Cravings

So, I've been craving my friend Blake's red beans and rice. It's not traditional Louisiana red beans and rice (because of the tomatoes), but it's yummy! He kindly shared his recipe with me, and now I'm sharing it with you.

Blake's red beans and rice
I melt one stick of butter in a pan and add maybe four cloves of garlic and one onion chopped. I let that cook for a little bit then add one pound of sausage, some times I use sage sometimes just regular. Once that has cooked through I add a chopped up bell pepper and some chopped up andouille sausage...let that cook down and then I add salt, pepper, cajun seasoning, two or three bay leaves, and a little garlic powder, just to make sure it has that flavor. Then I do a couple of turns of the pan of Southern Comfort. I have also used Jack Daniels and then just added a little sugar to make it a little sweet. I let that cook until you can't smell the alchool. Then I add two cans of red beans with the juice and one large can of diced tomatoes (I know that red beans an rice usually doesn't have tomatoes, but i like it that way). I let that cook and taste and adjust as needed. Then I have Danae...haha...make a pan of rice and I serve it separte with a scoop of rice in the middle and a spoonful of mixture over it.

Note: We have a running joke about rice because Blake and I, who are excellent cooks, cannot cook plain white rice to save our lives. So any meal requiring rice requires the services of either Danae (Blake's wife) or Nick.