Monday, July 6, 2009

Easy Peasy Red Beans and Rice

Many moons ago I bought a book called "Desperation Dinners". It promises home cooked meals for frantic families in 20 minutes flat. Well, I'm a little too type B personality to be frantic, but there are times I don't like to linger in the kitchen any longer than necessary. Like when it's 110 frikkin degrees, for example.
I had a late afternoon appointment today and wanted something easy to throw together. AND I was informed by my son, several times, that we needed to eat before 7pm because there was a new Fairly Oddparents coming on. No pressure there!
So I whipped out my old copy of Desperation Dinners and found this lovely beans and rice recipe I had never tried. I found it really did come together quickly, and I only had to use one pan to prepare it.
It went nicely with this brown sugar cornbread that I found at some insignificant obscure website. *cough*martha stewart*cough*
(I made that earlier in the day)
Not bad for 20 minutes!
Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 large onion chopped
2 med ribs celery chopped (I left this out)
1/2 large bell pepper
2 tsp bottled minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 bay leaves
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
1 pound kielbasa (cut into 1/4 inch slices)
1 can (15 1/2 oz) kidney beans (rinse and drain)
1 3/4 cup instant rice
Directions:
1. Heat the oil over med heat in skillet with lid. Add chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper. Cook about 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, pepper, tabasco, and bay leaves.
2. Raise the heat to high and add the broth. Cover the skillet and bring to boil.
3. When the broth boils, stir in the sausage, beans, and rice. Reduce heat to med low, cover, and cook 5-10 minutes. If broth disappears before rice is tender, and 1/2 cup water...I also threw in some splashes of red wine I had sitting around.
P.S. If you do decide to make that cornbread, I wouldn't make it in a loaf pan as instructed in the recipe...it took forever to get done all the way through.

20 comments:

Ziggy Stardust said...

That does sound really good, I am going to give it a try.

Anne

valentine said...

yummm, you are singing to my southern heart! nothing beats red beans and rice with sweet cornbread. yours is a little different take than ones i've had, i am gonna have to try it!

Katy ~ said...

That DOES sound very good indeed! Good find!

♥peachkins♥ said...

yum I love one dish meals!!This looks like a perfect dinner. By the way, my daughter loves the fairly oddparents as well..

Donna-FFW said...

One dish meals are my favorite. Absolutely delicious. Love cooking with kielbasa and the cornbread sounds like the perfect pairing.

Tiffany said...

The beans and rice look really good, so does the cornbread. I'd say that's great for 20 minutes!

Reeni said...

This sounds wonderful with the keilbasa in it!

Marta said...

that looks like a really satisfying dinner for 20 min of work!

Krista said...

That looks excellent for 20 minutes of work!

The Redhead Riter said...

Yummy! My family loves this kind of meal too.

Amazing what you can do in 20 minutes when you have to isn't it?

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Hey, Julie! This looks easier than how I normally make rice and beans...how many does it serve would you say? Keep in mind there are five of us and two of the five are 12 turning 13 yr olds twin boys! :) Double or triple the recipe would you say?

I went back to reread your post....you didn't really say if you liked this? Would you recommend it then? Lemme know! :)
~ingrid

said...

Oh wow, it looks fabulous!

Stopping by from Welcomistas :o)

teresa said...

Oh I love this! Perfect dinner!

Katie Lane said...

My SIL made this for us once. It was pretty good.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Now that's a simple stress free meal!

Kim said...

We love dinner sausage/kielbasa. Even my picky daughter loves it : ) Sounds like a great meal.

thatgirlblogs said...

one of my husband's favorite meals, love it.

Ms Cupcake said...

That cornbread looks awesome!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a Happy Thursday.

Ms Cupcake
ZenCupcake

Monica H said...

I heart one pan meals because I hate washing them after dinner is done!

How did you like the cornbread? I love a little sweetness to my cornbread- in fact it's a must. Looks great.

Unknown said...

Anything that can be made in twenty minutes has my vote xoxoxo