Crock Pot Red Beans & Rice

Growing up in Louisiana and living only 30 minutes from New Orleans we are used to jambalaya, seafood, etouffee, gumbo, and RED BEANS & RICE. Most of my cooking skillz came way later (a lot of trial & error) and I learned the most of from my mother in law...her and Paula Deen could be sisters, like really. Cooking is a way of life, if you will, for her.. she says it's how she shows her love.. and I will often hear my kids tell this to whomever when on the subject of MawMaw..it's too cute.

Well Red beans and rice has become one of those meals that's super easy and one of those meals that you can throw it all in the crock pot and let it do it's thang...which I love because I can get it going in the morning and by evening we have supper..plus it makes your house smell reallly good, too. So when all of the neighbor kids come in they're like "Oooow something smells so good..what's your mom cooking?" Then you get to do a little happy dance... so here's what you will need:

*Camelia Kidney beans (they're the bestest and I find taste the least like dirt..b/c well some
brands just do)
*Sausage
*Seasoning (Tony Chachere's & Shrimp & Crab boil)
*Garlic
*Goya- ham flavored concentrate
*onion (diced up into pieces)
*T. Cooking oil

The night before I plan to cook my beans I soak them in water for around 4-6 hrs. It helps to soften the beans up for cooking and allows you to drain off the dirt before placing in crock pot.

Dice your onion up and in a tiny bit of cooking oil cook the sausage and onion til' brown.
After you've drained your beans, pour them into the crock pot, with sausage/ onion mixture and a T. cooking oil.

Here's where I just start adding in this & that. You really can't go wrong.. I add in about a T. minced garlic, the ham flavoring, Tony Chachere's, Shrimp & Crab boil, salt, etc..
At this point you have everything in the crock pot and you want to fill with water just til' the beans are covered. Turn to high and let cook for 6hrs.

I will stir throughout the day if I'm home.. if not, it won't matter. When ready your beans will probably be a little runny..if you like that then leave them, but if you like thicker beans then take the back of your spoon and mash them upside the pot, stirring, and then mashing more beans, until you get a thicker consistency.

Quick make up some Jiffy cornbread to go along with them... and that's how we do it where I come from.

Ok and lastly, I just had to throw this in...we have Dollar Tree Store's where we live and you just never know what these store's are going to have in stock for... a $1! And guess what, the best part is they have 0 grams of sugar in them... but they taste really good.
Obviously, I've seen these flavorings in the normal stores but they don't cost a $1. And I was kinda skeptical beings these were so cheap. But they're good, really good..and they can be used in your coffee, added into soft drinks, you can put them over ice cream, etc... So that was my little happy dance find for last week...what was yours?

Sorry for the major blurriness happening here in this picture... :)

Linking up for

Heather :)