Unintentionally Un-Cajun Red Beans and Rice

Another blog post in one day! Stay tuned, I will have at least one more, hopefully two. But no promises on that. Life has been insanely crazy lately. I haven’t had as much time to work on this. I started a new job last week. It’s another part time gig. Now I have two part time gigs that add up to more than one full time. So far, I am really enjoying it. I definitely will enjoy the extra income it will bring. The youngest is almost 14. No reason for me to be home all day long, especially when he is in school. With that said, I rejoined the work force, part time. And not in an office! I love that. After years and years of HR and Office, it’s a nice change of pace. Today I had the day off from both jobs for a doctor’s appointment that went quicker than anticipated. I thought I would catch up on blogs, cleaning, baking and cooking.

Here is another recipe I made in the last couple of weeks. I wanted to do red beans and rice. But I wanted it also to be Hawaiian. I used Spam and fried it. I don’t recommend that. In the sauce it got soggy. Even the charred bites. Instead, use regular ham. It will hold up better.

This didn’t end up being very Cajun, hence the name. Whatever it was, it was delicious!!

RECIPE:

Ingredients

1 lb. kielbasa sausage, sliced

1 lb. shrimp

½ pound leftover ham, diced

A couple splashes of white wine

2 cans red beans (of our choice)

1 onion

2 celery sticks

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

½ tablespoon dried parsley

½ tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

½ cup pineapple chunks

Cooked rice

Steps:

1. In Dutch oven, sauté sausage until it starts to blister, set aside in another dish
2. In same pan, blacken shrimp with Cajun seasoning. Remove to dish with sausage
3. In same pan, Sauté onion, celery and garlic until soft.
4. Deglaze pan with white wine.
5. Add the sausage, shrimp, ham and beans into Dutch oven. I rinsed one can of beans, and didn’t the other. Add your parsley, basil and pineapple. Taste, add more Cajun if needed. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
6. While I was making this, I had started the rice cooker.
7. When done, spoon beans over rice in bowls.