Alabama Fan Cooks Tiger Tail Soup

7 o’clock kickoffs give you plenty of time to get nervous about a ballgame. The Alabama- LSU match up, as you know, was a heart stopper. I think I blew my vocal chords out in the last couple minutes of the game! Congratulations to AJ McCarron and the Tide for a tremendous last minute win over LSU.  7 o’clock kickoffs also give you plenty of time to get your game time food menu in order. The LSU game was BIG. Were we going to just do chips and dip…hot dogs (not corn dogs) again?! No-Way! We needed something more, something to mark a special occasion. So, after careful thought and planning(and a trip to Wal-Mart), we settled on a dish: Crock-Pot~ Creole Red Beans and Rice

While we were waiting on the Tide, we watched a little of the Auburn game, a little of the Tennessee game and a little of the Georgia game while creating a masterfully prepared Crock-Pot~ Creole Red Beans and Rice. Alabama was playing in Baton Rouge after all so a Creole dish seemed like a solid choice.  We changed the name of our dish to "Tiger Tail Soup" to entertain the kids! The first taste of "Tiger Tail Soup" at half time was exceptionally good, considering the 14-3 lead Bama had over LSU!

Here’s the recipe to serve 6:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cup dry kidney beans
• 1 Can (14 ½ ) original-styles stewed tomatoes, un-drained
• 1 ¾  cups chicken broth
• 1 cup chopped onion
• ¼  cup water
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of Creole seasoning
• 1/8  teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  1/8 teaspoon cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• ½ pound of smoked sausage (Tiger Tails!)
• 1 bag of boil-n-bag white rice

PREPARATION:

• Rinse beans in colander under cold water. Bring to a boil in 4 inches of water in a medium saucepan over high heat; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain well.
• While beans are standing, combine all other ingredients (except rice) in your Crock-Pot. Go ahead and turn it on HI Heat.
• Slice sausage (Tiger Tails) as thick as you like it and brown it in a non stick frying pan.
• Add Sausage (Tiger Tails) to Crock-Pot, cover and wait on beans.
• When the beans have stood for 1 hour, add to Crock-Pot. Cover and let simmer for at least 5 hours.
• When the Crock Pot is almost done, prepare rice as stated on package.
• Crack open an ice cold  beverage of choice and ENJOY!

By the way, Tiger Tail Soup makes great left-over’s as well… I am enjoying some, freshly microwaved, as I write this and I am still enjoying the awesome 21 -17  Alabama win over LSU last night…It feels good to be a BAMA fan! Maybe I should cook Tiger Tail Soup (or some other mascot soup) for every Alabama game! Roll Tide!