Red Beans and Rice

Red beans and rice is the traditional Monday supper here in Louisiana. Stories say it's because Monday was always wash day and one of the busiest days for a homemaker. She could put on a pot of beans and they could simmer away while she went about her work.

I tell ya, things haven't changed much for me. Monday is my busiest cleaning day of the week. It's amazing how things can pile up over the weekend.

I cooked a pot of beans and rice Monday. Here's how I did it. (Now, ya'll bear with me. I'm no Pioneer Woman here. Most of my pictures are horrible!)

I started with 2 cups of rinsed dried red kidney beans, a big spoonful of garlic, dried parsley, Tony's seasoning, 1 large bellpepper, 1 medium onion and about a 1/2 lb link of smoked sausage.

Now, if I were making this for company I would add alot more sausage, but most of us are trying to cut our grocery budgets and well, we really don't need that much smoked sausage at one time anyway. Instead of cutting it in slices, I slice each slice into quarters. It stretches it further.

Pour a little oil in the bottom of a heavy pot. Just barely coat the bottom, not too much. Add in the onion, bell pepper and sausage.

Cook this over medium to medium high heat until it all gets nice and brown. You want the bottom of the pot to get brown, but not burt so be careful, don't keep your heat too high. I was going to get another picture here but my camera was being crazy.

Once you get that nice brown on the bottom you need to get it up. Pour in two cups of COLD water into the pot and scrape all those brown bits up.

See, you already have a nice brown gravy. You could even put this over rice if you wanted to.

Now put in your beans, garlic and a good sprinkling of dried or fresh parsley(whatever you have). There are no food police here. Now you add the water. At this point you want to completely cover the beans plus about 2 more inches of water over the top.

Bring to a good rolling boil and then bring it down to a hard simmer.

This is 30 minutes in.

This is about where you want your water level to stay now. It's just covering the beans but there's still enough of it that there's plenty for the beans to absorb. You can put a lid on it and come back and stir it and check the water level every 15 minutes or so. Add more water if you need to. Don't burn them!!! Scorched beans are NASTY!!! But of course, I'VE never done that. ;-)

Here we are 2 hours later! Yummy. Now, I season it. I didn't put the seasoning at the beginning because supposedly the salt will keep the beans tough. I can't tell you how much salt and pepper to put, just season to your liking. If you have too much water, just boil it a bit longer with the lid off so it can evaporate. To make it creamy, smash some of the beans against the side of the pot with the back of your spoon. The starches will come out and thicken the the gravy. Serve this over a scoop of rice with some buttered cornbread on the side. We also top ours with pickled jalapenos or banana peppers or vinger pickles. I'll introduce you to those in another post. This is good stuff people.

Ok, Ok, I know I need to update.....

So, it's been a while since I posted. I told ya'll this would be hard for me!!! I have the hardest time coming up with things to write about. Well, that's not entirely true. I come up with topics in my head all the time. It's getting them typed out that's my problem.

We went to Holly Beach this past weekend. It's always been one of our main summer destinations. After years and years of spending the summers there, I started taking it for granted. It even got to the point where I was sick on going.

Holly Beach is not a pretty place by most people's standards. There's no white sand or blue water. The water looks more like chocolate milk. She has a beauty all her own. If you look past her surface flaws, you find a very whimsical, enchanting place. I have lots and lots of good memories there.

One day in September 2005 a big bad wolf named Rita came blowing in to Holly Beach with her 15+ foot wall of water and changed this

Into this

The first time I went back after the storm, I couldn't hold back the tears. It almost felt like a part of me was pulled out. Not to mention the hurt I felt for the people who lived there, in Cameron and Creole. Thankfully everyone had evacuated and no one lost their lives.

Today they are rebuilding but it's not the same. The landmarks are gone. Most of the roads are washed away. I can't tell where anything used to be. New people have moved in and bought lots and built huge fancy houses, which in my opinion is silly but, that's their business. It used to be such a laid back place with all it's little cabins. It didn't look like anybody was trying to outdo anybody else as far as material possessions go. With all these big houses, it looks like they are trying to pretend they're in some resort town. A resort town Holly Beach is not! lol I guess I just don't do well with change but I feel like it's changed the whole atmosphere there.

I Bought a Canner.....

This is the Presto 16 qt with the weighted gauge. It's received good reviews so I went ahead and bought it. It was on sale. It's small but it'll be good for me to learn on plus you can use it as a water bath canner too. Now hopefully one day I'll actually use it. ;-) I'm still a little chicken.

My garden is growing good so I'm sure I'll come up with something. I'll definetly be making lots of pickles with all the cucumbers I have and probably some watermelon rind preserves when we get drowned in watermelons here soon. I've already put all my beans in the freezer but I'll be planting again in August and I plan to do a major expansion. I just wish my tomatoes would do better. I have more cherry tomatoes than I know what to do with but my big tomatoes aren't producing enough to do much with. Maybe a couple pints of salsa. I have lots of peppers too.

Stay tuned while I experiment. I'm sure I'll come up with all kinds of creations.

A friend suggested I do some Cajun recipe tutorials on here. I think that's a good idea. However, I'm not cooking much right now since Bubba can't eat. Once he's better and I get back into the habit of making his favorite meals, I'm going to post some on here. And maybe I'll do some canning ones too. Ya'll can learn along with me.

Isn't this the cutest thing ever???

A pile of 3 day old baby kitties.

What's Wrong With So Many Young Adults Today??

Something came to my attention this morning that makes me so mad I could spit! The attitude of so many young people nowadays frustrates me to no end.

Wasn't there a time when someone who made it through high school by the skin of their teeth was grateful for a job?

Now, I know not ALL young people are like this. Some are being raised right and have good values and work ethic. But, I have to admit that I am seeing this trend of entitlement more and more. I'm trying to raise mine with a good attitude. I sure hope they don't turn out like little snots.

What prompts an 18 year old, barely educated, new to the workforce, still living at home in a low(er) income rural area kid, to say, "F-you. I'm not sweating for $9 an hour?"

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME????? Seriously? Did I hear that right????

There are grown men here who are having to raise families on that, who are grateful just to have a job. What an ungrateful little brat! Oh my goodness.

People who actually make the sacrifice to go to school or learn a trade don't even get to start at the top of the ladder. What the hell did you do to deserve to? Hang out with your friends all night and sleep all day???? I guess I'm too old fashioned but I just don't see the logic. What has happened that so many people, young and old actually, think that they can have everything for nothing? How can you have the world without ever making any sacrifices and working hard?

True, there are some people in this world who SEEM to be getting a free ride. But the way I look at it, is it really free??? They've paid in some kind of way. We see alot of those people in the media. Look at the things that they do. The way they portray themselves. I'm sorry but I'd rather sweat and keep my soul than to sell it for a "free" ride.

The Beauty of Life

I read this quote from somewhere today and it really, really made me think.

"The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are but on how happy others can be because of you."

As a Christian, as a wife and mother who strives to be that Titus 2/Proverbs 31 woman, this quote really speaks to me. It's even hard to write the feelings that I have about it. I have so many things going through my mind but am truly at a loss for words. I need to think about it some more.

Leave me a comment. Tell me what you think. What comes to your mind when you read and think about this quote??

One of My Favorite Places

We took Kaleb to Baton Rouge Saturday to celebrate his birthday. We went to the Rural Life Museum and to the BREC Zoo.

I'm sure you all know about zoos so I'm not going to bore you with that.

I'm going to tell you about one of my favorite places in the world. http://appl027.lsu.edu/rlm/rurallifeweb.nsf/index

I love, love, love this place. I would live there if I could. But, only if it were never dark. Bubba and I both agree that it might be kind of creepy in the dark.

These are all real places. People actually lived in these houses. Not all at this exact place. Alot were brought in from other places and they just put them together like a typical plantation but still.... They were once someone's home.

I don't know if it's because I'm such a history nut or if I've just studied the early Cajuns way too hard, but it's like I can imagine them there. I can almost feel them there around me.

If you ever have a chance to visit Baton Rouge, I highly recommend taking a couple of hours to walk around this awesome plantation.

I'll leave ya'll with some pictures.

This is the kitchen to one of the bigger Acadian houses. The kitchen was built away from the house back then.

Can you imagine having to wash your clothes with this stuff?

Or even worse, with this!

The School

The Church

Sugar Mill

A barn

Acadian House(this is the one that the kitchen goes to)