Tex-Mex Rice and Beans

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tex-mex-vegetarian-rice-and-beans-bowl

In college, I lived off of three things: pasta, day old bagels (I worked at a bagel shop) and rice and beans. This fare was of the el cheapo cuisine and with all that beer drinking and shenanigans, carb loading the day after a hangover was the only way I made it to school. Sorry, mom. I don’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject. I did finally graduate…….seven years later. I can now afford fresh bagels and to bail myself out of any said shenanigans. So it’s all good. Right?

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Moving on…….

Rice and beans. One of my favorite meals of all time. I love its simplicity and its humbleness. And it’s just so darn easy to put together. Hard not to love. I used to eat beans and rice in college mainly because they were both so inexpensive but today, though I love the pocket friendly ingredient, I really dig the versatility of canned beans. You can use different spices and ingredients to doctor up a can of beans and essentially come up with a new dish every time.

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This tex-mex version gets some serious love from two of my favorite pantry ingredients. Low sodium pinto beans from Bushs and smokey peach salsa from Trader Joes. This vegetarian meal is bursting with fresh flavor and it’s extremely filling. You could use whatever salsa you like but I love the smokey-sweet flavor of the peach salsa and I think it adds so much flavor to the beans. Topped with some shredded cheese, diced tomato, red onion and avocado dinner is served. This combo makes for a wonderful taco filling as well. I ate the leftovers wrapped up in a corn tortilla the next day and it was just as good!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter/Passover weekend! We are headed to Southern California for the week where we’ll spend time catching up with grandma and grandpa and swimming until our fingers are shriveled.

Happy (meatless) Monday to each and everyone of you, have a great week!

Tex-Mex Rice and Beans

For the rice:

  • 1 cup jasmine rice
  • 2 cups water
  • juice of 1/2 lime
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

Cook rice according to package directions, adding lime juice, salt and sugar to the water. When rice is cooked, stir in chopped cilantro. Fluff with fork and serve with beans.

For the beans:

  • 2 cans low sodium pinto beans (or regular), drained
  • 3/4 cup peach salsa
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground garlic powder
  • pinch salt
  • few dashes tabasco or other hot sauce (optional)

In a small sauce pan combine drained beans, salsa, ground cumin, oregano, garlic powder, salt and hot sauce if using. Heat over medium hight heat until beans come to a low boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

To assemble rice and beans, divided rice and beans into 4 bowls. Top with shredded cheddar, diced tomato and red onion and fresh sliced avocado.