Red Beans and Rice

Sort and wash beans; place them in a 6 quart Dutch oven. Cover with water 2 inches above the beans; let soak overnight. Drain beans. Add 4 quarts of water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, stirring beans occasionally.

At a few minutes before the 1 1/2 hour mark… Over medium heat, saute onion, celery, green pepper and garlic in butter in a large skillet until tender. Stir sauteed veggies and next 5 ingredients (the spices) into the beans; cook uncovered for an additional 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding hot water if necessary.

Bake sausage at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes; drain well. Stir sausage into beans and cook uncovered for an additional 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

While the sausage is cooking with the beans, cook your rice according to the package directions.

Remove bay leaves from the beans. Stir in parsley. Serve beans over rice.

* I recently made this using Vegan butter since my daughter has developed a dairy allergy and it was wonderful still. My husband could not even taste a difference. The substitution is a straight 1:1 ratio, so you can use 1/2 cup of Vegan butter instead of regular butter or margarine.