Sunday, August 29, 2010

Caribbean Rice and Beans

Can you tell? It's a new background! I'm still not sure why my other once disappeared, and this one looks similar...but I thought it had a nice "recipe-ish" quality to it.

I did get back into cooking, dieting, and exercise this week! Needless to say I'm tired now :) But I feel much better. I've got lots of new recipes and cookbooks to energize me, not to mention Bobby is done with Honors Surgery and will be at home for the next 4 weeks! He'll be studying for his next set of Boards, but still--he's home!

This dish is from my Cooking Light Cookbook, and I actually found it in the "Meatless Main Dishes" chapter. Don't tell my husband (no meat, no meal). But to stick to his rule, you can tell from the photo that I paired this with flat-iron steak drizzled with Chimichurri sauce (you can get it bottled at Whole Foods, fyi) and served the Caribbean Rice and Beans as a side dish. It still makes enough for a main dish, so you could do that, or have some leftovers for lunch the next day.

As usual I probably put more cheese on than it actually calls for, negating the "Light" part of Cooking Light...but I just can't help it!





Caribbean Rice and Beans

2/3 cup water
2/3 cup uncooked instant rice
1 tsp oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 diced green bell pepper
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 cup coarsely chopped tomato
A few shakes of salt, crushed red pepper, and cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
15 oz can black beans, drained
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook rice according to directions on the box, keep covered in saucepan and set aside. Coat large skillet with PAM or oil and add onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes or until tender. Add chopped tomato, salt, crushed red pepper and cumin--then saute about another 2 minutes. Stir in rice, cilantro, and black beans. Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with mozzarella and serve.

Depending on how fast you chop, this could take 20 minutes. Then if you'd like to serve as a side, just have your meat grilling at the same time. I think it would also be good to add some fresh corn if it's in season. Very easy, plenty for everyone--so it's great for a weeknight as a main dish or a side!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Mom's Ribs

Well, this is now two summers in a row that I've taken an unintentional blog hiatus. Summer to everyone else seems to be a time of leisure, but for me it ends up being a time of more work, more travel, and less time for anything else. Last summer I didn't blog much because Bobby was doing a mandatory AHEC rotation in Northern Kentucky. I don't actually know what AHEC stands for, but in general it's where they send the students to under-served areas for their rotations. So since I was by myself and didn't cook, I also didn't blog. This summer he has been doing Honors Surgery (translation = working an average of 90 hours per week). If you think that's some sort of hyperbole, then you should start reading my other blog to get your facts straight. Of course that also translates to a 100% share of household things. Couple that with my "long" hours at work this summer, and there just hasn't been time. But blogging, along with a renewed commitment to diet and exercise, are things I hope to pick back up now that summer and surgery are winding down and I'm feeling much more rested.

I'll be honest, I haven't cooked anything for a while, but I'm looking forward to it! So I dug through some pictures to see what I'd made but hadn't posted yet and came across my mother's baby back rib recipe. To be fair, I think she got this from her friend Deborah, but whatever. Ribs are one of those things that are really pretty easy to do, and this recipe make it so simple that it's a shame not to make them more often! You've seen my other baby back rib recipe that used a slow cooker, but this one is totally over the stove top, just in a really large pot.


Baby Back Ribs

2 lbs baby back ribs, cut into 2-3 rib sections with sharp kitchen scissors
6-8 green onions, chopped
2 T sherry
4 T rice vinegar
6 T sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water

Layer rib sections with onions in a large soup pot (about 5 qts). Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer. Cover, and cook for 2 hours--but carefully rotate the rib sections often, about every 30 minutes.

When the ribs are tender, remove them. Increase the heat, and cook the sauce down until syrupy. Put the ribs back in the pan to coat, and serve with mashed potatoes.


So good, so easy :) Ribs might seem heavy for summer, but if you eat them on an outdoor patio, they're pretty perfect. Add corn or tomatoes and any meal seems more like summer, right? I warn you that I may go through another blogging dry-spell this Fall when Bobby is away for a while, but I'm officially soliciting recipes for 1 if you've got them to share! Now I have to figure out where my pretty blog background went??!