It's what's for dinner 8/21/12

[bas_saarebas]

So tonight I made a black bean chili over rice. Well, that's the intention, anyway. It's not strictly done yet, but we'll see. Here's what I did:


Ingredients: 

• 1 can black beans, drained and liquids saved
• 1 can diced tomatoes and peppers, drained and liquids saved
• 1/2 red onion, diced fine
• ~1 tbsp garlic powder
• ~1-1 1/2 tsp oregano
• ~1-1 1/2 tsp cilantro
• salt and pepper
• 3 black bean patties (I used MorningStar brand)

Directions: 

• Cook the red onion on medium heat in canola oil
• Drain the tomatoes and peppers, saving the liquids. When the onions are softened, add the tomatoes and peppers, along with the garlic powder, salt and pepper and oregano and cook for about a minute.
• Drain the black beans and save the liquids. Add into the pot and cook for about two minutes, stirring.
• Add in the tomato/pepper liquid and about half of the black bean liquid and stir. Add in the cilantro.  
• Reduce to low heat and let simmer for about an hour and a half, checking regularly. 
• Crumble up black bean patties and add into the pool. Stir and let simmer on low for ~20-30 more minutes.

Let's hope it's good. I've been tasting, of course, and it does taste really good. The peppers make it spicy, so I didn't add any extra cayenne or chile powder. Very tomatoey, though, but once the black bean patties are in it, it helps to balance the flavors. I'm going to serve it over white rice with red quinoa. This would be a great CrockPot recipe, so I may try that when I have a day to use. Hope it's good!


BONUS! The pulled pork sandwiches from some time ago. This was a CrockPot recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pound pork shoulder roast
• seasoned salt, pepper, old bay if the mood takes you
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1 tbsp pickle juice
• 1-2 pickle slices

Directions: 

• Rub roast down with salt, pepper, old bay, etc.
• Place roast in CrockPot. Cook on low 5-7 hours or high 3-4 hours. 
• Remove roast and pull meat apart.
• Return to CrockPot with sugar, onion, BBQ sauce, pickle juice and pickle slices
• Cook on high 2 more hours
• Serve on toasted buns with pickles

Admittedly, my pork tasted VERY pickley, so I'm going to remove the pickle slices the next time I do it. But other than that, it was fantastic, tasted great second-day and was overall a success.