Red Beans and Brown Rice

I started my first blog , Bean Basics, in July of 2009, long before I started this blog. It was pretty specific though, it had to be a bean recipe. But since I was cooking with mostly beans, as a meat replacement at the time, it wasn't a huge deal. In fact it was really fun to write down all the creative things I came up with. This was the first recipe I posted there, it wasn't something I came up with on my own by any means, but it was one of my favorite recipes ever. My mom used to make it all the time when I was a kid. It's cheap to make, really simple to throw together fast, and it tastes like bacon. Don't let the simplicity of it not intrigue you, this is really fantastic, nothing else tastes quite like it.

What's not to love?

1 lb bacon

2 cans red beans

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

2 heaping tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Dash Mortons Natures seasons (optional)

Dash Tabasco sauce

3 or 4 c. cooked brown rice

Cook bacon until nice and crispy and then remove from pan. Saute the onion in the bacon grease until tender. Whisk in the flour and cook until thickened. 

Combine the liquid from beans and enough water to make 2 cups, add to the pan and whisk in. Cook until thick and bubbly. Add the beans and remaining ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Top with reserved crumbled bacon and serve over brown rice.

Since beans have a lot of protein on their own I don't actually crumble the bacon on top like my mom did. We have BLT's for lunch and reserve just the drippings for dinner.