Veggie Challenge #1: Basic Black Beans

Ok. I pulled this recipe off the back of the bag of dry black beans (by Goya) and it seemed pretty easy. I doubled it because I knew that I was giving half of it away to my mom. First thing you'll want to do is soak your beans (1lb) overnight.

The next day, they will have expanded a bit and then you'll rinse them and place them in a pot with about 4 cups of water to soak again - don't drain them.

Then, get your veggies ready: (1 c. onions, 1/2 c. green peppers, 4 garlic cloves). I did this with the VeggiChop - if you don't have one of these things, get it - it's awesome. Look how fantastic my veggies look all chopped up with no effort.

Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil (this, I did not double for the recipe) in a frying pan and sauté these vegetables until they are tender... it will mildly resemble recaito...minus the culantro. Add in two teaspoons of oregano, 2 packets of Sazon without Annato, 4tbsp of white cooking wine and some pepper. (The recipe calls for salt, but the Sazon has a significant amount of sodium in it, so chose not to add it in... plus, you can always add salt in later to suit your taste).

Stir the beans and the mixture together in the saucepan; Boil it and then let it cook until the beans are tender. This takes about an hour to reduce and cook.

Eventually it will look something like this:

And then, finally... like this:

This turned out very well. And, because there are so many flavors, I'd consider making this in the crockpot just to deepen the flavors. Traditionally, this is served over white rice, but this could just as easily be served with couscous, in a burrito, or with plantain. So, you've got plenty of options. My mom really liked this, but she likes her food spicy, so she ate it with a smidgen of chili oil. Tada!

For my WW pals, this yields about eight servings and is 6 points on the points plus plan. It is however, 7 points when you follow the recipe exactly. (Remember, I did not double the olive oil). Also, I've posted the recipe to community recipes, so you can pull it into your tracker if you use eTools!