I saw a recipe on tasty where they mixed beans and kielbasa.  They seemed like the perfect marriage of flavors across cultures.  However; I was looking for a way to turn this into a complete meal.  Growing up with predominantly northern european cuisine, beans were either baked with ketchup and brown sugar, a flavor combination I’ve never cared for, or they were a costar in a dish called chile.  I’m getting visions of being warned not to eat the bay leaves now.  Never really knew why, but it seems they could really cut up your innards on the detour, we think about as little as possible.  I should do some research as to what flavors bay leaves impart.  Because I  don’t know, I’ve just skipped using them.  Feel free to add a couple to the brew if you feel so inclined.  While we’re on the topic of seemingly unnecessary ingredients, why is there vanilla in a chocolate cake?  It would seem to me you’d be going with the theme more chocolate equals chocolate.  It seems that in baking vanilla is thrown in to confuse the taste buds all the time.  But anyways, I digress.  On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Approximately 2 lbs. Kielbasa
• 3 8 oz. Cans tomato sauce
• 2 15 oz. Cans diced tomatoes
• 4 small green bell peppers
• 2 chile spice packets
• 1 27 oz. Can black beans
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup dry rice
• Water

Instructions:

1. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper cleaned and diced, and spice packets to crock pot.
2. Add desired amount of water and cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. At seven hour mark add rice and begin preparation of kielbasa and mushrooms.
4. Slice and saute mushrooms.  Set aside.
5. Slice and fry kielbasa.  Set aside.
6. Place a portion of mushrooms and kielbasa in serving container.  Scoop hot mixture from crock pot over mushrooms and kielbasa.
7. Stir, serve, eat, and enjoy.

As a kid my mom made a casserole of chicken with flavorful rice.  She used condensed soups which have a lot of flavor.  I wanted to make something similar to this for my lunches at work so I basically borrowed the chemistry experiment.  The basic idea is to cook the chicken while the rice absorbs the liquid.  I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel so I asked what the ratio of liquids to rice was, what the cooking duration time and temp were, and what was the other cooking considerations.  In this case the experimental setting was an enclosed 9 x 13 pan.  Other experimental settings might be the space inside an oven, freezer, or refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 1 chile spice packet
• 1 C. Sour cream
• 1 1/2 C. Rice
• 1 1/4 C. Chicken broth
• 2 lbs drumsticks or thighs
• 2 T. Lime juice
• 2 T. Soy sauce
• 1 15 oz. Diced tomatoes can
• 1 colored bell pepper cut into bite-sized pieces

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients except for the rice and the chicken in a bowl.
2. Whisk until sour cream is incorporated.
3. Place chicken on bottom of 9 x 13 in pan.
4. Place rice around chicken.
5. Pour rest of ingredients over chicken and rice making sure everything is submerged.
6. Cover with aluminum foil.
7. Place in preheated 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours.
8. If crunchier rice is desired uncover for last 20 minutes of cooking time.
9. Serve.