Hot Italian Sausage Red Beans and Rice

This has become one of our favorite dinners; it's so easy to make, and so incredibly good.

You need:
2TB olive oil

1 medium yellow onion

1 large clove garlic

2 medium green peppers

1lb hot italian sausage, or mild if you prefer. I buy the loose kind, uncased, but of course you can just slice up normal cased sausage, or buy the links and cut it out of the cases.

1 15-oz can red beans

1 cup long grain brown rice

1 15-oz can chicken broth

1/2 cup hot water

seasonings to taste (obviously not all are mandatory, and you can be creative. These are just what we have in the cabinet and what I generally use):

1TB salt

1TB black pepper

2tsp crushed red pepper

1TB dried basil

1TB dried oregano

1TB coriander

1tsp cumin (be careful with cumin- too much can really overpower anything)

1tsp dried mustard

1 bay leaf

What to do:

Roughly dice onion and garlic, and cube green peppers.

In large skillet, heat oil, then add onion and garlic, and saute on medium heat until brown, about 5 minutes. Add sausage, peppers and seasonings, and saute until meat is cooked thoroughly, about 10 minutes. Carefully drain excess fat.

Add beans, rice, broth and water, and bring to a light boil over medium heat, then cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer slowly for 45-55 minutes, stirring only once or twice during that period, until rice is tender and liquid is mostly cooked off.

Allow to sit, lightly covered, for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

(PS- Don't forget to refrigerate the leftovers before you go to bed. It's even better the next day!)