Crock Pot Sausage, Red Beans and Rice

Crock Pot Sausage, Red Beans and Rice
from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients

For sausage and beans:
1 green bell pepper, chopped (I used half green, half red)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 large celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb fully cooked andouille sausage, sliced
12 ounces dried red kidney beans
3 tablespoons Creole seasoning (see below)
2 dried bay leaves
7 cups water

For serving:
Cooked white rice
Chopped scallions
Louisiana hot sauce

Creole seasoning:
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
5 tablespoons paprika (I used half smoked, half sweet)
3 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
(this is roughly 4 times what you need for this recipe, so adjust as you see fit, or make it in full and store the rest)

Method

Place first 9 ingredients into a 4-quart crock pot and cook on high for 7.5 hours. Remove the lid partway for the last 30 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly. Remove bay leaves and serve over cooked white rice with scallions and hot sauce on the side.

NOTES

I've never eaten red beans and rice until tonight and I (we) loved it as much or more than expected. I think in my mind I was tasting something tomato-y like my jambalaya dishes, possibly because that's the only other way I've eaten andouille, but this had no such tang. It was something else entirely and so crazy savory spicy good... dang. I'm in love.

Update 10 weeks later: Today, I altered the amount of beans in the above recipe from 16 to 12 ounces. A pound just seemed a bit overwhelming last time. The seasoning level works better for us with less beans. Also, it came out portion-wise to a perfect larger dinner + larger lunch for us, though really you could probably serve 6 normal appetites at dinner with this amount.