Happy Valentine’s Day y’all!
I came across this on twitter today and couldn’t have put it better myself:
“Valentines Day makes me happy because I love it when we are all a little nicer to each other.”
So on that note, is everyone sharing the happiness and love today?!
I sure hope so 
I’m going to do my lil’ part over in this corner of the internetz world by sharing this 20 minute recipe with ya’ll…
Perfect for a Meatless Monday and perfect for a day when you’re short on time (isn’t that most every week day… just sayin’ 
)!
Plus I can pretty much bet that you have 80% of these ingredients in your pantry right about now in some shape or form:
Black beans, jasmine rice, onion, garlic and chopped tomatoes. Am I right?
If so, then looks like all you’ll need is some frozen green peas or whatever veggie you might want to include. I’m all about making things easy on y’all, ya know
Saute up the onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes.
Then add in your tomatoes and beans and give a good stir. And by the way, any beans would work here, I just happened to have black beans.
Speaking of tomatoes… ??
The awesome folks over at Pomi sent me the most lovely assortment of products just a few days ago…
Including these chopped tomatoes, one of my favorites!
Disclaimer: I received these products for free.
I think y’all already know how huge of a fan I am of Pomi products, so I won’t rave about them again and again…
But seriously — just tomatoes you guys, and BPA free.
And all “free-ness” aside, I’ve been raving about these tomatoes since forever ago when I was using my own $$ to purchase, just throwin’ that out there
Speaking of BPA, anyone else catch this article on France’s proposed BPA ban?
Okay, sidetracked. Back to the meal at hand here!!
Now in goes the rice. I had some jasmine rice to use up, but use whatever you have on hand, adjusting cooking time accordingly.
Some H20 and basic spices: sea salt, black pepper and smoked paprika.
I alwayssssss forget about smoked paprika. But gosh it is so darned good!
Adds such a lovely hint of sweet, smoky flavor to a dish… go get you some, you won’t regret it
Once the rice is almost done cooking, throw in some frozen peas. Or whatever vegetable you want quite honestly, I bet lima beans, corn, etc. would work well too!
But the green peas add that fun “pop” to each bite that I’m oh so fond of.
Give a good stir and allow to heat through while the rice finishes cooking.
If the mixture soaks up too much liquid just throw a bit more into the pot as it finishes cooking so that it doesn’t dry out.
Anddddddddd we’re done!
See, told you it’d be easy 
I highly recommend serving this dish with a topping of something spicy to really compliment the smoky flavor the smoked paprika adds.
I used sambal oelek. Wow, aren’t we all surprised there. Ha.
But hot sauce or red pepper flakes would work just as well!
For such a fast throw-together dinner I really enjoyed both the flavors and textures that this dish had to offer!
Plus it made enough for quite a few servings for very little $$. Always a win.
I actually threw it together before heading to Core Barre at my favorite Local Barre studio and when I got home, upon opening the front door, was greeted with the most wonderful smells leftover from the cooking adventure.
‘Twas quite lovely
It’s the little things people. Right?
Smoky Black Beans n’ Rice Serves 4-5 1. In a medium sized pot, saute onion and garlic in 1 tblsp olive oil over medium for 3-4 minutes or until they start to soften. 2. Add tomatoes, black beans, rice, water and spices, giving a good stir. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. 3. Add frozen peas, stir, and cook another 5-7 minutes or until rice is done and liquid absorbed. Note: if it starts to absorb too much liquid during cooking, just at a bit more at a time so it doesn’t dry out. 4. Serve! With spicy sambal or hot sauce for a great spicy finish to the smoky flavor.
Enjoy!
