Red Beans with Vegetables and Smoked Sausage (Plus Vegetarian Version)

While not difficult, this takes a while, so it's a good one for a weekend or an afternoon at home. This tastes great days later, and would freeze well, so it would be a good recipe to double. Please note: Don't forget to soak your beans the night before!

1 bag dry red kidney beans

1 tablespoon olive oil (regular, not extra-virgin)
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 green pepper, diced
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced

1 package lean turkey smoked sausage, coarsely diced

fresh parsley, a few sprigs, minced
fresh thyme, a few sprigs (if using dried thyme, a good-sized pinch)
fresh whole hot pepper (jalapeno or cayenne), or dried whole red hot pepper, one or more (one will add flavor but not much heat, add more to increase the heat)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

To soak your beans: Rinse them in a colander, picking out any nasty-looking ones, and any foreign objects. Put beans in a pan, cover with several inches of water, put the lid on, and leave out overnight or until you need them the next day.

To cook your beans: Drain off soaking water, run fresh water into pan until it covers beans by about three inches, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. It takes about two hours to get them tender. You'll need to stir them occasionally to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Keep an eye on the water level - if the beans start to become exposed, add enough water just to cover them. In the end, you want tender beans that are moist but not too soupy, so don't add too much water. No salt needed at this stage, it makes them take longer to cook.

After your beans are done, in another pan, over medium heat, saute vegetables, garlic, and crumble in a good-sized pinch of dried thyme if you are using it. When vegetables have gotten a little soft, dump them in the pan with the beans. Then use the pan you just used for the vegetables to slightly brown the diced smoked sausage. Dump this in the pan with the beans and vegetables. To this mixture add the parsley, fresh thyme, and fresh or dried hot pepper(s). Stir this thoroughly and cook over low to medium heat until the vegetables are tender and it thickens nicely, about 30 minutes. Stir it and scrape it up from the bottom of the pan every few minutes so it doesn't burn.

Remove the sprigs of fresh thyme and the whole hot peppers, taste for seasoning, and add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper if necessary (most smoked sausage is quite salty, so you may not need the salt).

Serve with brown rice and hot sauce.

Vegetarian version: Omit smoked sausage (duh!) and add 3-5 minced canned chipotle peppers (up to 1/3 of a small can, depending on how much heat you can take) at the end of sauteing the vegetables, then saute for another minute or two before adding to beans. This will add considerable heat, so unless you're really into spicy food, you probably want to omit the regular whole hot pepper(s).