Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice

Y’all, I love my crock pot. I know that’s not really NEWS, because I have loved my crock pot for a long time. It is just so easy on our busy, busy days to throw something in there and let it go ’til dinner time. I kind of have my rotation of crock pot recipes that we use and I know are good, but we needed a change of pace. I saw a video of Paula Deen doing pinto beans in her crock pot, and they looked yummy. We tried it, but just didn’t enjoy it as much as we thought we would. It needed way more spice for our taste. We finally decided that what we really wanted was red beans and rice. The problem is, I’d never done them in the crock pot. Hmmm…

Here’s what I came up with:

1 lb dried red kidney beans, rinsed and soaked in water overnight
1 ham steak with bone (You can substitute ground sausage, diced smoked sausage, or chopped ham)
1 onion diced
4 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed and diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup Creole seasoning, adjust spices to taste
3 cups cooked rice

After my beans had soaked overnight, I poured off the water and put the beans into my crock pot. I mixed in the onion, celery, and garlic. I covered all of this with the creole seasoning and mixed it well. I covered the mixture with water and tossed in the ham steak (I cut mine so it would fit better). I happened to have a little leftover Conecuh sausage that I threw in, just because we like it. I have also used crumbled sausage in my red beans and rice before and we love it. Use whatever you have on hand and your family likes. Cook it on low for 8 hours, serve it over the cooked rice, and you will have a delicious, fairly healthy dinner.