Red Beans & Rice

No recipe this week. Instead I'm sharing a short-cut (quick) meal.  About once a month or once every two months we like to have red beans & rice.  I've seen some recipes online for it, but I'm perfectly happy buying it in a box.   I don't know about you guys, but my husband makes his own hours, and I never know when he may come in at 3:30 or 4 and say, "I'm ready to eat. What can we have that's quick?"

This is one of my answers!  I do most of my grocery shopping at Aldi and usually buy their store brand.  Otherwise I shop at Wal-mart and get Zatarain's.

Here's why I like it:

1. Very flavorful.

2. Cheap. (just .99 at Aldi)

3. Vertsatile (serve plain or with your choice of meats)

4. Quick (cooks up in 20-25 minutes)

Usually we eat ours with smoked sausages cooked in it. I recently found a pack of these at Aldi for just $3.95 that included 16 sausage dogs.  I cut up 4 of them to put in the red beans & rice and put the rest in the freezer for later.  What a deal!

But occasionally we eat it plain and a few times (as in these pictures) I've put chicken in it.  If you haven't tried it with chicken, I totally recommend it!

I also recommend the low sodium variety.  A lot of times I'm uncertain if I want to try out the low fat or low sodium stuff, because you never know what you're going to get, but I have tried the Reduced Sodium Red Beans and Rice as well as the Jambalya from Zatarain's, and it was a delicious.  I couldn't taste a difference at all!

Do you have any convenience foods or quick meals that you like to make?  I'd love to hear your recommendations!


-Jerri

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