Oh, man, you know what's good? Food!
Simple, wholesome food. I just made something I call "Garlic-tomato beans with lemon-pepper brown rice", because it is an apt description.
I started the rice cooking first because brown rice takes 35 minutes in the microwave (that's ten minutes faster than it does on the stove, and I don't have to be there watching it)- I went a touch over the 3 and a half cups of water to the one cup of rice, but I think it would've been fine right at the mark. I added a tablespoon of olive oil (as it suggested a tablespoon of oil), and a couple good shakes of lemon-pepper seasoning. Popped it in the microwave (un-covered, in a large microwavable tupperware piece from the stack-cooker set) and went back to coloring. With a bit under 10 minutes left I came up and started working on my beans.
Opened drained and rinsed: black beans, black-eyed peas, and garbonzo beans (actually, I didn't rinse the garbonzos because the fluid came off clean). I packed them all in seperate tupperware containers since I wasn't going to be using all of them, just a bit from each.
In a small saucepan I put a couple tablespoons-ish of olive oil (I don't really know, might've just been one, I didn't measure-just drizzled) on medium heat, and added most of a large clove of garlic, thinly sliced. The oil wasn't heated before I added the garlic, which may have helped it not burn. As the oil heated up I was careful to watch my garlic slices, but they seemed to sizzle away happily and give off a lovely smell while I fussed at the rest of the ingredients.
To the garlic I added: about a handful of each kind of bean, one tomato cut into small wedges, little under half a can of tomato paste, a bit of water and olive oil to smooth things, a couple shakes lemon-pepper (sprinkled on the cut tomato), a bit of ground oregano and a nice sprinkling of paprika. Stir well to combine, continue heating over medium until the tomatos are soft and the beans are heated through.
By this time the rice was done. Combine rice with bean mixture (leaving out some of the rice if there seems to be too much of it). LOVELY TO EAT, YES.
Some notes: The Garbonzo beans were okay but I think another large meaty bean would also work, such as butter beans, especially if you don't like the strong taste of chickpeas. You could cut the tomatos smaller if you want, but I found the wedge pieces to be pretty nice. I guess diced canned tomato would work too, but it'd taste a bit different. I wouldn't use sauteed onion in this because I think it'd be too sweet; the garlic seems to work great on its own.
Summary: Beans are delicious!
I started the rice cooking first because brown rice takes 35 minutes in the microwave (that's ten minutes faster than it does on the stove, and I don't have to be there watching it)- I went a touch over the 3 and a half cups of water to the one cup of rice, but I think it would've been fine right at the mark. I added a tablespoon of olive oil (as it suggested a tablespoon of oil), and a couple good shakes of lemon-pepper seasoning. Popped it in the microwave (un-covered, in a large microwavable tupperware piece from the stack-cooker set) and went back to coloring. With a bit under 10 minutes left I came up and started working on my beans.
Opened drained and rinsed: black beans, black-eyed peas, and garbonzo beans (actually, I didn't rinse the garbonzos because the fluid came off clean). I packed them all in seperate tupperware containers since I wasn't going to be using all of them, just a bit from each.
In a small saucepan I put a couple tablespoons-ish of olive oil (I don't really know, might've just been one, I didn't measure-just drizzled) on medium heat, and added most of a large clove of garlic, thinly sliced. The oil wasn't heated before I added the garlic, which may have helped it not burn. As the oil heated up I was careful to watch my garlic slices, but they seemed to sizzle away happily and give off a lovely smell while I fussed at the rest of the ingredients.
To the garlic I added: about a handful of each kind of bean, one tomato cut into small wedges, little under half a can of tomato paste, a bit of water and olive oil to smooth things, a couple shakes lemon-pepper (sprinkled on the cut tomato), a bit of ground oregano and a nice sprinkling of paprika. Stir well to combine, continue heating over medium until the tomatos are soft and the beans are heated through.
By this time the rice was done. Combine rice with bean mixture (leaving out some of the rice if there seems to be too much of it). LOVELY TO EAT, YES.
Some notes: The Garbonzo beans were okay but I think another large meaty bean would also work, such as butter beans, especially if you don't like the strong taste of chickpeas. You could cut the tomatos smaller if you want, but I found the wedge pieces to be pretty nice. I guess diced canned tomato would work too, but it'd taste a bit different. I wouldn't use sauteed onion in this because I think it'd be too sweet; the garlic seems to work great on its own.
Summary: Beans are delicious!