Caribbean Rice and Beans

Yep, two posts in a day.  That is what my weekends have become until I catch up on my huge backlog of recipes to share!

My sister Mackenzie gets sick often - colds, bronchitis, strep, whatever - and every time she does, she throws up.  She's the kind of person who pukes no matter the ailment.  We've always joked about how she'd deal with it once she got her teaching job, and her response was that she'd better not get sick anymore because she had no idea how to make sub plans.  Well unsurprisingly, a few weeks ago she threw up in the middle of the night (for no apparent reason; it was just the once).  She had to figure out sub plans on her own at 3 AM, and took the day off from work.  I promised to make her something bland but still tasty for the rest of us for dinner, and I thought rice and beans would be a good plan.  She could just stick with the rice if she still didn't feel well, or have the beans too since they seem like comfort food to me.

I have lots of great rice and bean recipes - particularly red beans and rice  and black beans and coconut lime rice, which is one of my all-time favorite vegetarian meals.  I decided to try a new recipe for tonight though, and did some Pinterest searching until I found Caribbean rice and beans.  To be honest, I am not sure where the "Caribbean" part comes in, because there is nothing too exotic in there.  But regardless of the name, the meal is good.  There's lots of garlic, onion, green pepper, tomato, and celery mixed with the beans.  They are spiced up with cumin, salt and pepper, and the recipe suggests topping the beans and rice with the oh-so-Caribbean mozzarella cheese.

This was a super easy and very fast meal - definitely a good one to keep in mind, since my family complains less about eating meatless when I feed them beans and rice.  I will say that I still love my black beans and coconut-lime rice better, but that recipe is also more time-consuming since you have to specially make both beans and rice.  This recipe involves making the rice, and while it cooks, whipping up the bean mixture.  You're eating within 20 minutes, and I'm sure we've all had nights when 20 minutes of time standing up is about all we can handle after a long work day!

Recipe:

Caribbean rice and beans
from Over the Big Moon

Ingredients:
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup onion, minced
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup tomato, chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
cooked rice
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1) First chop your onions and garlic very small.  Place those into a saucepan.

2) Dice green pepper, celery and tomatoes.  Add celery and green pepper to onions and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and sauté. Cook until the onions start to brown.

3) Turn to low and add drained black beans and spices.  Add tomatoes and let cook just for a few minutes so they are warm but not mushy.

4) Serve over rice and top with cheese.