Week 18 Bean Challenge: 1 Dinner a Week

Tonight's bean challenge dinner was all about me. I decided to break one of my rules: our children must enjoy the bean dinner too. Well, forget that, I decided. I'm making Moros y Cristianos.

Literal translation: Moors and Christians. A traditional Cuban dish. From about.com: It is presumed the dish gets its name from the time when the Moors occupied the Iberian Peninsula. The black beans represent the Moors and the white rice represents the Christians.

This was by far the BEST bean dish I have made in these 18 weeks. I cannot believe a recipe as simple as this tasted so good. I varied this recipe the following ways:

• I used brown Basmati rice. If you haven't tried basmati rice, you may never go back to Minute Rice or Uncle Ben's. The fragrance and taste of Basmati is far beyond that of the usual fare.
• I did not cook the rice in chicken stock, just water with a little sea salt.
• I didn't cook the rice and beans together, but separately. I wanted to give the kids plain rice and beans because I knew full well they would NOT eat this seasoned garlicky dish.
• I topped with sliced avocado.

Served with corn tortillas recently bought from a Mexican grocery store. The only ingredients are corn, water, and lime. They are fantastic!

Sorry hon, the kitchen will smell of garlic when you get home tonight. Trust me, it was worth it.