The Pig and I

I think I've been a little out of control with the black beans lately. I'm eating them all the time, and excepting the latest eggplant, it's been a while since I last posted a recipe that didn't contain them. All that being said, I still had a 1-cup portion defrosted in the fridge. Originally I'd planned to make a simple black bean and corn salad, but then I thought about how lovely it'd be to have spring rolls and I decided to make spring rolls using the beans instead. I cooked up a huge batch of white beans so, despite still having plenty of black beans in the freezer, I should be able to lay off them a bit so we don't all tire of the beans. Enjoy! 1 cup cooked black beans water or bean cooking liquid 8 ounces cooked corn (I used one of those mini cans of yellow corn and had a tablespoon or two of corn leftover at the end) 2/3 cup grated carrot generous pinch each: salt, sugar 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 teaspoons sesame oil 1 teaspoon rice vin

This one is not my recipe. I saw it on livejournal and thought it sounded amazing (though I wanted to put quantities to the ingredients). I had just purchased an eggplant when I saw this recipe, and though I'd originally intended to do an eggplant and black bean (of course!) stir fry, this seemed like an exciting new thing to try. Hope you enjoy! 1 globe eggplant 2 eggs 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 6 tablespoons butter (I used salted because I have some and want to save my unsalted for baking) 1 cup each: dried potato flakes, grates parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 400F. While oven is heating, put butter in a baking dish and melt the butter in the heating oven. Peel the eggplant and slice it into 1/2" rounds. Feel free to cut the larger rounds in half. Whisk together egg, salt and pepper. Combine potato flakes and cheese in another bowl/plate. Dip eggplant into egg mixture, then coat in the potato/cheese mixture. Place rounds in preheated pan. Bake 10 minutes,

This month's " In the Bag " run by Julia of A Slice of Cherry Pie and Scott of Real Epicurean lists the ingredients chicken, red chile and garlic. I'm not going to the grocery store this week, so I used the remainder of my salsa, plus a dried chile in place of the fresh chile. It was a relatively quick meal to make (one that could be shortened by a more attentive cook) and I enjoyed eating it. Hope you enjoy! 1 cup rice 1 3/4 cups water 1 teaspoon salt 2 dried lemons (omani) 1 chile arbol 2 tablespoons each: butter, olive oil 1 small white onion, sliced into half moons salt and pepper to taste 4 cloves minced garlic 1 carrot, diced 1 stalk celery, diced salt and pepper to taste 1 chicken breast, cut into 1"-ish cubes 2 tablespoons lemon juice salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 - 2 cups black beans (or 1 can) 3/4 cup salsa Combine first group of ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil one minute, then cover and let cook over low heat for 10 min

I wanted to have a nutritionally dense salad to eat with my makdous and olives while I study over the weekend. With the semester wrapping up next week, I have a lot of work ahead of me. Hope you enjoy! 1 cup spelt 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon orange blossom water (you can use rose water, but I prefer orange) 1 small dried chile arbol water 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed; or 1 1/2 - 2 cups home cooked beans) 1 can artichoke hearts, roughly chopped if you feel like it 1 1/2 cups celery, including leaves 3 thinly sliced carrots Dressing: 2 teaspoons each: double strength tomato paste, pomegranate molasses 1 tablespoon za'atar 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup each: lemon juice, olive oil Combine first group of ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about an hour, or until wheat is soft but still has some tooth to it. Drain well, then fold into second group of ingredients. Whisk together ingredients for the dressing, then fold into the salad. Makes ab