Bit off more that I could chew.....

A picture of my kitchen in the middle of cooking a celebration dinner.

Paul and I had a celebration dinner for an accomplishment he had at work.  I made a marinated flank steak, caramelized pearl onions with mushrooms, mashed red potatoes, and a gluten free strawberry blueberry crumble for dessert.  It was fun to make, great to eat, but hard to juggle all the dishes at once!

Making all those things at once though is kinda how I'm feeling in life right now.  I'm working a full time job, and two other part time jobs that take several hours a week.  So between working, family, and church, when I think of blogging, I think, Ahh!  where will I get the time?!  This craziness is only temporary, and I will go back to my preferred schedule when the school year starts back up in the fall.

I will try to keep posting recipes about once a week, until then.  So know that I haven't quit or given up, just slowing down my posts for a couple months.  When August comes around I'm looking forward to posting more frequently.  I'll have plenty of quick and easy meals I used to get me through the summer to share when this craziness is over.

One Pot Rice and Beans with Veggies

I grew up familiar with rice and beans, it is a food I really enjoy.  I have discovered my new favorite way to prepare it.  It’s quick, healthy with added veggies, and has great flavor.   I got the idea for this while watching an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the food network.  Instead of cooking plain rice, you cook it with the beans and veggies right in the pot!  It makes the rice very flavorful with the richness of the beans.  I also enjoy the freshness of the added veggies.  You can add whatever vegetables you want, fresh or frozen.  My favorites are yellow squash, bell peppers, and sometime zucchini, but add whatever sounds good to you!  I also added canned green chilies.  The chilies I get are New Mexican chilies, so they are not very hot, but I realize that sometimes canned green chilies are very hot, so you may want to cut down the amount depending on the heat. 

Rice and beans with vegetables

4 oz canned green chilies

about 2 lbs vegetables chopped (I like just yellow squash but use what looks good)

2 cans black beans

1 ½ cup rice  long or medium grain

2 cups water

1 tb cumin

Heat pan at medium high with 1 tb oil or butter, add rice and cook for 1-2 minutes, add veggies and cumin and stir.  Add beans and top with the 2 cups water.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes on low.  Because of the water in the veggies, cooking the rice will not be an exact science with the proportions, but it my experience, this dish is hard to ruin, so don’t worry if it seems to wet, stir and cook it a little longer, if too dry and not cooked, add a little liquid and cook 5-10 minutes more.

This is a go to dish at our house, because the prep work is easy and fast with very little hands on time.  We always have rice and beans in our pantry, so it works as a way to use up veggies, and it is a pretty cheap meal to make.  And it tastes great!

This recipe makes a lot for leftovers.  You can cut it in half, or just enjoy the leftovers, they reheat well.  Check back Tuesday, and I will have a list of things you can do with these leftovers to make new meals out of it!