Red Beans and Rice

Copy Cat Cover: Popeyes Red Beans and Rice

I love, absolutely love love love Popeyes red beans and rice.  They are smooth, spicy, and a perfect combo with biscuits or cornbread and honey.  So I decided I would try and make them myself, but had no clue as to what special seasoning made this dish so tasty so of course I checked out the wonderful world wide web.  Stumbled upon CopyKat recipes and got my ideas  Now  I didn't feel like using ham hocks or smoked flavoring because well, I didn't have it.  I had bacon, though....

Here's what I did...

For the first time ever I soaked beans to cook them instead of using a pressure cooker.  Note to self:  pressure cooker even if only used for beans is a good investment, haha. 

I fried up bacon...

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Added beans and water to finish cooking. 

 And seasonings...

A long time later...

             the beans were finally soft enough to eat.  If I would have been a little more patient I would have cooked them a bit more.  Make sure to add plenty of salt, like potatoes, salting while cooking is essential for the taste.  I made rice on the side and then mixed together, trying to mash some of the beans in the process.  The spice was delicious.  So was the cornbread drizzled with honey <3