Guest Post: Primo’s Red Beans & Fries

Time for another guest post from my cousin Primo, straight from his pad in NOLA!  Seemed perfect to post on a Monday!

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It’s Monday and that means it’s red beans & rice day down here in New Orleans. In the 19th century, Monday was laundry day in the city. Without washing machines, the women of the house had to wash all of the household’s laundry painstakingly by hand, leaving little time for cooking.  So dinner had to be something that could cook without being fussed over.
Enter the red kidney bean, brought to New Orleans by those fleeing Haiti’s slave rebellion. The beans needed to soak overnight before cooking. After soaking and draining them, housewives simply set the beans on the stove with fresh water to boil until tender, and then added a delicious helping of sautéed “trinity”– the Cajun/Creole cooking base of diced onions, celery and bell peppers.  This would typically also be combined with leftover ham from Sunday’s big family dinner.
While I love red beans and rice, I wanted to mix things up a bit and put a small twist on a local staple. While Monday is ‘red beans and rice day’ down here, it’s Monday Night Football for  the rest of the country. Football and finger foods go together like, well, red beans and rice. Thus, red beans and FRIES were born.

(FeauxNote: if you’ve made up a big batch of red beans & have some leftovers, this is a great way to use them up.)
INGREDIENTS:
Frozen waffle fries (or if you have a mandoline, you can make your own)
1 can Blue Runner red beans
1 lb smoked sausage (traditionally andouille or tasso, but use what you like best)
1/2 – 1 cup of trinity (diced bell pepper, celery & onion)
Green onions for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400F and when at temp, throw in your French fries (waffle fries hold up best for our purposes; Alexia makes some seasoned waffle fries, and Great Value sells a generic for about $2.00).

While I have the luxury of a modern washing machine, I decided to cheat and use a can of Blue Runner creamed red beans for experimentation purposes (and because I felt lazy). (FeauxNote: I can get Blue Runner at Wal-Mart in Missouri, but if you can’t find them, you can try this Crockpot recipe.)

While the beans heat up on the stovetop, dice a link or two of your favorite sausage—andouille in my case (FeauxNote: Johnsonville makes a New Orleans style smoked sausage if you can’t find real andouille near you) and drop the sausage in a medium skillet or saucepan to begin heating up and releasing that delicious fat. Enter your “trinity”. Again, I cheated and bought a container of pre-chopped veggies.

Add as much or as little to taste. Sauté those fine ingredients together until your onions become translucent. At this point, your peppers and celery will retain their crunch for a good texture contrast. Remove from heat.
Place a good base layer of your fries on a plate (platter if serving family style). Add a layer of the trinity/sausage. Heap your creamed red beans on top (FeauxNote: I added the Blue Runner beans to the pot and mixed it all together, rather than keeping them separate & layering—still tastes awesome). Lastly, garnish with some freshly diced green onions from your window garden…

…add a dash (or 5) of hot sauce, and serve.

Oh, and watch out for aliens posing as butternut squash. (Compliments of Feaux’s Hubs.)

Since the serving size on this varies (especially if you’re sharing with a group), I won’t attempt a NutriFacts sheet, but just use your brain—stop when you’re full.

Hey….I didn’t say it would EASY.  But just TRY to have some restraint.

Have a great week, folks!

Day 8: Beans, more beans, and crying

Today’s Devotion: “Day 8- Renew Your Dream  Psalms 126:1-3 ‘When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.  The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.’
The number eight speaks of new beginnings. This is a new year full of new opportunities & a place for a fresh start. The Lord has never failed you & He never will, so leave behind you any mistakes you have ever made & allow the dreams He has placed within you to begin to arise again. Dreams birth the faith necessary for you to fulfill the word of the Lord for your life & you are not the only one to benefit from the fulfillment of those dreams. There are multitudes of people affected by the decisions we make & as we move forward in the Lord we only represent one domino but our movement causes a chain reaction to be released. Yes, our obedience to our dreams can actually activate a dream in someone else.”

This is an interesting take on the “butterfly effect” theory, with a pinch of “cog in the wheel” and “pay it forward”.  I like the idea of being “one domino in a chain”. Little actions can have big consequences.  Someone cutting you off in traffic (or, say… 4.82 miles [yes, I checked] of backed up traffic on your morning commute due to less than 2 inches of snow) can really affect your mood for the rest of the day, and in turn, affect  how you act toward other people.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious and grumpy as I sat in traffic this morning, passive aggressively posting about it on Facebook (because, seriously… 1 INCH OF SNOW, PEOPLE.)

But I really tried to not let it affect the rest of my day.  Because crummy traffic isn’t the end of the world, and if anything, it gave me a chance to listen to more of my audiobook.  Life is all about putting a positive spin on crummy situations.  Sometimes it’s easier than others.
Last Spring, the Hubs & I were in the middle of our own personal nightmare, trying to learn to run a business while working our regular jobs 40-45 hours a week, dealing with employee turnover, having to take time off from our “regular” jobs so we could interview and train new employees…only to have them flake out on us a week later, causing us to AGAIN have to take off from our “regular” jobs so we could cover their shift slinging ice cream.  Then, at the end of our first month, we ran the books and sat there slack-jawed, staring at our first month’s profit report thinking, “we did all this work…for that?”  Between broken promises, broken dreams, and broken equipment, we were each having a mental breakdown.  I cried.  Several times.  I can admit it now.  I bought Dave Ramsey’s “EntreLeadership” book so I could learn to feel empowered about running a company…instead I felt inadequate and like a failure.  Dave preached about having a zealous passion for your business, and I broke down sobbing, thinking “I’m too exhausted to have a passion for ANYTHING!” 

Ice Cream: Both the cause of, and the relief from, all our problems.

The Scoop was supposed to be this wonderful creative outlet where I could exercise my culinary whiz-bang and think up delicious frozen concoctions that would have our customers raving and talking us up to all their friends.  Instead, the end of the month would roll around and I’d be knee-deep in cost control analysis and purchase orders and suddenly remember, “CRAP! I have to come up with the new Specials for next month!”  Oh, and make demos, and photograph them, and make posters for the menu boards, and update the website, and advertise them on our social media sites…the creative portion of my job started to feel like a burden.  

One month I was testing out a last-minute idea for a Specialty smoothie (strawberries & spinach), and….it was brown.  Like POOP brown, with little green & red flecks.  Like a poopy Christmas in a glass.  I cried. Again. (And then I put my big girl panties on & replaced the spinach with blueberries and it was just fine, and very pretty.)  Another time, after a veeerrry long day at my “regular” job plus a couple hours at the Scoop, I came home to discover a displeased customer had blasted us all over social media saying our hot dogs were “worse than the ones at the gas station”.  I cried.  AGAIN.

But eventually…it got easier.  We got into a groove.  We got great employees and didn’t have any more turnover.  I got better at pre-planning my monthly Specials.  We were still exhausted all the time, but it wasn’t as bad. It wasn’t easy, but it was easier.  We even got to take a day off now and then.  And now, I can look back and smile about these things, because no matter where our business goes in the future, all of those experiences helped us grow: as a couple, as entrepreneurs, as individuals.  Life is the best learning experience you can get.

(All closed up for winter. Which is the only reason I have time to blog this much.)

Anyway….on to today’s foods!
Breakfast:  One sweet potato pancake w/ a tablespoon of natural PB, plus a banana (eaten while stuck in traffic)

Lunch: Yummy leftover red beans & rice!

Afternoon Snack: a roma tomato w/salt & pepper, and a handful of baby carrots
Dinner: More yummy red beans & rice!  We’ve only got one serving of that left, so I’m prepping some molto delizioso vegan “pasta e fagioli” on the stove right now (recipe tomorrow)!

Daniel Fast Day 7: Sweet Potato Pancakes, Red Beans & Rice, & Avoiding Cupcakes

Today’s Devotional: “Complete & Perfect Peace -- Isa.26:3 ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.’  We have arrived at the 7th day & are completing our first week of our fast. You are 1/3 of the way there & in case you haven’t realized it yet, the earth is moving & shaking because of your faithfulness to fast & pray. Strongholds are falling to the side & real Kingdom Living is being released in you & the ones you are praying for. 2014 is having a course dug out as a trench that will allow the water of the word of God to freely flow into the purpose of the Lord for your life, & the most powerful thing about this is that He is able to keep you in Perfect Peace throughout the whole process. Seven is the number of Completion & Perfection & this is the day you are living in.”

Hooray—we’ve made it through the first week!  Not without some trials & tribulations, but so far it has been a wonderful experience.  I’ve spent more time doing devotions with my husband, and learning to pray in a less superficial and more eternal way. 

Breakfast: Sweet Potato Pancakes!  I took my pumpkin pancake recipe and tweaked it a bit, leaving out the leaveners, replacing the egg with applesauce, and adding a bit more cinnamon & pie spice to help compensate for not putting in the brown sugar. I also toasted the pecans to help boost their flavor.  Since we can’t have syrup, I spread about a teaspoon of Polaner AllFruit seedless blackberry jam between the two cakes to help give a little boost of sweetness.

Calories: 204, Protein: 5g, Carbs: 34g (for two pancakes) 
NOTE: if you wanted to start your day with a little more protein, you could mix some some protein powder into the batter as well.
Lunch: Spinach salad with…well, a little bit of everything, plus some homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

And in the afternoon, I went to a bridal shower for my friend Amy!  Luckily, the snacks were very Fast-friendly:  fresh fruit, veggie tray, Triscuits (with cream cheese & pepper jelly; unfortunately I didn’t get to have any of that but it looked delicious as always!)… Alas, I couldn’t have any of the delicious looking punch (vanilla ice cream + iced mocha coffee, it looked SOOOOO good), or any of Amy’s cupcakes!  Because yes, it’s THAT friend Amy!  *sigh*  Sooooooo hard to not nom!!!

So… I brought a couple home & froze them for the Hubs & I to enjoy after the Fast! XD

DINNER: Isn’t this a Cajun blog?  Well of COURSE it is!  And what better dish to make while on a Daniel Fast than some Red Beans & Rice! I started this in the Crockpot in the morning so that it would be ready for dinner.

INGREDIENTS:

• 15 oz kidney beans
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock (sugar free)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp cajun seasoning
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 cup portobella mushrooms, chopped (this helps make up for the lack of meat)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (if you like a kick)
• 1 cup instant brown rice, dry

DIRECTIONS:
Add all ingredients except the rice to the Crockpot & set to High for 4 hours or Low for 8. 

With 1/2 hour left, add the rice.  It will help to absorb the remaining liquid.  Season to taste & garnish with green onions.

NutriFacts (Makes 6 servings):
Calories: 200
Fat: 1.1 g
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 1123mg
Potassium: 421 mg
Carbs: 41 g
Fiber: 9 g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 6.8 g

Blue Runner Red Beans & Rice!

 

This isn’t really much of a recipe, so much as an unpaid advertisement. 

At one point I was planning on featuring Blue Runner canned beans as “Tuesday Timbit” since it’s one of my favorite Louisiana products.  In fact, I usually smuggle at least a can or two of it back with me when I go to Louisiana for work, since it wasn’t available up here.

And then I went to my local WalMart last week, & saw stacks & stacks of Blue Runner beans sitting on an endcap for 92 cents.

I love Blue Runner.  It’s New Orleans in a can!  So if you see them at your local store, GRAB THEM.  Shove 4 or 5 cans in your cart & high-tail it home.  (PS—pick up some smoked sausage while you’re at it.)

For a super fast meal, slice up a package of smoked turkey sausage & brown it in a large skillet.

Reduce the heat, and add 1 large can or two small cans of Blue Runner New Orleans style spicy red beans.  These are already perfectly seasoned.

Steam some brown rice (rather than white rice, for the added health benefits).

Serve the beans & sausage over rice.  Or, if you’re not a huge fan of rice, cornbread also works great.

Garnish with fresh chopped green onions.

Your family/friends/anyone who stuffs this food in their face will thank you for it.  And you did it in less than half an hour (or however long it takes your rice/cornbread to took.  Use Minute Rice—it’ll be done even faster.)

Crockpot Red Beans & Rice.

I seem to have a love-hate relationship with red beans & rice…I love to eat them, but have a devil of a time trying to make them, as evidenced by my first ever entry in this blog, when I attempted to make “quick” red beans & rice in my microwave (which ended up taking still about 30 minutes in the microwave and a lot of *DING!* *open microwave door & stir* “nope, still not done…”).  Red beans is a “low & slow” type dish, so I figured, what better than the Crockpot?

Sadly, perfect red beans eluded me again, but thanks to some quick thinking, I was able to salvage the dish.  I will give you the amended version here, to save you the heartache that I went through.

Ingredients

2 cans seasoned red kidney beans
1-2 cups water
2 links smoked sausage, sliced and cut in half
1 cup, cubed ham (I bought a ham shank for cheap, cut the ham off the bone & then threw the bone into the pot for extra flavor)
1 cup, each, chopped onion and bell pepper
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tbs. or more Cajun seasoning
2 bay leaves
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced
3 cups hot cooked brown rice (we like to use Minute Brown Rice)

Combine the first 12 ingredients in your Crockpot, & mix well.

(Photo taken before the water was added in.)

Cover & heat for 5 hours on high, or 8 hours on low. (We started it in the morning before work around 8am, set on Low, and I got home at 6pm.)  Then discard bay leaves and mash some of the beans (also, if you used a ham bone, remove it now & give it to your dog--he will love you FOREVER); add green onions and additional Cajun seasoning or some Tabasco to your taste, and cook for 15 more minutes. Add a little water, if necessary.

At this point, you have options—you can either serve your red beans poured over rice, or you can integrate your rice into the crockpot.  If the beans are still a little soupy, I recommend the latter—good red beans have a nice, thick, creamy texture—thus the smashing of the beans to really get the starches out.

Serve with french bread, some extra green onions, and a nice salad.

NOTE: The original recipe called for MUCH more water, so I’m assuming that chef intended the recipe to be made with dry beans, not canned/precooked, although it wasn’t specified. So when I came home, it was too soupy & hadn’t cooked down nearly enough. To salvage it, I (thankfully) had extra cans of beans in the house, so I smashed two extra cans of beans & tossed them in, & let it cook down for another 20-30 minutes on High without the lid on.  It was still thinner than I wanted, so I also mixed our rice in to help soak up some of the juices.  This got it to a thick enough texture for us to eat  without it feeling like soup (and serve to my in-laws, who I originally hadn’t been expecting for dinner), and then we let the rest continue cooking on Low until that evening when it really thickened up. 

And it worked out well in the end, because I had all the more servings to accommodate our unexpected guests, and still more than enough to take to work the following day for a potluck, while still saving back a few servings for my husband & I.

Serves 8.

Amount Per Serving

Calories 316.1

Total Fat 7.0 g

Saturated Fat 2.5 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g

Cholesterol 42.9 mg

Sodium  1,235.2 mg

Potassium  530.8 mg

Total Carbohydrate  42.1 g

Dietary Fiber  10.2 g

Sugars 2.3 g

Protein 20.3 g

Linked to: 33 Shades of Green

First entry: Red beans & Rice

Dish background:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_beans_and_rice

Dish type: Entree

Method Utilized: "Quick & Simple"

Red beans & rice is traditionally a slow-cooked dish, however, I got a last-minute craving.



Shopping List:
- 1 box Tony Chacheres (pronounced "sash-er-ies") or Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice box mix (I used Tony's as it was on sale at the store, however, Zatarain's offers a low-sodium version and is typically more readily available throughout the country)
- 1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
- 2/3 cup quick barley (I chose to use quick barley because it cooks faster than brown rice, I don't typically keep white rice around the house, and it's a very healthy grain that can lower bad cholesterol, provides an excellent fiber source, and is said to be a natural antioxidant)
- 1/2 lb lean smoked turkey sausage (whatever brand/flavor you prefer), sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 white or yellow onion, minced
- Garlic Infused Olive Oil (I keep this around the house--the spritzer makes it easy to control the amount of oil you use, it adds a wonderful flavor to things, and a little goes a long way--even just having a small bottle, it seems to last forever.  It's an excellent investment if you have to get it from a gourmet store--though I DO frequently see them on the shelves at Marshall's or Ross.)

Steps:

As I broke my last large saucepot in an unfortunate "Dishwasher vs. Cheaply Made Big Lots Cookware" battle last week, I decided to go for the microwave option listed on the box.  From personal experience, I know that the amount of water the box recommends causes a rather soupy result, which is why I add the extra beans & the barley.  I used a large microwave-safe casserole dish (which has a lid--very important), added the igredients as stated on the box, plus my dry quick barley & canned beans.  Stir thoroughly, cover, & microwave on full power for 5 minutes.

While that's going, put a frying pan over medium heat and squirt two spritzes of oil into the pan.  Add peppers & onion, and sprinkle w/black pepper and salt.  Saute over medium heat until the onions are slightly translucent. (if you heat the pan & dice your veggies BEFORE you start anything else, your saute should be close to done around the time the microwave beeps.)

Add the peppers & onions into the casserole dish, stir again, recover, and microwave for 25-30 minutes on 50% power.

Let sit for 5-15 minutes before serving--the sauce will thicken the longer it stands.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Set time: 5-15 minutes

Dinner on the table in: 40-50 minutes

Makes approximately (6) 1.5 cup servings

Nutritional Info: 

Calories		274.5
Total Fat		1.3 g
	Saturated Fat	0.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.3 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.3 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		940.1 mg
Potassium		315.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		58.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	11.6 g
	Sugars	1.9 g
Protein		11.4 g

Vitamin A	0.7 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	5.6 %
Vitamin C	17.0 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	1.0 %
Calcium	7.0 %
Copper	11.4 %
Folate	13.1 %
Iron	15.9 %
Magnesium	10.5 %
Manganese	25.1 %
Niacin	6.9 %
Pantothenic Acid	2.1 %
Phosphorus	13.1 %
Riboflavin	6.1 %
Selenium	12.4 %
Thiamin	9.3 %
Zinc	6.2 %