Red Beans and Rice, Cooking with Essential Oils

Last year, I hunted for the first time in 11 years and nailed a beautiful 9-point whitetail deer!  We had my “break” (I only went hunting that day to get a BREAK from my kids) buck ground into sausage, and the meat processor was HEAVY HANDED with the red pepper flakes.  I mean it is H-O-T!!!!!   SO hot that we cannot eat it alone, IT HAS to be put in something.  I thought red beans and rice would be a perfect dish to tone down the spice!

As you can tell from my previous posts, I love to cook and try new things!  I am in love with my Instant Pot*!  It is an electric pressure cooker.  It makes this busy mama’s life MUCH simpler!  Homemade Red beans and rice in 30 min?!  I’ll take THAT!!!

To make things even EASIER, I used dried onion flakes, boxed vegetable broth, garlic pepper, and celery salt!  Most RB & R recipes call for chopped green bell pepper, but my kids are not fans of it.  They LOVE celery!  I definitely didn’t want to leave that flavor out.  It was so nice not having to wash, dice, and sauté any veggies!

I like to soak my beans overnight.  I come out with better results as far as the texture of the beans, but soaking overnight is not mandatory with an electric pressure cooker.  You can do what is called a “quick soak”. 

I tried a new spice in my recipe!  I use dried oregano ALL OF THE TIME in my foods, but never in an essential oil form!  I received this Young Living Vitality oil as a FREEBIE on Essential Rewards!  I was itching to try it!!  The flavor was wonderful and strong!  It was the perfect accompaniment to that SPICY deer sausage. 

ONLY 2 DROPS of YL Oregano Vitality made the whole pot of beans flavorful!

Here is my recipe in detail!

Mrs. Abby’s IP Red Beans and Rice

·      1 pound of hot or mild sausage, browned and drained

·      1 pound of dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained

·      1 (32 oz.) box Vegetable Broth, any broth will do

·      3 Tablespoons Dried Onion Flakes

·      1 teaspoon Celery Salt

·      1 teaspoon Garlic Pepper seasoning

·      2 drops of Young Living Oregano Vitality oil (adjust to your taste)

·      2 cups of water

·      Salt, pepper, and white sugar* (if needed)

1.     Add browned sausage and drained beans to your pressure cooker.

2.     Pour in broth, onion flakes, celery salt, garlic pepper, YL Oregano Oil, and water.  Stir well.

3.     Lock your lid and make sure your vent is turned to "sealed”.

4.     Press the Beans button and adjust the time to 20 min.

5.     When the timer is done, you can do a quick release or a natural release.  It doesn’t matter. 

6.     Adjust seasonings if needed and serve over hot white rice!

*The deer sausage was so spicy that I added 2-3 tsp. of white sugar to try to counteract the heat.  My kids seemed to like the sweetness!  LOL! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!  I will definitely be repeating this! 

Please comment if you try this recipe!  I would love to know how your dish turns out!

Y’all come back!