Day Sixty-three--Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Yes. I know. I'm late again today. I'm not sure why. I just didn't have much gumption to fight for time on the computer. Actually, I haven't done all that much today. I'm calling it a mental health day. I did get my treadmill time done so that's good.

Last night's dinner was good. It was Monday so that means Meatless Monday here in our little home. Black beans and rice is something I picked up living in Florida. Sadly, I can't make it as well as those cute little Cuban women but I try my best. It's super easy to make. The hardest part is waiting for the brown rice to be done cooking.


Black Beans and Rice

This meal couldn't be any easier. I swirled some olive oil around the pan and then threw in a chopped onion, and chopped green pepper and 2 cloves of mashed garlic. This cooked for a few minutes to soften and then I added some cumin to cook for a minute. Then to the mix you add two cans (drained) or organic black beans and a cup of water. Oh, and some oregano and a splash of red wine vinegar. That's it. Easy, no? Like I said, the worst part was waiting for the brown rice to finish. I've learned my lesson though. I always start my rice way before I need it.

Simple meal. Enjoyed by most. Aidan didn't really like it. He ended up just eating a big bowl of rice. Connor had two bowls of the beans and rice and I could only eat about a half of a bowl. I wasn't all that hungry. It was tasty though.

That is all I have for now. I'm about a minute from pulling tonight's dinner out of the oven. Hopefully will post tonight. No promises though.

Day Twenty-nine--Shrimp Stir Fry

Wahoo. This was a great meal tonight. I had a couple of bumps but I was able to ride the bumps and I landed a great meal on the table. Tonight's dinner:

Shrimp Stir Fry

This recipe was in one of Connor's new cookbooks. It was insanely easy to throw together. As you know, I was out of rice as of yesterday, but with some digging around in my pantry I found a bag of brown rice. Score. Then I had a problem. The recipe called for an onion. I had to scrounge through the refrigerator to get enough onion for last night's dinner. I remembered though that I had a couple of green onions left from earlier this week. I had to peel a couple of layers of green off, but then they were fine. I chopped them up and fried them up with a chopped red pepper. Then I tossed in some snow peas and some shrimp that had been marinating in garlic and tamari sauce. This meal came together in about 15 minutes. The brown rice was the thing that took the longest to cook.

Three out of four of us liked this meal. Aidan ate the rice and shrimp but said the peas were too crunchy. Connor was mad because there wasn't any left over. This will be a definite do over for us in the future. The only gross part of this meal was the peeling of the shrimp. Last time we had shrimp Tim peeled them for me. Tonight he was with Connor at karate so I had to do it. Gross. If I have shrimp in a menu again, I need to make sure it's a night that Tim will be here to peel them.

That is all for now. I'm going to have to start thinking about menus for next week pretty soon. Fun. Until tomorrow, Happy cooking!

Day Twenty-Eight--Black Beans and Rice

Gonna be a short post tonight. It's been a long day and I'm beat. In continuing with our "eat out of the cupboards" this week we had black beans and rice. This is a really easy dish to do. It's my mother's recipe and I love it.


Black Beans and Rice

At first I freaked out because I realized I had used my last onion last night in the spanakopita. Then I remembered I had like 3 separate containers in the refrigerator that had halves on onions in them. I dug them out and chopped them up and fried them up in olive oil. Along with the onion was garlic and a green pepper. Once they were all soft, I added cumin and chili powder and then two cans of black beans. Then they simmer while the rice cooks. Speaking of rice, I'm in trouble for a dinner later in the week. I ran out of rice with this meal and need it for one more meal this week. I am hoping that somewhere in the depths of my cupboard I might have a bag of brown rice somewhere. I usually buy big bags of basmati rice at our Indian market, but it's all gone now. If I can't find rice, I'm going to have to get creative with my meal. I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens.

So, the beans were served over rice. I shredded a tiny bit of cheese that I picked up at the dairy over the weekend. It's from a local farm. It's a softer cheese than I'm used to and had a really mild flavor. I'm used to cheeses that have flavor that almost bite back. This cheese was good on top of the beans though. Tim likes to put sriracha sauce on top of his for a little heat. This was an eight thumbs up meal. Everyone ate it and there were little leftovers for tomorrow. Good thing I made bread today so we can have sammies.

I think that is all I have for now. Until tomorrow, happy cooking.

Day Seventeen--Channa Masala

I was back in the kitchen tonight and it was an easy one tonight. I pulled an oldie but goodie out from our vegan days. The good 'ol chana masala.

Chana Masala on top of coconut rice.

This is a super easy dinner to make. I used organic chick peas and spinach. I fry the onions up in a little bit of peanut oil and when the onions start to caramelize, I put in some garlic and garam masala powder and ketchup. The original recipe called for tomato paste and I never have paste in the house. Out of desperation one time I used ketchup and it was good. I was happy that I have just replaced our old ketchup with organic ketchup. Once that cooks for a bit, I then add some chickpeas and a bit of coconut milk (the rest of the can of milk goes into making the rice) and some red pepper flakes. I didn't use as many red pepper flakes as I used to because I wanted Aidan to eat it. After it's salted and peppered I put in a whole bunch of spinach. Then it just simmers until the rice is done.

We haven't had this for a while so it tasted so good. Connor said he didn't like it before he even ate it but we suggested he try it anyway and he ended up wanting a second bowl of it. He does this every time we make this. I don't if it's because he doesn't like the smell of it when it's cooking or how it looks, but he always ends up eating it and loving it. Aidan ate it and said he loved it and said he could have handled it a little spicier. He's so funny. Maybe next time I can ramp up the spiciness a tiny bit again.

That is about all I have for tonight. Tomorrow night I'm not really sure what is going to happen. We are going to a 6 pm presentation by one of my friends and there will be pizza provided. I know the boys will be all over that so I probably won't bother with making anything. I'll just have to wait for the weekend to make my own pizza...which I prefer. Happy cooking!