Beans

Dinner tonight was beans and rice. I know that to a lot of people this might not sound like a very exciting dinner option but those people have never had MY beans and rice. Tonight the bean was Pigeon Peas. I know that technically they are not beans but I consider Black-eyed Peas to be beans also. Maybe I'll make up a new name for them – PEANS! That's it, from now on all the peas that I use like beans will be referred to as peans! There, I just added to my Microsoft Dictionary so it's a real word now. The rule in our house when I was growing up was that if the word could be found in the dictionary then it was a real word. I'm just going by what my dad taught me – I don't make the rules, I just follow them.

Let's get back to dinner: Pigeon Peans and Rice.

Into a medium saucepan over high heat pour in all of the following:

• 1 15 oz can Goya Pigeon Peas* not drained
• 2 cups uncooked Minute Rice Brown Rice**
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2/3 to 1 cup Pace organic mild salsa – I didn't actually measure it
• 1 cup home-canned seasoned cooked tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 cup spring onion chopped – only the bulb part (I used 1 small whole onion)
• No added salt or pepper or 'bean seasoning'
• No added oils or meats

Stir all ingredients together thoroughly and bring to a boil and then reduce temp to low, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 min. I prefer my beans/peans and rice to be 'wet' so add water and stir it in if there isn't enough 'juice' in the pot.***
Serve in bowls with a generous dollop of Daisy sour cream (full fat only in this house) and I topped mine with the 1/2 cup of spring onion greens chopped (I've got full on onion breath at this point so I probably could have used a quarter of a cup instead but it tasted good!)

*I guess that any brand would do although previously I've never tried another brand. I do have two cans of another brand in the pantry that I'll be using next time, El Jibarito.
**I've tried Uncle Ben's instant brown rice but was not as pleased with the packaging. Inside of the cardboard box it's inside of a plastic non-resealable bag. It's also not as pre-cooked as the Minute Rice so it takes 10 min to cook and 5 min to rest instead of 5 to cook and 5 to rest. When I've got to feed a hungry me and 2 kids as quickly as possible then every 5 minutes of cooking time matters.
***I'm not talking soupy, just hearty, kind of like chili consistency. That way you know that the rice is fully cooked and the rice won't absorb all the moisture in your stomach and bind you up the next day.