Red Beans and Rice

Every Christmas my Mother and Father in law send us a Honey Baked ham. I save the bone and make split pea and ham soup. This year I decided to try something new. I thought I would try my hand at Red Beans and Rice. Since I have never made Red Beans and Rice before, I decided to look over several different recipes on the internet. As I was looking over all the recipes I took bits and pieces of several different recipes to make mine. I have to say it turned out really good. My husband and in laws loved it.

 Ingredients:

1 honey baked ham bone

1 lb. of Johnsonville, Andouille spicy smoked sausage slice in 1 inch pieces
1 green bell pepper diced in ½ inch chunks
1 onion diced in ½ inch chunks
Celery diced in ½ inch chunks
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2 lbs of dry light red kidney beans
1 tablespoon of Time
1 tablespoon of sage
½ tablespoon of Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of Webber Grill Creations, N’orleans Cajun seasoning
32 oz. Vegetable broth
6 cups of water
1 cup of chopped parsley
1/8 cup of Olive oil
Direactions:
Sautee green pepper, onion and celery separately. Then combine the sautéed vegetables with garlic, parsley and all the spices. Set aside.
Rinse the red beans and make sure there are no rocks. Add beans to water and Vegetable broth. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Add chopped garlic, parsley, ham bone, Andouille Sausage and the seasoned vegetables. Cook on low for four hours stirring at least every fifteen minutes.

Cook 2 cups of your favorite rice according to the package. In a bowl put a heaping spoon of rice in the bowl, then add a large scoop of Red Beans and Rice on top, then serve.

This makes a very large pot of Red Beans. I portioned it into six plastic containers that serve two. I froze the containers.

  For more great recipes go to Temp My Tummy.

To be seven again!!!!!

On Saturday, we celebrated my baby’s 7th birthday. I say he is my baby, he insists he is all grown up. Either way, when I look at this 65 lb. little boy I cannot believe it has been seven years since he was in his bassinette and the only thing he wanted was to eat and sleep.  Now he is swinging from vines.

He wanted to celebrate his Birthday with his friends at Jungle Quest. He had eleven friends and only one was there prior to his party. This was an all-new experience for them all. They certainly had a blast.

Prior to entering the zip line area there is a brief safety film.

Getting all strapped in their harnesses.

The Mom Squad waiving!!!

That is as far as the Cisco Kid went on the Rock Wall. It’s not his thing.

Every year I make The Cisco Kid a very special Birthday Cake.  This year it was all about the Jungle theme and Zip line.

I had Publix make the cake and decorate it with the grass and water. I then molded all the Alligators, snakes, bananas and rocks out of chocolate. I had no idea how to mold chocolate like play dough so I decided to do an experiment.  I added equal parts of flour to melted chocolate bark.  It became the consistency I was looking for. I then added food coloring and made all the decorations. For the palm trees, I used pretzel sticks. I then piped leaves on top to create a Palm tree. I printed out a picture of The Cisco Kid zip lining and glued it on a piece of cardboard. He loved the idea hanging in the air above the Alligators mouth. 

   

There was Pizza and Stromboli.

 The Cisco Kid gets a special Birthday Treat on his slice of cake. The Chocolate Alligator!!

 

 

Thank you Mom Squad for all your help at the party.