I'D RATHER BE IN NATCHEZ

IT'S COLD! I mean COLD! I'm ready to go down yonder a bit. I know it's warmer in Natchez. I begged my husband, p l e a a a s e take me away from this frigid cold, it's only goin' to get worse. He said, no. The nerve of that man!

I don't want to go somewhere that it's hot, although I would love a cruise in the Caribbean, I just want to be somewhere that the winters are mild.

Natchez, please come git me!

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to make somethin' to warm me up. I know just the thing. Red Beans and Rice, this dish always warms me up. Nice and spicy. Now I make mine a little differently than most, but it suits us. It's a delicious dish and full of so many good for you ingredients. And red beans are close to the most fiber rich legume out there. And you know what they say, more fiber! If you have never fixed or eatin' red beans and rice please give it a try. I think you will be surprised at how good of a dish it really is. Even if you don't care for beans, this has ham and sausage and rice and veggies and........... Well just try it.

Youn's will need:

1 pound dried red beans

1/2 pound sausage such as andouille or some type of smoked or kielbasa, or in my case, all I had on hand was some precooked brawts. I know, brawts? Gotta learn to improvise, the true hillbilly way of life.

1/2 pound of roughly chopped ham

3 quarts (12 cups) or about of water

1 1/2 cups brown rice, uncooked

1 1/2 cups roughly chopped onions

1 cup roughly chopped green bell pepper

1 cup roughly chopped red bell pepper

1 cup chopped celery

2 chopped jalapeno peppers with seeds, be sure and remove ALL of the white membrane.

AND be sure and oil up your hands real good like to keep from gettin' burnt by the hot pepper.

1/4 teaspoon bakin' soda, to stop another kind of burn

1 teaspoon ground red pepper, you may want to cut down on amount if you're not sure you want this much heat. Just taste and add as needed.

1 tablespoon kosher salt to start with and more to season later

2 whole bay leaves

5 cloves minced garlic


Slice your sausage and put into a large pot or dutch oven. Since I used what I had on hand and brawts aren't very spicy, I sprinkled ground red pepper all over the sausage in pan, but you usually won't need to do this or if you want to cut down on the heat a little omit this step.

Brown the sliced sausage real good over med-high heat. Don't worry about the pan gettin' all brown, this helps add flavor to the dish.


Add the ham and rice and vegetables



Continue cooking everything over med-high heat stirring constantly. Get a little brown on it all.

Add 2 1/2 quarts of the water, bakin' soda, salt, bay leaves, and red pepper and bring almost to a boil. Cover with lid and simmer for about 2 - 3 hours, checkin' to see if you need to add more water. It depends on how thick you want the red beans and rice. Most recipes don't add the rice to the cookin' beans, they cook it separately and serve the red beans over the rice. I just cook mine all up together and I like mine a little soupy. After it chills in ice box it is a lot thicker for future warm ups. Please disregard my shadow, sorry.

Serve it up with some corn bread or the way my granddaughter likes it, with fritos. It is good that way.

Iffin youn's need to get a little warmth in ya, try this good and spicy dish.

Red Beans and Rice, yum yum.

Them shore is good vittles.

R.