Tomorrow Night's Dinner

 Welcome to my blog. Enjoy.

I'm going to share the recipe for tomorrow night's dinner. I'm sharing because its delicious and easy but also because it gets better the longer it "sits." So because I have the time today, I'm making it for tomorrow.

The recipe can be increased but you should increase everything by 1. So here it is but then I'll share the how and the details.

1 sweet onion,1 green pepper, 1-2 stalks of celery, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can dark red kidney beans, 1 13 oz polish kielbasa, 1/4 tsp of oregano

That's it.  Add all to a pot and simmer together. Well maybe just a little more directions.  

Dice the onion, pepper and celery into small pieces (smaller than a bite size but not tiny-you want people to know what they are), sauté them in a pot with some oil of choice (I typically use olive oil). You do not need to add salt or pepper. 

When they get soft and translucent add the kielbasa, cut into rings.

 

Cook those in the pot (did I mention this was also a one pot meal?), until they get some color on the edges. Add the can of drained, and rinsed kidney beans, and the undrained can of diced tomatoes. Add the dash of oregano.

Why the oregano you might ask? Or maybe you just don't ask. Or you don't like oregano so you think it doesn't need it. Well, I'm going to tell you it has nothing to do with flavor and everything to do with my Dominican Husband's Mama (his Abuela). He shared with me when we first got together and he was teaching me how to cook rice and beans (not Rice and Beans but rice....and then beans) to put a little oregano in the beans to help with the...digestion thing. 

Up until the Hubster, my rice and beans cooking was minute rice (store brand, not even Minute Rice) and baked beans in the can. That's it. I had never had "rice and beans" by my husband's definition, so he taught me so that he didn't have to break up with me.  We've now been married for 12 years and together for 15ish (I'm a fast learner).

So I encourage you to add Oregano to the beans, just a pinch or a 1/4 tsp or dash. A small amount for a big difference.

Once everything is in the pot, simmer for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally and that's it. One pot, easy ingredients and could be minimal prep if you had a soup starter. Oh, you don't know what a soup starter is, well I wrote about it yesterday. Here's the link to yesterday's post.

Serve this over rice and you are good to go! My family loves it (and even some of my husband's co-workers), and remember, it's tomorrow's dinner so it will be even better tomorrow! 

Below is the recipe:

Kielbasa with Red Beans

1 sweet onion

1 green pepper

1-2 stalks of celery

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can dark red kidney beans

1 13 oz polish kielbasa

1/4 tsp of oregano

1. Dice onions, pepper and celery into just under bite size pieces. Saute in olive oil (or oil of choice) for 4-7 minutes until onions are translucent.

2. Add kielbasa rings to pot and saute until there is some color on the edges.

3. Add can of diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained kidney beans, and dash of oregano. Stir together and simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

4. Serve over white rice. 

This exact recipe feeds my immediate family of 4 with some leftovers. I actually triple this recipe for my full family of 7 (my husband and I live with our two daughters ages 8 and 10, his mother, our 25 year old nephew and my father who comes to dinner every night). It feeds us all with leftovers and is a big hit.

I hope you try and it. Enjoy!