cajun red beans and rice (~1hr with prep):

• two cans small red beans
• holy trinity (diced onion, dice celery, and a doced bell paper any color). The better the dicing, the nicer the effect of the sautee.
• meat protein (sausage usually, smoked sausage is easier to get, anandouillie is better, if you can avoid the pre cooked ~~hotdogs~~ hillshire farm stuff go for it). Sliced after cooking, not in huge chunks.
• water/stock (optional, but kinda necessary imo)
• a pot
• rice (im filipino, I use what I have, which is jasmine)
• spices
  • black pepper
  • garlic powder
  • cajun seasoning
  • I add on top of cajun seasoning, more smoked paprika, and cayenne

cook the rice separately if you have a rice cooker or equivalent. im filipino, a rice cooker is more important than a microwave lol so I assume people got em but its fine if you dont, but then youll need another pot if you are looking for speed

in your stove, just use a single pot. cook your meat first if not cooked then slice it. then add the holy trinity and sautee. Then add black pepper to taste (1 tbsp for starters). Then beans (dont let em stick) then your water/stock, and start throwin in that cajun spice, like 2tbsp. it should start smellin amazing. let the beans soften and I like mushin a few to thicken it up. then add those additional spices to taste. No one is gonna say "too much smoked paprika". The stock should be salty already, but if you used plain water or if you want more nows the time as well.

let it do its thing for like 30 minutes, dont let the beans stick to the bottom. squish beans as they soften if you want it thicker (I like it that way).

taste your food as you cook it. Its okay to be imprecise with measuring as long as you are tasting while cooking. Dont overdo the cayenne or people will not like you. Smart with like a teaspoon and taste from there

bone apple tea. This lasts me for a long while, I cook this and another long lasting dish like my grandmas cinci style chili, or a filipino rice dish like adobo/sinigang) and I am a full man for a long time haha. Once you 'invest' in the spices the most expensive ingredient is the meat, so how much you wanna spend on that is up to you, but meat is always going to be expensive because you have to grow an entire animal, feed it, and then harvest it.