Black Beans and Rice

I wonder if all my recipes and cookbooks have their own stories?  It has been such a pleasure unpacking and getting reacquainted with my cookbooks. There has even been some heartbreak along the way.  Especially with my Diet for a Small Planet....I purchased this when I graduated from FSU in the mid 1970's and learned a whole new way of eating.  As a result, I was a total vegetarian and health food fanatic until I moved to Atlanta and realized I had to relearn how to eat like a "normal" person again.  Not that vegetarianism is not normal, but in the late 70's, it was unusual and not easy for a single girl to be taken on a dinner date when she did not eat meat, sugar, any processed foods, drink coffee or alcohol or even eat chocolate.  I was really a fanatic. The tragic truth is - I never felt better than I did then. But outside of a university town environment, it was too difficult to continue.

I packed away a whole bunch of cookbooks and put them in a box in the garage. And which one got chewed by a mouse?  Only the Diet for a Small Planet.  And really chewed too.  I was so unhappy, I immediately ordered a new one, but this won't have my scribbled notes as I got to grips with protein complementary cooking.  And the older one might even have been valuable, I don't think it was a first edition, but I did buy it in 1976.  Antique anyway!

But that is not the cook book I decided to use last night, this is one I bought in Las Vegas at the Girl Scout headquarters.  I am very involved in Girl Guides in Scotland and always try to visit local Girl Scout or Girl Guide headquarters or shops where ever we might travel.  In Las Vegas, I got two cookbooks and this one was mainly to cook ahead and freeze things, called Fix Freeze Take & Bake.   One recipe that looked fun to try was Black Beans and Rice.  Sounded wonderful, and it also turned out to be very simple. The most difficult thing about this recipe is cooking the rice, honest!

Finding black beans in this area has not always been easy and I have had to ask Mom to bring them when she used to fly over here.  But I found canned black beans in Morrison's and was ecstatic!  Another strange thing is - in the UK you won't find "sour" cream, but you will find "soured" cream.  Why the difference?  I guess we will never know, but they are exactly the same thing!

Last night was one of the rare nights when I was on my own, Mom is still in the hospital and Alan had gone out with friends. I am afraid readers will get the wrong impression but Alan really does not go out often and he is retired, so he is around quite alot.  Being an only child, I do treasure my "me time" so am almost always happy to see him go, also happy to see him come back!  Being alone and with not enough time to possibly consider house work, this was a chance to try something new, but the only rice I had was Arborio rice.  Oh who cares, rice is rice, or so I hoped - and this turned out to be a safe call.  (however, the rice did not make it into the ingredients picture!)

Black Beans & Rice - as written in the cookbook, sizes of cans will be different in the UK...

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
1 (10 oz.) can tomatoes and green chillies, drained  (Had to use different tomatoes here, this is not available where I shop)
1 Cup Salsa ( I used the whole jar)  I also used mild and next time would go a bit hotter!
2 Cups cooked rice  (again, I had to guess, do they mean before or after cooking?  so hard to measure)
1 Cup sour cream
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided

In the time it took me to shred the cheese, the rice cooked.

In a medium bowl, combine drained black beans, drained tomatoes, salsa, cooked rice, sour cream and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Mix well. Transfer to a greased 2 quart casserole dish to freeze and top with remaining Cheddar cheese. Cover and freeze. 

(this never happened with me, I cooked it and ate it.  Will try freezing next time, it was delicious!)

To prepare:

Thaw in refrigerator or microwave.  Preheat oven to 350F or 160C. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and bake an additional 10 - 15 minutes. 

Can freeze up to 6 months.

Bailey was patiently waiting for my dinner to be ready!

Fresh out of the oven.

                                                                                           Dinner is ready!

 

One thing I would change is to make this a bit more spicy.  I have never seen tomatoes with chillies here and I think they would really have made a difference. Plus I usually buy the mild salsa because I have an intolerance to cumin and it is difficult to find salsa without cumin.  But I will make an effort next time to find a hotter salsa or add more spices to give this a bit more zing!  It was good without that but I think it would be amazing with it!

 

 

Just the recipe!

 

 

Black Beans & Rice - as written in the cookbook, sizes of cans will be different in the UK...

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
1 (10 oz.) can tomatoes and green chillies, drained
1 Cup Salsa
2 Cups cooked rice 
1 Cup sour cream
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided

 

In a medium bowl, combine drained black beans, drained tomatoes, salsa, cooked rice, sour cream and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Mix well. Transfer to a greased 2 quart casserole dish to freeze and top with remaining Cheddar cheese. Cover and freeze. 

To prepare:

Thaw in refrigerator or microwave. Preheat oven to 350F or 160C. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 10 - 15 minutes.

Can freeze up to 6 months.

 

 

"Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter." ~Andy Rooney