April 4, 2012: Super-simple Rice and Beans for Holy Week!

Rice and beans is one of the easiest (and healthiest) suppers you can make. Oh, and it's super-cheap, too.

2 c cooked beans - choose your favorite kind (in this case, I used pinto)
2 c cooked rice (brown is healthiest, of course, but I had rice on hand and no time to waste)
salsa - you can make your own, or, in this case, we had some great fresh salsa from the produce aisle
toppings - You can get elaborate, or be simple - in our case, it was just a dollop of vegan sour cream. Other toppings could be: shredded cheese, chopped jalapeños, black olives, shredded lettuce, or whatever suits your fancy.

1. Warm the beans. I used a medium sauce pan, a bit of water, and medium heat.
2. Put some rice in a bowl, top with beans, top with toppings, and eat.

March 8: Vegan Quesadilla

So remember the rice and beans from the other night? We had leftovers, but not enough to make a full meal of just the rice and beans. We both love quesadillas, but now I'm dairy free, and traditional quesadillas have cheese.  So, I wondered if I could make a vegan version that tasted good and stayed together. We also had some of the warm tomato salad left over, so this used up all kinds of ingredients. The whole thing won for ease and also for allowing us to use food we might have tossed in a less careful week.

Main Ingredients
about 1.5 cups black beans
about 1.5 cups white rice
about 2 c spinach
3-4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
Leftover warm tomato salad
small corn tortillas (2 per quesadilla)

1) Turn the black beans into simple refried beans. Put them in a fry pan with a bit of oil, and then as they heat up, mash them using a fork or a potato masher. Set aside.
2) Heat up the rice in the microwave - about 1 minute on high should do.
3) Cook up your veggies. I did a quick sauté of the onions and mushrooms (and probably some garlic) in a fry pan and then as I was taking it off the heat, I added the spinach and stirred it up so that it wilted.
4) Coat a fry pan with non-stick cooking spray. Heat it up. Put down one tortilla.
5) Build your quesadilla - start with the beans, press some rice onto them, top with veggies, top with warm tomato salad, put the other tortilla on top.
6) Heat until the bottom tortilla begins to brown, then very carefully FLIP the quesadilla. Heat the other side, slide onto a plate.

As you'll see below, without the cheese to hold it all together, some of the filling fell out. As my Mama would say, "It's all going to the same place!"

Well, maybe someday, but for some reason, this picture won't load. So, I'm calling it quits for now and heading to bed! Picture any quesadilla you've ever seen! :)

March 6: Rice and Beans

If you are looking for a super easy supper that will give you as much protein as a meat-heavy dish, look no further than rice and beans. I don't understand the science of it, but I do know that when rice and beans are eaten together, they form a complete protein.

Weeks ago, we cooked three different collections of dried beans (pinto, kidney, black) and froze them in 2 cup bags. This meal was as easy as 1) make rice 2) thaw beans and re-heat them in a bit of water 3) put rice in bowl and top with beans 4) add a few veggies.

Since we had some tomatoes in the fridge that were going south fast, I made a version of the salsa that I canned this summer as my topping. If you can eat dairy, throw some cheese on top, too.

I called this Warm Tomato Salad:
2 tomatoes seeded and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeño pepper
about 1/4 cup white vinegar
2 T sugar
Cook all these ingredients together in a small saucepan for about 5-10 minutes. Top rice and beans with the salad.