftovers. This would be great with corn bread (I forgot until too late), and a fruit salad, to temper the heat and heaviness of it.

Friday, April 02, 2010

All Things New

Today Jon and I put in our first garden! No pots this time--real rows in the ground! I think it's just about the coolest thing Jon and I have done together. Gardening is usually my project, but Jon wanted to make it really work this time, and hopefully we'll eat fresher and save some money over the summer. I loved working alongside him getting it ready, and it'll be cool to have produce from our own garden to enjoy and share!

Here's how the spot in our yard started. The previous youth minister had a pool here, so it's got a two-inch layer of sand over the whole thing.
The bags are composted manure. The soil around here is very good, but we wanted to add something to it, especially with all the sand it'll already have.

So...on to pouring manure. I was completely tied up inside keeping Caleb busy...and taking pictures of my hubby doing all the work...that I just couldn't be involved with the manure, as much as I would have loved to. So who will take care of the manure for me??
The first row being prepared....
Eight beautiful rows of manure:

Time to till!

Almost done! Jon's having to put his back into it, which means there's no way I could have handled that tiller.
All tilled!

Time to plan it all out:
Laying it all out before planting, to make sure we fit it all in...which of course we didn't. One of my seed packets got blown away by the breeze and I didn't notice until the end. Guess I'll plant cucumbers next year!

All planned out
Time to get it planted! I gave Jon a break after tilling, but he did plant quite a bit, too.
ALL DONE! Now to wait and see what happens next! Tonight we're listening to the low rumble of thunder and the steady beat of rain, perfect for our new plants.
Here's the list of what we planted:
  • Peppers (bell, poblano, jalapeno)
  • Tomatoes (heirloom, cherry)
  • Onions (red, white)
  • Potatoes
  • Carrots
  • Green beans
  • Sugar Snap peas
  • Yellow squash
  • Zucchini
  • Cilantro
  • Cantaloupe