Cannellini with sweet potato, sausage & pepper

The market had these tiny little sweet red peppers that were organic and completely inexpensive...usually I can't get that excited about bell peppers. But these were beautiful!

Started earlier in the afternoon by soaking a few cup of cannellini in a bowl of water. After about 4 hours, I drained them, covered them with water in a dutch oven and boiled with a smashed garlic clove and 2 bay leaves for about 1 1/2 hours. They eventually got tender and I drained them and set aside. Returned the pot to the stove with a little bit of butter. Sauteed 1/2 minced sweet onion until soft, then added 1/2 diced sweet potato and 1 diced, small, pretty much perfect red pepper. Added about 1/4 cup of sweet sausage and 3 minced cloves of garlic and let everything get a little bit browned together. Added smoked paprika, a tiny bit of tumeric, a pinch chile. Returned the cannellini and mixed everything well. Added tiny splashes of worschestershire, tabasco, soy and then 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Stirred well and allowed flavors to blend, then added 1 28 ounce can of peeled, whole plum tomatoes. Smashed them up in the pot, covered it 3/4, and turned down the heat to simmer. Read a chapter of a really great book with a lousy title (United States of Arugula) and drank a beer. Uncovered the mixture to reduce the liquid somewhat. Turned off the heat and added a little balsamic vinegar.

Boiled less than half a package of ditalini and put the cannellini mixture over the top. The pasta was secondary.

Steamed broccoli florets with peeled, matchstick stems to go with and a fresh loaf of bread--today was market day, so no risks with the freezer!

Red Brick Winter Brew from Atlanta Brewing Company is pretty damn good. It's a solid oatmeal stout but not too heavy.

Jeremy and Melanie came upstairs and drank a beer. Then we made root beer floats from a keg that Ryan and Betsy brought over a couple weeks ago. It's pretty awesome to have a keg of root beer in your fridge, and that's all I have to say about that.