Slow Cooker Recipe - Part Deux

I made another recipe from my experimental slow cooker selection again on Friday. This time, it was Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice. Recipe link:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-red-beans-rice-10000000443497/

Please note that mine came out with more liquid than they are showing in their photo of the dish. I don't know why that happened, either. The ingredients didn't absorb the 3 cups of water? I also think the flavor could be a bit further improved by substituting chicken broth for the water, but that's just me.

I left out the red pepper flakes because we are not big fans of "spicy" in this house, and I used Hillshire Farm smoked turkey sausage, sliced into thick slices.

The good: It makes a very tasty dish, actually. The Daughter and I very much enjoyed it, and we ended up eating the leftovers from it for lunches over the next few days. I would gladly make it again, because prep time was a snap and it wasn't expensive to buy the ingredients at all.

The bad: The Spouse, however, had a complaint about the turkey sausage I used - saying the flavor was "too smoky" and it "tasted funny", so I cannot make this recipe again for the whole family. Unless I switch sausages to a blander tasting type. He was also not a big fan of the consistency ("too mushy" and the sausages had a "funny skin").

The ugly: Hey, there was no ugly this time around. Overall, it's a dish I can make again that is not too costly, it has a lot of healthy stuff in it, and it's tasty. Just gotta find a different flavor sausage for Mr. Fussy-Spouse.

This one rates 4 out of 5 stars for me. I'd also use brown rice to save a bit on carbs rather than the long grain white rice, but your mileage may vary on this point.

I've already set up the crock pot this evening with this week's experiment - Beef Provencale (not sure if that's pronounced Beef pro-ven-KAL or Beef pro-ven-SAL because I don't speak la Francois) - so far, it smells good but I'm a bit put off by the prep time and I'm also preparing for at least one complaint about the mushrooms involved. I also had to hunt down some cheesecloth for the spices, which was a bit annoying but we'll see if it was worth it tomorrow night after work.

Til tomorrow or when I can get back here again, and may all your culinary adventures be delicious.