I mentioned yesterday (That’s right, yesterday. Two days in a row, look at me go!) that my sister and her fiancé were coming over for dinner. The temps outside were single digit with an even colder wind chill, so I was determined to not leave the house and make something that would feel warm and cozy. I’m a HUGE fan of the slow cooker. It’s a great way to make a stress-free meal that’s cost-effective and delicious, and the leftovers are great to freeze so you don’t have to worry about dinner some night in the future. There’s nothing better than coming home to your house smelling like someone’s been cooking all day, and the only real effort expended was dumping in the ingredients before you leave for work that morning. Easy, right?

A big batch of red beans and smoked sausage sounded like the perfect meal for the bitter cold day. I like this recipe courtesy of Plain Chicken, and you’ll probably have most of the ingredients around already. I know, I said we ate red beans and rice last Sunday at our friend’s restaurant, it’s just that great for when it’s cold out.

You may notice the bell pepper from the recipe is missing. We didn’t have one, but as I mentioned, I was determined to not leave the house, so we did without. It still tasted amazing, even though I realize this was probably a cardinal sin of cajun cooking. Also not pictured is the hot sauce I added. We like the extra heat, so how much you add is up to you. Instead of dicing the onion, I threw it in the food processor with a clove of garlic (not required, but garlic is never a bad addition), so it would all just kind of melt together. The recipe says andouille sausage, but we had smoked sausage and that’s what we used.

There’s no pre-soaking needed for the beans, so it’s just everything in for 8 – 10 hours on low. If you’re around, give it an occasional stir, but if not, it’ll be just fine until you get home. Much to my Texan husband’s delight, I also took this opportunity to make my first ever round of cornbread in a cast iron skillet. Seasoning the cast iron was an adventure of a story for a different day, but we survived, the oven survived, and the cornbread turned out pretty great too.

Throw a pot of rice on the stove, and you’re good to go. My husband even made a pitcher of  sweet tea for good, extra-Southern measure.

Amazing. We still added extra hot sauce on top, because like I said, we like the heat. So stick-to-your-ribs perfect. Normally we have lots of leftovers to eat on and freeze, but sharing cut down on the extras a bit this time. Don’t worry, the company was worth it!

Today, I went to lunch and shopping with my mom and sister since we all had the day off, and it was another COLD day. A freezing-doesn’t-even-begin-to-cover-it day.

It was a day of layers upon layers, and then a vest and a scarf on top for good measure. My jeans (look – no leggings!), flannel, and sweater are all J.Crew Factory. The flannel and sweater aren’t exact links, but are pretty close, and the pearls are now at J.Crew Factory and on sale. My vest is the ever-popular herringbone vest from J.Crew Factory (mine is gray, but it looks like black is all that’s left), and my scarf was a steal from Forever 21. It’s no longer available in the cream, but it’s so cozy, I’d definitely recommend the gray. My earrings are a fun monogrammed favorite from Marley Lilly.

Today’s post was written to the sounds of the Eagles in memory of Glenn Frey. Our house was always full of music as a kid, and the Eagles were a staple. I’ve known the words to almost every Eagles song for pretty much my whole life. My husband loves music, although he isn’t much for knowing the words to any song, and comes from a similar background in terms of a childhood full of classic rock and the Eagles. Their music is a constant in our own house, we introduced our parents at a summer performance of Eagles music by the Indianapolis Symphony at Symphony on the Prairie, and we incorporated Eagles music into the seating playlist at our wedding. My husband was lucky enough to sit front row at an Eagles concert in high school, but unfortunately, I’ll never get my bucket list experience of seeing them live now. A true loss to the music world. Take it easy.