Not so boring beans & rice

Zesty Rice & Bean casserole. This is a great (and cheap) recipe when you're not looking to work too hard and want something healthy and comforting. Basically, just take all the ingredients, stir them together and bake. I adapted it from this recipe and just added a bit more rice, corn, extra cumin, and diced jalapeno peppers. You could also substitute can tomatoes for salsa.

Saute in a skillet a chopped onion and some garlic. Add a chopped green pepper and as many chopped mushrooms as you'd like. Add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup rice and bring to a simmer. In a casserole dish, stir together 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can beans (kidney or black), and a can of corn (or frozen). I also added some chili powder and a ton of cumin plus salt and pepper. Stir this together and then dump in the rice mixture from the skillet and stir the works together with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese (skim if you prefer). Top the whole thing off with up to another 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake 15-20 mins.

For variations, add other veggies (maybe peas?) chicken, salsa or another type of cheese.

It was great and made for awesome leftovers and served with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Half-homemade berry tarts

For a recent potluck I made these mini berry tarts. I hadn't cooked in forever and was rushing from work to prepare something before the party. And my stomach and heightened sense of smell wasn't letting me be very creative in what to make. So I used frozen pastry shells, jam I had in the house already, and fresh berries (in and on top of the jam mixture). Presto! Decent looking, bite-size desserts fit for sharing at a party. Sometimes a girl's gotta suck it up and just go with the flow. At least I didn't resort to just picking up ice this time.