Red Beans and Rice *Crockpot*

Hello?  Anyone still there?  I'm sorry; I've been gone a looooong time.  Life has been pretty busy.  The busier it gets, the less I cook pretty food.  Sad fact.  BUT - I have been using my crockpot a LOT.  Like at least twice a week.  So I thought I'd share some red beans and rice with you.  This is a family favorite, comfort food at its best.  My kids will eat beans and rice without fail.  They would eat it every night if I would allow.  And it is so nice to come home to a meal that's ready to go and waiting on you.

You actually start this the night before you cook it.  Open up your beans, rinse them and put them in a pot.  Cover the beans with water.  Make sure there's a lot of water in there (at least 2-3 inches over the top of the beans).  Put the lid on the pot and leave it just like that on the counter over night.  This softens the beans so you'll get a better consistency when you cook them.

When you wake up drain your beans in a collander, rinse them (I'm told this removes the gas from the beans) and put them in your crock pot.

Add your liquid.  Best case senario is stock.  If you don't have any, you can use water.  If I use water, I usually add bullion or brown gravy mix.

Add onions, garlic, bell pepper (you can buy this pre chopped, or chop them the night before when you put your beans soaking) and seasoning.

You can either add your sausage straight from the fridge, or cook it first.  I've done it both ways with no complaints from the crowd.  It really depends on how much time you have.  I prefer the taste and texture of browning it on the stove first, but some days I'm short on time and I throw it in the crock pot without even bothering to cut it.

That's really all there is to it.  Put the lid on your crock pot and let it do it's thing.

Serve over rice (which can also be made the night before if you know you'll have a hungry crew when you walk in the door).

A Haircut for Tank

On a sunny Saturday morning a mother pulls into a nice little shopping area.  She parks her little baby crossover SUV and steps out into the sun.  From her back seat she unloads 3 small children, all young enough to require car seats with a 5-point harness.  With a baby on her hip, a 2 year old holding her hand and a 4 year old holding the baby's foot (because mom is out of hands) she navigates the parking lot and opens the door to a childrens' salon.  Barber's chairs are shiny, depicting cars and airplanes; cartoons play on flat screen TVs; a train table in the middle of the room is encirlced by 6 small children playing happily together; plush couches full of patiently waiting parents line one wall while shelves of colorful toys (to buy) line the other.  The mother ushers her children out of the heat and into the pleasant, air conditioned room.

Insert scratched record sound here.  This is when bliss gets interrupted.  The baby that was happily perched on mom's hip begins arching his back in an effort to get to the train table.  The 4 year old begins a line of requests, "Oh!  Momma, can I have this green bow?  Isn't this headband pretty?  I really want this puzzle!".  While juggling the baby and fielding requests from the 4 year old, mom doesn't even realize the 2 year old has slipped off her hand and randomly introducing himself to everyone in the place.  She signs in only to see she will be waiting through 7 other children's haircuts before she gets the one she needs for her son.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Logistically, it's just a hassle for me to take the kids to get haircuts.  Bug is growing hers out, so not much to worry about there.  But Tank usually has a mullet before I get around to taking him for a haircut, and *sigh* the baby's curls are turning straight, signaling to me that it's time for his first cut.

Never being one to back down from a challenge, I decided it would be easier to cut their hair myself than parade them into town.  I went to Sally's and bought a pair of shears for $20, a comb and a spray bottle.

I bet you think this is the part where I'm going to tell you how to cut hair, huh?  Sorry.  I have no clue what I'm doing.  I've just decided that I'm willing to figure it out.  I plopped him onto a stool, handed him a sucker (it helps them to sit still) and started chopping away.

Unfortunately, he was finished sitting before I was finished cutting.

That may have been because I was really slow.  I got a few more minutes out of him by handing him the spray bottle and letting him squirt me with cold water.

All in all, I thought it was pretty successful.  I went back the next day and trimmed his neck and around his ears with a trimmer.  I will be cutting his hair for a while, I think.

I don't know about the baby, though.  I mean, should mom do the 1st haircut?