Beans Beans The Musical Fruit

 

As you can imagine, eating a plant based diet requires some makeovers of favorite meals. Since my family still eats meat (I prepare way less meat now, so their servings are much smaller, more like a side than the star of the meal), I always cook it on the side and let them add it to their vegetarian main dish as they please.

Beans are an inexpensive, fulfilling staple in my household. The one I usually have to wrestle with on this is my youngest. He says, "Mom, I hate beans!" But somehow, he always manages to throw back two plates full of my red beans and rice. "I thought you hate beans!' "You can't even taste them in this dish!" Umm, ok! I'll take it.

When I Google "health benefits of red beans," a plethora of information pops up - but this post is a great explanation. You can't go wrong with a nutritional powerhouse like this. I was gonna link another post from Dr. Oz....about how important it is to consume beans after 40...but I won't have to post that for two more weeks. LOL!

Red Beans and Rice
You will need:
1 lb red beans, soaked*
1 medium onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 t olive oil
Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning (Yeah! It's MSG free!)
1 1/2 c uncooked rice, cooked according to package directions (I only had plain white rice on hand leftover from a wet iPhone incident, so I used that. Otherwise, I would have used brown)
Liquid Smoke
2 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish

*I am never right on top of things, so I take short cuts here and there. I do the quick soak method with beans when I forget to soak overnight. Just boil your beans for a few minutes, then remove from heat and let soak for an hour or two.

To prepare:
Cook your beans the way you want to. You can soak overnight and boil on the stove top, cook them in the crock pot, or do like me - quick soak then cook them in the pressure cooker - soaked beans take 8 minutes at high pressure. (I LOVE my pressure cooker and use it a LOT! I use this chart.)

Once your beans are cooked, in a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat up your 1-2 t olive oil. (I understand that there are plant based eaters out there that are oil free. This is where you skip this step and simply add the diced veggies to your pot of beans or sauté in a bit of water till they are translucent). Sauté your onions, peppers, and garlic till fragrant and the onions are translucent. Add beans to the veggies, reduce heat, and cook for 10-20 minutes. The cooking juices shouldn't be more than just covering the beans. With a spoon or potato masher, mash in some of the beans so everything is nice and thick and creamy. I'd say mash in appx 1/4 of the mixture to start with and do more if you wish. Add your Creole seasoning to taste - it's spicy, so take your time adding it.

Traditionally, this dish is prepared with some form of smoky meat, like sausage (I made some on the side for my people) but since I don't cook meat in the main dishes anymore, I have to use other natural flavorings that bring life to the dish.

For some unexplainable reason, I've always shied away from Liquid Smoke. It didn't sound right to me. I managed to acquire a bottle from my friend's pantry when she moved away, so I started experimenting with it. I had totally unfounded misgivings! This stuff is great! It took my red beans and rice to a whole new level.

Add a few drops of Liquid Smoke at a time to your pot of beans. Taste as you go and stop when it tickles your fancy!

 

 

To serve your delicious beans, place some rice on a dish, add a ladleful of your musical fruit, and garnish with some green onions. And pass the Tony's! I love to sprinkle more of it on top for extra spiciness.

 

Enjoy!!!