The blog post below was ready to be published when I found out about what happened at the Boston Marathon. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this tragedy and devastation. Although I blog about food, my other hobby is running. Running races are a time when runners can celebrate all of the hard work they put into their training, and their family and friends can support them. During races the amount of energy, comradery, and excitement is like nothing I have every experienced before- this is the reason I continue to sign up for races, cheer my friends on, and volunteer. My heart goes out to all those affected by yesterday’s events.
If you’d like to read more, here are some blog posts which resonated with me. There are more posts being published by the minute, so if you find one that touched you, please share in the comments below.
Health on the Run
Pavement Runner
Run to Eat
Sweet Life Ericka
Or, check out these articles:
If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon – The Washington Post
The Meaning of the Boston Marathon – The New Yorker
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The start of the week means a new post from the Food Matters Project! This week our host is Aura, of Dinner with Aura. Aura lives in Michigan, so she was happy to make a warm and comforting dish for a cold, rainy day. Fortunately, DC has had better weather the last couple of weeks- spring is finally here!
Aura chose Mark Bittman’s recipe for Super-Lemony Kidney Beans, from his Food Matters Cookbook. Definitely check out her Lubia Chalow-Afghan Lemon Kidney Beans, as she stuck to the original recipe in the cookbook. The photos are beautiful, and now I can’t wait to try this recipe. Make sure to stop over and check out what other Food Matters Project participants made here.
Aura mentioned this in her post, and I agree with her, I have a hard time imagining what each recipe will look like, since there are no photos in Mark Bittman’s cookbook. As I’ve been doing this project for over a year now (this page has the list of all of the FMP posts we participated in), I realized that I skip over many recipes in other cookbooks just because I can’t visualize them- changing this might have to be a new resolution when it comes to cooking!
I read the ingredients. Then I went to the grocery store, and rather than buying a bag of kidney beans, I was intrigued by the Central American Red Beans. So I got a little side tracked, and the Afghan flavors turned into South American one’s…so I didn’t follow Mark Bittman’s recipe! The beans are great, perfect when incorporated with the rice- but they do take a little to cook (although it’s worth the time and effort).
Central American Red Beans & Rice
Fifth Floor Kitchen Original
This recipe makes a lot! We had friends over for dinner, and only half was eaten- so be prepared to eat it for a week, or halve the recipe. We started with chips and salsa, and paired this with some steak in chimichurri sauce which was made on the grill.
1 lb Central American Red Beans (although you can use any dried beans)
water
2 cups of uncooked rice
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, chopped
1 tbsp adobo sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
green onions (optional)
cilantro (optional)
Add the beans to a large pot, then add water so it covers all of the beans. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium heat. Cook the beans until they start to be soft (once cooked, these are bit harder than black beans or garbanzo’s). I had to add additional water while cooking, so keep an eye out for them. The cooking process should take about 5 hours.
Cook rice per package directions.
Once the beans are close to being done, add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, adobo sauce, cumin, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook for about an hour, then take off heat and mix in with the rice.
Feel free to sprinkle with green onions and cilantro for additional flavor.
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