Empty Kitchen

We went to see Joshua's sister Paula and her family in Canon City over the weekend. There were lots of kids and even more food! Paula has three kids, age 7, 5, and 3. They love Jack, so he spent the weekend with six little hands constantly grabbing and poking, but he took it well. He's really into feeling people's faces right now, and the kids were happy to oblige.

Jonah, 3

Sammy, 5

Addie, 7

Paula and Jack

The mountains are lovely.

And huge.

A rainbow!



We don't like to leave food at home while we're out of town, so I got back to an empty kitchen. No car to go to the store, only a few random cans in the pantry, what do I do? I made "Colorado Red Beans and Rice."

Yummy.

Colorado Red Beans and Rice
serves 4

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water

1 Tablespoon bacon grease
16 oz ground sausage (I used a package of Johnsonville hot Italian and removed the casing and sliced it)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped (I did not have a bell pepper, but I think it would be good)
1-15 oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1-16 oz can diced tomatoes (I used Del Monte with Basil, Garlic, and Oregano for flavor)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Prepare rice using a rice maker or on the stovetop. In a heated skillet, melt the bacon grease, then add the sausage. Cook over high heat until the sausage is fully browned.
Add the onion and turn down the heat to medium. Add the bell pepper as the pan is cooling down.
When the onion and bell pepper have both softened, mix in the kidney beans and turn the heat back up. When you add the tomatoes to the pan, there should be a sizzling sound as the liquid hits the hot pan (I drained just a little bit of juice from the tomatoes so it wouldn't be too soggy).
Taste the sauce now, if you find it too acidic, add the sugar 1/2 tablespoon at a time until it tastes right. Add salt and pepper to your tast and turn the heat back down.
Allow beans to simmer for at least 10 minutes, for up to an hour on low heat, stirring ocassionally. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little bit of water at a time to thin it out.
While preparing the beans, the rice should have finished cooking. You can serve the meal fresh from the pan by pouring the beans over the rice in individual bowls, or allow the rice to cool completely and mix the beans into it. The rice and bean mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, and I think it only tastes better with time.

At some point during the simmering process, my husband wondered into the kitchen and sprinkled some cumin into the mix. I can take it or leave it, but he insists it makes all the difference.

For more authentic red beans and rice, omit the tomatoes, and add a few finely chopped cloves of fresh garlic.

This can easily be made a vegetarian meal- replace the bacon grease with olive oil and omit the sausage. Start the skillet on medium heat instead of high since you won't need to cook the meat. It could be bulked up with a second can of beans, I would mix in some light red kidneys or black beans to give the meal some more color and texture.

So that was really easy for me to do because we always have canned beans and tomatoes, as well as a few onions in the house. The total cost for the meal was around six dollars. That's $1.50 per serving. The vegetarian option would be about half as much, or $0.75 per serving.

I was really happy about the way it came out because when I looked up recipes, they all involved soaking dry beans, simmering ham hocks, and wait, wait, waiting. This meal took me about half an hour, and there was minimal prep.

There's still a can of garbanzos in there, so next time... Empty kitchen hummus.