slow cooked red beans

as a carry over from the mardi gras spirit we got into last week, i decided to cook up a pot of red beans to make red beans and rice.  tasty?  YES.  indeed.  i decided to cook mine overnight on saturday since i was taking some over to share with a friend on sunday.  its was nice to wake up and have dinner already cooked, but the smell of red beans cooking during my slumber was not that ideal AND sadie (our dog) woke up at 3:30 in the morning asking to go outside...i think the smell of slow cooked sausage got her excited!  anyway, i think you will be just fine to soak the beans overnight on saturday and then slow cook all day sunday. you will first need to soak 2 pounds of red beans overnight.  drain the beans and put them in your slow cooker with 12 cups of chicken stock.  cut 1 1/2 pounds of andouille sausage into small pieces (we were lucky to find a andouille sausage at whole foods.  whatever brand you buy, just remember you need one that is good quality.) and toss into the slow cooker.  next, finely dice 1/2 large onion, 1 green bell pepper, and several stalks of celery and add to the slow cooker.  finally, add 10 cloves of freshly minced garlic, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, and a generous amount of salt and pepper to the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 10 hours.

clearly, you can tell by the amount i cooked, i planned to 1. share and 2. have leftovers (hooray!).  freeze what you don't plan to eat in the next few days or share with friends in pint sized ziploc freezer bags for a quick, but homemade, mid-week meal.  you should have enough to serve 2 people at least 6 meals!

when it's time for dinner, make white rice to serve the red beans over, a crispy green salad with mandarin oranges and pecans, and heat a crusty loaf of french bread.