She made this for the first time on 10/5/13 by combining several recipes found at Allrecipes.com. The best we ever made.

1 pound dried red beans. Dropped in boiling water to sit for one hour to remove sugars. Then pour off the red water and rinse.

Saute the following in a cast iron skillet till the onions are translucent and pepper still firm:
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped

Add all the above to the ingredients below in a No. 4 cast iron scotch pot. Cover with a commercial aluminum pizza pan for the first three hours of simmering.
8 C   Ida Garten’s chicken stock – Homemade
1   large ham bone from Honey Baked Ham with a lot of ham still on it
1   pound smoked beef/pork sausage from Best Stop in Lafayette LA, cut into bite-sized pieces
2   bay leaves
1 T   Creole seasoning Benoit’s Best spice salt-free Cajun seasoning
1/2 t   dried thyme
1/2 t   dried sage
1/2 t   cayenne pepper
1 T    dried cilantro

4/7/2018 – Made with ham stock made from HoneyBaked ham bone that was simmered for 4+ hours instead of Ina’s chicken stock. Used Kit’s Creole Seasoning. Did not have dried cilantro and forgot to add fresh before serving. Used Green Onion Sausage and added near end of the cook so it did not overcook, get tough and add grease to the beans — per advice for crawfish boils and it seemed to be applicable here. The sausage was tender and flavorful.