Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I have some massive blog updating to do! I was really trying this week to get back into a normal groove and get my house back in order after all the traveling we've been doing, but in doing that my blog fell to the wayside.

As I said in my last post, my challenge this week was to make dinners using only ingredients I had on hand. I cheated only a little and had to buy some chicken broth and brown rice, but that was it. I was excited to realize I had everything on hand for this recipe because it's one we really like, but for some reason I don't make it very often. I definitely need to add it to the rotation more often!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I had some andouille sausage in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I cooked that in a skillet to render off some of the fat, then I sliced it and threw it in the slow cooker. The husband and I always enjoy this when we have it for dinner, the boy ate it okay, but I was SHOCKED that the baby shoveled it down! He ate about as much as I did! He's going to be my spicy food kid for sure, even though it wasn't that spicy, but I have to imagine for a baby it was.

Vegetarian Tamale Pie

We haven't had this dinner in quite some time. It's filling, economical, and it was really good when I made it before! The recipe originally came off the back of a package of shredded cheese, but I modified it slightly. My friend Jen B. makes a tamale pie that's really good, so I combined some aspects of her recipe with this one. When I first posted this recipe I wrote it as it was on the cheese package, but I'm going to redo it here with the changes I made last time.

Vegetarian Tamale Pie

Vegetarian Tamale Casserole
1 can (8-3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15-1/4 oz) red kidney beans, drain half the liquid
1 can (8-3/4 oz) garbanzo, pinto, or black beans, drained
1-2 chipotle peppers, chopped
2 tsp. adobo sauce (from canned chipotle peppers)
1 cup salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green onions with tops, sliced
2 packages (8-1/2 oz) cornbread mix

In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients but cornbread. Pour into a greased or sprayed 2-quart baking dish or casserole. Make cornbread according to pacakge directions. Pour over top and spread evenly. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden.

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We all really liked this the last time I made it, so I'm hoping we have a nice, easy dinner tonight. I'm not sure what we'll have with it--salad and some kind of vegetable I think.

Cassoulet

I have to say that I'm not really excited about dinner tonight. It sounded good when I read the recipe last week, so I put it on my menu plan for the week, but now I'm not excited. It just sounds too winter-y to me and not overly appealing for a 100+ degree day. But, I don't really want to come up with a new plan, so I'll just have to suck it up and go with it.

This is a recipe from the cookbook my message board put together. Just about every recipe I've made from it has been good, so I'm sure this will follow suit, I'm just not excited for it.

Cassoulet

1 pound chicken sausage, cooked
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can black beans
1 can tomato sauce
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 small onions, sliced, rings separated
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 tsp dried thyme

To prepare the sausage, halve lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Rinse and drain the beans well to remove as much salt as possible. Combine all ingredients into a bowl, mixing thoroughly. Transfer to an ungreased baking/casserole dish. Cover and bake at 375 for 60-70 minutes or until carrots are tender.

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I guess it's early enough that I still have time to come up with a new dinner idea. The idea of having my oven on for that long isn't appealing either. I'm so torn. I really want to try this, but I just don't know if today is the day.