One "mundane" meal, made fabulous......

Beans in their "bath" (soaked for 8 hours)

Beans simmering down

Onions and garlic

Beans cooking their last 30-minutes with the onions, garlic, italian sausage, lemon, tomatoes and cajun seasonings (stick of butter of course as well)

This week's tablescape

Another angle

J and A even dressed for the theme!

Final presentation

Mini-cheescake bites being prepared

Fry-daddy!

Cooked to perfection!

Well, this MLK we switched it up.  The "J" and "A" in JAK had an overnight trip out of town on Sunday, so "K" decided she would host, and cook.  She had been wanting to make a Cajun Bean soup for a while, and thought "what better way to spend MLK than getting back to the root of the simplistic life?".

The beans were soaked for 8 hours in 2 quarts of water (room temperature).  They were then drained and put in another 2 quarts of fresh water, brought to a boil and then simmered for 2 hours.  Fresh garlic and one onion (diced) was cooked down, and then Italian (spicy) ground sausage was added.  Once browned, that was added to the simmering pot of beans as well as the juice of one lemon, a can of diced tomatoes and a packet of Cajun seasonings.  This was cooked for another 30 minutes.  A loaf of french bread, buttered, was put under the broiler.  When all was done we were left with a great 15 bean soup (very rich in flavor) and crunchy bread for dipping.  It was a very simple yet satisfying meal.  Again, we were reminded that even the simplest of meals could be comforting. 

Of course beer was our drink of choice tonight.  Just went with the whole "grassroots" meal plan for the evening.  :) 

Dessert was mini-cheescake bites.  Wonton wrappers were stuffed with a cream cheese and powered sugar mixture, which also had caramel bites.  Then deep fried.  Yummy. 

Another great "Not So Mundane Monday", even though the 15 bean soup is traditionally considered pretty "mundane".  Goes to show, good company can make any meal fabulous!

Until next time.....A la cuisine!