Red Beans and Rice

I have made many versions of this over the years, but I found a version that is my favorite on my friend's blog. Nora is a fellow blogger...and blogged way before I even thought about it. Her blog does have some recipes...and I think this recipe is on her blog along with her gorgeous knitting and thoughts about various things...so check it out using the link above.

I had some celery I knew I needed to use or freeze so I chopped it (her recipe says dice, but I chopped it...all the time I had that day) and froze it. I bought the turkey kielbasa and froze one link to use another time and diced the other link and added it to the ziploc bag in my freezer with the celery. In the interest of being efficient sometime in the future, I also diced and onion and put it in the bag as well. This comes together very quickly if things are diced/chopped and ready to be combined when getting home, if they are in the refrigerator or freezer.

1 medium onion, diced

1 t diced garlic

2 stalks celery, diced

1 1/2 c turkey kielbasa, diced

1 T cajun seasoning

1 t tabasco

2 cans kidney beans

1 can chicken broth

Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil (since I had the turkey kielbasa already in the bag with the onion and celery I added that right away too). Add kielbasa and cajun seasoning. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer (covered).

Serve with rice.

It works so well to have everything diced (or chopped) in the freezer and ready to go for a very quick post swimming meal. It is nice to know that I have a couple ready to assemble items in the freezer for the days that I just don't pull anything else together. It would still be quick even if the items weren't prepared ahead of time.

The picture is a bit blurry, but the food is gone so it will have to do.

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