Steve's Rice and Beans (get PDF)

  I made Mom's Bean Soup the other day and soaked two pounds of beans, not knowing how much I would need, depending on the amount of meat I got from the ham. I ended up using half of the beans, and decided to make beans and rice with the other half the next day. I checked the fridge to see what I had, and then took off for the supermarket to get the missing ingredients. I was intentionally going to look up a recipe and follow it, but decided to have a go at it on my own to see what I could come up with, so here's an original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb of dry beans (I used great northern and another type which I do not remember the name), soaked overnight
1 package pineapple habanero chicken sausage (or something else interesting)
1-1/2 cups of uncooked rice
1 large green bell pepper
3 stalks of celery
half a bunch of fresh parsley
vegetable juice
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (chili style if you can find it)
4 (or more) slices of bacon
garlic powder
thyme
freshly ground black pepper
cajun seasoning

1. I found some pineapple habanero chicken sausage which I cut into thin slices and fried up in a pan with a little oil.

2. Meanwhile, I cut up one large green bell pepper, 3 stalks of celery, a generous quantity of parsley, and one large jalapeno pepper. I also started cooking 1-1/2 cups of rice. I had Basmati on hand.
   

3. When the rice was almost one, I removed it from the heat, took the lid off, and let it cool. When the sausage was done to my liking, I added the beans and simmered with a can of Chili Style Diced Tomatoes I found at the store along with some vegetable juice. I kept this simmering, adding vegetable juice as needed, until the beans were almost done.

4. While the beans were simmering, I cooked up some bacon and chopped it into bits. I didn't cook the bacon to a crisp, but just until it was still a little chewy. When the bacon is cooked and chopped, you can add it to the sausage and beans to simmer.

5. The beans are almost done, so I added all of the vegetables to the mix. I also added some cajun seasoning, garlic powder, thyme, and black pepper, all by sight and to taste, nothing measured. I continued to simmer until the celery and peppers were to my liking. The picture below doesn't have all of the ingredients added yet. Feed free to continually add vegetable juice as needed. I kept it just below the covered level. The beans will absorb a lot of it.

6. When everything was done, I dumped the cooked rice into a large bowl, and added all of the contents in my pan, and mixed well.

I was thrilled with the end result! I froze about half of what I made, and in one day the other half was gone! I ate my share along side of Mom's Corn Flake Crumb Chicken which I made for the first time. I'm assuming it will freeze well, and will whip it out some night when I want to take it easy.