NOT RED BEANS AND RICE

I know what you are thinking! Red beans and rice when it is so hot outside! I know! I know! I must be a little crazy for making comfort food this time of the year but what can I say other than cleaning my fridge caused this and honestly all I could think of when I saw this lonely andouille in my freezer was this meal. So to make this dish lighter, we had it with some grilled crusty bread, therefore no rice! Also there is no red beans in this dish, like I said not red beans and rice, so pinto beans it is! Honestly that's all I had in the pantry. I really should have named this 'cleaning out the fridge and pantry beans'. Ha!
I thought that it would be heavy and I would have a serious food coma but little did I know, it was pretty light. ;)

Ingredients:
1 can of pinto beans
1 big clove of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 stalk of celery
2 vine ripe tomatoes
1 sausage link (Andouille or smoked sausage)
1 medium size onion
salt & pepper
3 sprigs of thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
2 cups of water

Direction:

Gather all the ingredients

Dice the onions, celery and bell pepper and slice the sausage and don't forget the garlic

Now in a pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in pan and brown the sausage and then take them out

Then add the bell pepper, onion and celery to the pan, season with some salt and pepper.  Cook until they are soft and a bit brown like the picture above. In the meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans, dice the tomatoes and tie the thyme with some baker's twine.

Add the remaining ingredients to the veggies including the oregano

Add 2 cups of water to the pot, put the lid on and simmer it for 45 mins

Add some parsley for some freshness off the heat, give it a stir  ( don't forget to taste it to see if you need to adjust the seasoning) and you are ready to serve!