Since I know all of you so well, I feel comfortable enough to admit to you that I have a problem.
I've suffered from it for quite awhile now,
and I have watched enough Oprah to know
that people can only change when they are ready to make a change.
So - *deep breath* - I'm now ready to say: "I am not ready to change."
I feel so liberated!!
My problem is this:
I could eat Mexican food every day of the week, because I love, love, love it that much.
It's definitely my favorite, which can present a couple of problems.
First, it's not the healthiest thing to eat.
I'm sure there are things I could order at my favorite Mexican restaurant
which are healthy, but c'mon! Beans? Rice? A chicken tostada?
It doesn't get any better than that!
The second problem is that I'm not the best cook and it gets expensive to eat out.
So while we do eat at our fair share of restaurants,
I'm always on the lookout for yummy Mexican food recipes
to make at home which are not super unhealthy
and will tide me over until the next time we eat at our favorite dive.
I am so happy to report that I have found the yummiest beans and rice recipes.
And, of course, I'm going to share them with my favorite internet friends.
(That's you!)
First, the beans.
I'm not calling these refried beans,
even though they have the same satisfying taste and feel,
because there's nothing fried or refried about them.
They are Cheesy Black Beans,
and I clipped the recipe from an issue of Southern Living several months ago.
Yum. That's all I have to say about them. Yum.
Cheesy Black Beans
2 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheese
1. Process beans and broth in a food processor 10-15 seconds or until smooth.
2. Saute onion and jalepeno in hot oil in a large skillet 4-5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, and saute 1 minute. Add black bean puree and salt, stirring until blended. Cook, stirring frequently, 3 minutes or until bean mixture is thoroughly heated. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve immediately.
See how easy those are? Even I can do those without messing them up.
The rice is equally as easy, and as yummy.
Definitely rivals any you can order in a restaurant, in my opinion.
I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and adapted it a little.
Mexican Rice
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice.
Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden.
While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
Fluff with a fork.
How easy is that!?!?
The rice makes quite a bit, which means -- leftovers!
Now, the best part about these two dishes is that they are
utterly and completely kid-friendly.
The boys LOVED the rice last night, which is saying a lot let-me-tell-you,
and Avery enjoyed everything again tonight.
Beans and rice...what a great dinner!
It pairs perfectly with a black eye.
Posts
10 comments:
Ask A Dad's response to a question posed by Foreverfoldinglaundry.
FFL, you asked, "my child is advanced for her age...what do you think would be the best way to begin potty training?"
FFL, great question. Moreover, bravo to you for not being embarrassed about your child’s gifted ability to mimic the noise of car engines. However, you have to be careful with genius behavior. Genius can sometimes result in savant syndrome, and savants are typically cognitively deficient in other areas because nearly the entire brain is dedicating itself to one task, which is why they excel at such things as vehicular noise mimicking, but fail in other areas, such as potty training. I’m not trying to scare you but I can’t begin to tell you how drastically serious the situation might be.
As I’ve stated many times before in my only other blog posting, my daughter Emi is also a child prodigy. That’s just a fact based on my scientific observations and personal delusional feelings of entitlement. The way we’ve prevented the onset of savantism is by pretending not to be impressed with her ultra advanced achievements. Yes, Emi, probably unlike any other child her age, can turn on and off our television. That’s pretty incredible, right? Not in our house. Whenever she performs this shockingly advanced feat, I say to her, “big deal.” And then I proceed to show her how many times I can turn on and off the TV myself. This tough-love reaction motivates her to seek out other areas to focus her attention. Boom! I’ve just stopped savantism dead in its tracks!
I hope this helps you with your potty training. Train your genius to pee in a cartoon can, but don’t let her see you react with any ounce of astonishment. Care enough to love your child as much as I do.
About the critter comment: That's too funny. My husband is a city boy transplanted into the country. He is seriously like a child seeing things for the very first time every time a deer, coyote or turkey comes up our driveway.
I'm so confused about Ask A Dad...
Well if you can find a great white queso cheese dip recipe, I will grovel at your feet, er blog, because that's all I order when I go out for Mexican food. (I'm a picky eater)
Poor baby, what happened to her eye?
Blessings, Whitney
Whoa! Came to the comment page this morning and was basically treated to an extra post. Look out! Ask a Dad is everywhere on the internet. :)
Thanks for the rice and beans recipe, but did I miss something? I am faithfully on your blog everyday, but where, oh where, did the black eye come from?
OK...that is SO funny (the response to your comment..not the beans and rice). I saw your comment on 3 bay b chicks.. the Utne reader? When do you have time and furthermore.. I thought you were a conservative.
That was hilarious. Made my day.
Oooo, yummy!! I love Mexican food, could eat it everyday and never get tired of it. So I will be trying out these receipes!! Thanks for sharing.
How'd she get the black eye?
I think Ask A Dad is confusing readers who did not see your original comment on Three Bay B Chicks. Mainly a Midwife is right. Your comment was hilarious...the Utne Reader? Where did you come up with that? I'll ask our resident Dad to post your original comment and his response on our site.
For those that are wondering about the "Ask A Dad" comment: Ask A Dad is written by a dear friend's hilarious husband, Tyler, and posted on 3baybchicks. Here's his original post, and my comment that followed:
http://3baybchicks.blogspot.com/2008/11/tyler-h-is-guest-blogger-and-father-of.html
These looks great! Thanks!
My little gal has a lovely black eye right now too.
yum - going to have to try some of those beans. we are still on the hunt for a fantastic local dive.
Post a Comment