Beans and Rice-my way

Tonight, I decided that the meal of Sloppy Joes was just not enough for me. So at 9:30 or so I started making beans and rice. For me though beans are also not enough. I have to have veggies in with my beans. Most of the time I use what ever is in my refrigerator- a staple for me is squash of some kind.

First starting water for the rice- I wanted to be sure that everything would be done at the same time!

Pouring a little olive oil in my skillet so that my thinly sliced potatoes would not burn (or even worse stick!). I love the sound that oil makes when it is hot! I don't know why exactly but its this excited kind of sound that makes me happy- and a bit cautious, because lets face it, who really likes getting splattered by hot oil! I waited about 3 minutes then added in diced zucchini, diced tomatoes, and chopped chives (I would have used onions but it turned out we are completely out of onions! Time to go to the farmers market!).

I added the rice to the boiling water at this point.

Once the potatoes were starting to be somewhat tender I poured in a can of black beans, liquid and all. Next a liberal dash of red chili powder was added. Mixing it all together and then making sure to stir every few minutes after that so as not to have burnt food. By the time the liquid had cooked off, the rice was done and the potatoes were tender. Dinner (or 2nd dinner) was finished!

I was going to take a picture of my efforts but this meal is not exactly pretty looking. Tasty but not pretty.

I am going to play around with it some more- adding some different spices and veggies. It was truthfully a bit bland- adding a bit more chili powder would help. I am still a bit cautious of adding too much (one mistake where I dumped a huge- OK massive would be a better word for it- amount of chili powder in by accident and suddenly I am chili shy!)

If you want to try it:

1 small zucchini (or a 1/4 of a large zucchini)-diced

1 medium potato peeled and finely sliced

half of a small onion diced or several stocks of chives

3 smallish medium (but not cherry!) tomatoes diced

1 regular can of black beans

chili powder

Next time I would also add- a small yellow squash diced

Don't forget to cook the rice- starting before the rest of the meal!

1 cup uncooked rice

This made three servings and some left over rice.

If you try it let me know what you think and let me know if you come up with any improvements!

Have fun!