Brown Rice and Beans

    My husband, John, and I were recently vacationing in Oregon.  We stopped into a little cafe for an early dinner.  We both ordered a dish that seemed to be very popular with the locals.  Well, it was simple, inexpensive and tasted wonderful.  After we returned home I recreated this dish as close as we could remember it and now it is a favorite of ours.  It's so simple it's almost scary but very tasty.  You can use leftover rice if you have it and, of course, you can use any kind of rice you prefer.  I like to make my rice early in the day and just put the rice and beans on the plate and warm them in the microwave when we are ready to eat.  Then you layer the other ingredients on top and enjoy. You could add any meat to this dish but you don't really need it.  Let me know what you think!

                                          BROWN RICE AND BEANS

2 servings:

1/2 cup Brown Rice

1  15 ounce can Black Beans, rinsed

1/2 cup Sour Cream   (mixed with juice of 1/4 fresh lime)

1 Lime, cut into wedges

1 Green Onion, chopped

1/4 cup Cilantro, rough chopped

1 Avocado, sliced

Prepared Salsa of your choice (I use Kirkland Brand from Costco)

For Rice:

1 1/4 cups Water

1/2 cup Brown Rice

Bring Water to boil in a heavy saucepan.  Stir in Brown Rice.  Cover saucepan and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook for about 45 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.  Fluff lightly with a fork.

Assemble on your dinner plates….  Rice, Black beans, drizzle with Sour Cream mixture.  Sprinkle Green Onion and Cilantro over the top.  Lay 1/2 of the sliced Avocado on top and put a nice dollop of Salsa on top of that.  Serve with remaining Lime slices to juice over everything as you like.  I serve this with the Rice and Beans warm.  The rest is cold.