{"id":18988,"date":"2018-11-01T01:10:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T06:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=19594"},"modified":"2018-10-30T13:55:32","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T18:55:32","slug":"the-kitchen-witch-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/11\/01\/the-kitchen-witch-37\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kitchen Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wicked Simple and Easy Black Beans and Rice<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Every Thanksgiving, I make a huge dinner for my son and myself and sometimes his father \u2013 if he is in town from Florida \u2013 and maybe one or two other people. I always make homemade bread stuffing for the turkey that I lovingly roast. I make garlic mashed potatoes with creamy gravy. There is always some kind of squash on the table \u2013 butternut squash or acorn squash or perhaps a nice creamy mixture of several squashes, delicately seasoned. I can\u2019t imagine any <\/i>meal without a salad, so of course there is a large bowl filled with mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced red onions, and other salad goodies. Neither my son nor I are great fans of cranberry sauce but if I have guests who crave some of that condiment, I happily cook down fresh cranberries, sugar, some citrus and spring water into a toothsome treat. And of course, there has to be some corn and some beans. I used to make either succotash or a green bean casserole \u2013 both yummy dishes \u2013 but now I make beans and rice. There are several reasons for this. The first is that I can make it up a day or two before the holiday and reheat it in minutes before the meal and it\u2019s always yummy good. The second is that if I happen to have any vegetarians at my meal, I don\u2019t have to worry about them not getting a nutritionally complete meal \u2013 beans and rice are a complete protein all by themselves. The third is \u2013 of course \u2013 I can have corn and beans on my table all in one luscious dish!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I make beans and rice all the time. It\u2019s one of those things that I make a little differently every time I make it, depending on what I have on hand \u2013 I almost always have leftover rice, so I make a batch of beans and rice usually once a week. I prefer black beans over all other beans but I will use red beans or garbanzos or black-eyed peas or lentils or any kind of bean at all. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But for this recipe, you are going to want a can of black beans. I used day-old leftover rice but if you make it fresh, you will need a cup and a half. You will also need a half a can of corn, a medium-sized green pepper, a small onion or half a medium-sized one, some chunky salsa, and about two tablespoons of olive oil. And your seasonings: dried cilantro, dried parsley, garlic powder, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Start by chopping the green pepper and onion. You can have a rough chop on these. You need about a cup of each. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Put the olive oil in your pan and heat for saut\u00e9ing and then add the peppers and onions. Give them a good stir and let saut\u00e9 in the hot oil for about two minutes. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then add the rice and mix well. Reduce the heat. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The next thing you want to do is add the black beans, but before you do that, you need to drain them and rinse them or else the liquid in the can will stain the entire dish. This is the only <\/i>time I strain black beans. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After making sure there\u2019s no moisture left on the beans, add them to the rice and peppers and onions mixture, mixing well. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You are not going to need the entire can of corn \u2013 if you want to buy a smaller can, go ahead but that\u2019s much more expensive and there\u2019s always something extra corn can be thrown into \u2013 soups, casseroles, potpies \u2013 so I don\u2019t mind using half a can of corn and then saving the rest for some other use. And of course, you can always use frozen corn \u2013 the amount comes out to about 2\/3 cup. And maybe you like lots of corn! And you want the entire can in there! Who knows? We\u2019re all different. Anyway \u2013 add the corn and mix well. It\u2019s looking really pretty, isn\u2019t it? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After mixing the corn in, I add the salsa. I have to admit \u2013 I was a little light in the salsa department but there was enough to make it pretty and give it flavor. I also seasoned it with garlic powder, dried cilantro, dried parsley, sea salt and lots of black pepper. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, it\u2019s ready for serving or for putting into a container for saving for Thanksgiving dinner. This works well if you make it twenty-four hours in advance but I wouldn\u2019t try to make it three or four days in advance. The peppers and onions don\u2019t sit around that long very well. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you are making this for your Thanksgiving dinner or just a quick meal on a chilly winter night, you can\u2019t go wrong with the perfection of Wicked Simple and Easy Black Beans and Rice. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Until next month, Brightest Blessings!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wicked Simple and Easy Black Beans and Rice Every Thanksgiving, I make a huge dinner for my son and myself and sometimes his father \u2013 if he is in town from Florida \u2013 and maybe one or two other people. I always make homemade bread stuffing for the turkey that I lovingly roast. I make garlic mashed potatoes with creamy gravy. There is always some kind of squash on the table \u2013 butternut squash or acorn squash or perhaps a nice creamy mixture of several squashes, delicately seasoned. I can\u2019t imagine any meal without a salad, so of course there is a large bowl filled with mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced red onions, and other salad goodies. Neither my son nor I are great fans of cranberry sauce but if I have guests who crave some of that condiment, I happily cook down fresh cranberries, sugar, some citrus and spring water into a toothsome treat. And of course, there has to be some corn and some beans. I used to make either succotash or a green bean casserole \u2013 both yummy dishes \u2013 but now I make beans and rice. There are several reasons for this. The first is that I can make it up a day or two before the holiday and reheat it in minutes before the meal and it\u2019s always yummy good. The second is that if I happen to have any vegetarians at my meal, I don\u2019t have to worry about them not getting a nutritionally complete meal \u2013 beans and rice are a complete protein all by themselves. The third is \u2013 of course \u2013 I can have corn and beans on my table all in one luscious dish! I make beans and rice all the time. It\u2019s one of those things that I make a little differently every time I make it, depending on what I have on hand \u2013 I almost always have leftover rice, so I make a batch of beans and rice usually once a week. I prefer black beans over all other beans but I will use red beans or garbanzos or black-eyed peas or lentils or any kind of bean at all. But for this recipe, you are going to want a can of black beans. I used day-old leftover rice but if you make it fresh, you will need a cup and a half. You will also need a half a can of corn, a medium-sized green pepper, a small onion or half a medium-sized one, some chunky salsa, and about two tablespoons of olive oil. And your seasonings: dried cilantro, dried parsley, garlic powder, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Start by chopping the green pepper and onion. You can have a rough chop on these. You need about a cup of each. Put the olive oil in your pan and heat for saut\u00e9ing and then add the peppers and onions. Give them a good stir and let saut\u00e9 in the hot oil for about two minutes. Then add the rice and mix well. Reduce the heat. The next thing you want to do is add the black beans, but before you do that, you need to drain them and rinse them or else the liquid in the can will stain the entire dish. This is the only time I strain black beans. After making sure there\u2019s no moisture left on the beans, add them to the rice and peppers and onions mixture, mixing well. You are not going to need the entire can of corn \u2013 if you want to buy a smaller can, go ahead but that\u2019s much more expensive and there\u2019s always something extra corn can be thrown into \u2013 soups, casseroles, potpies \u2013 so I don\u2019t mind using half a can of corn and then saving the rest for some other use. And of course, you can always use frozen corn \u2013 the amount comes out to about 2\/3 cup. And maybe you like lots of corn! And you want the entire can in there! Who knows? We\u2019re all different. Anyway \u2013 add the corn and mix well. It\u2019s looking really pretty, isn\u2019t it? After mixing the corn in, I add the salsa. I have to admit \u2013 I was a little light in the salsa department but there was enough to make it pretty and give it flavor. I also seasoned it with garlic powder, dried cilantro, dried parsley, sea salt and lots of black pepper. At this point, it\u2019s ready for serving or for putting into a container for saving for Thanksgiving dinner. This works well if you make it twenty-four hours in advance but I wouldn\u2019t try to make it three or four days in advance. The peppers and onions don\u2019t sit around that long very well. Whether you are making this for your Thanksgiving dinner or just a quick meal on a chilly winter night, you can\u2019t go wrong with the perfection of Wicked Simple and Easy Black Beans and Rice. Until next month, Brightest Blessings! *** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan and she is solitary. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}