This is a dish that uses things that you may already have at home to make something really interesting. You probably have dried beans around and maybe even some tequila. The tequila may be around to deal with the current situation right now. One tip I learned about cooking with dried beans, sometimes when beans have been hanging around in the cupboard for a long time, they can be hard to cook. It’s not that they go bad, they just don’t cook well and stay hard even after soaking and boiling. The key to getting around this is baking soda. What I like to do is when I soak my beans add 1/8 of a teaspoon to the water to help soften the beans. Then I add a pinch to whatever I am cooking. The baking soda breaks down the exterior and allows the water to penetrate. That way, no hard beans.

This dish came from America’s Test Kitchen. I chose this recipe because I like how beans and rice can be elevated into something wonderful. Beans are a staple in a lot of world cuisine, for good reason. They can be made into some really interesting things. Dried beans are wonderful because they soak up the liquid they are cooked in an become more flavorful. Some dishes I never make with canned beans because they don’t taste the same. Anyway this recipe is mostly in need of some vegetables and some rice to make this a meal. Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I increased the servings from 4 to 10 to lower the calories.
• I added red bell pepper to increase the vitamin C.
• I added carrot to increase the vitamin A.
• I reduced the olive oil by half to reduce the calories.
• I added in some brown rice to make this a meal.
• I deleted the sour cream to make this dairy free

Here is the final recipe: