Rice, Beans and Greens

Rice and Beans

3c cooked, or canned, black beans

⅔c black, red, brown rice blend

1 sm.-med. yellow onion

2 celery stalks

1-2T butter

2t fresh ground seasoned salt

1⅓c water

⅓c mild ajvar

1T turbinado sugar

1-2t garlic & herb spice

1-2T vegetable soup base

I was in Tucson, AZ in May.  In our travels, we went to an old fort - now a great area with shops and a restaurant.  At one shop I found some beans that were originally grown in that area by indigenous Native American tribes.  What a find!  Dry, they have a variegated black-dark grey-light grey color.  Sort of like a brindled dogs coat!  They're larger than regular black beans.  I rinsed, then boiled them for a few minutes.  Removed the pot from the heat, covered and let it stand several hours.  I repeated this process three times, draining, rinsing and using fresh cold water each time.  The last time I added 1t baking soda to the water once it boiled and stirred that in.  It's supposed to break down the gasses in the beans and make them easier to digest.  They turned out well.  I made these one day and did the rest the next.

In a 2 quart saucepan, saute' the rice, chopped onion and celery in the butter.  Grind the seasoned salt over this as it begins to simmer.  Stir and saute' 5-10 minutes.  It'll begin to brown a bit and have a wonderful popcorn scent!  At the end, you can start to add the water to keep it from sticking.  Pour in all the water, the ajvar, sugar, seasoning, and soup base.  The rice was really stubborn!  It simmered on low heat at least an hour and was still chewy.  Once it's done the way you like, gently stir in the beans, make sure they're heated through completely and serve. . .Lin

Butter Lime Kale with Onion

small bunch of light green kale

½ lg. white onion

1-2T butter

½ lime - juice

½-1t good quality lemon pepper
~ salt should not be the first ingredient ~

I've never seen this type of kale!  I got it at our Community Garden, at a church near me, and it was just beautiful!  I snipped the stems and put it in water, like a bouquet, for a couple days.  Used some in a gazpacho I made and saved the rest for this.

Finely chop the stems, then slice the leaves a couple times, lengthwise.  Cross cut them into thin strips.  Combine with the chopped onion and butter over medium heat, stirring to keep everything from sticking.  When the onion is translucent and the kale starts to wilt, add the lime juice and lemon pepper.  Stir, cover and let it steam on a lower heat setting.  Serve with the rice and beans and warm, buttered cornbread muffin tops.  Dill pickles are always good too.  Mmmm! . . . Lin