April 7, 2008


Beans and Rice and Salsa...

Oh, My!

It couldn't be easier, plus it's a cheap, filling, and nutritious dish: the old beans and rice. I cooked 2/3 c rice as usual, mixed in a can of black beans (undrained), then added salsa. Now I had salsa in the freezer that I had made last summer and it had the added benefit of having corn in it. But you could just use your store-boughten salsa and add a can (drained) of whole kernel corn. I wonder how it would be using a can of creamed corn... hmmm, I'll have to try that.

I added a few seasonings... a pinch of thyme, some cilantro, a little garlic salt, some lemon pepper. To round out supper tonight, I'll make Bert's favorite, biscuits, and even though this is already a nicely rounded meal, I have some leftover winter squash so a scoop of that will be on our plates too.

This recipe is kid-doing easy, especially if you make the rice ahead, important if younger kids are doing the preparing. Leftovers travel well for lunch the next day too.

Makikng biscuits may seem like a challenge at the end of a long workday - I'm substittute teaching all this week so I definitely understand! There's a time-saving recipe in The Frugal Family Kitchen Book for making biscuit mix to have on hand. It's also handy for making pancakes and a number of other goodies. In fact, let's talk about make-ahead mixes the next time we visit.

Happy Spring! At least the sun's out this morning which is a marked improvement over recent days!

Mary