Being Thankful and Rice and Bean Recipe

One of the exercises at group was to place your hands on a part of your body you loathe and practice gratitude to it. You were to inhale deeply and think of what that body part does without judgment. You were to think about how it feels to your touch. I practice this mediation if you will a bit ago as I was angry at me belly for being so round and in my thoughts, ugly.  This was a hard thing to do because I could not let go of judgments and could only think of how I hate having a belly. Today I am able to be thankful of it roundness and softness. My belly may not look good, but it processes food as it should, it is not in pain, and it helps keep me warm. While Thanksgiving coming around the corner, this will be an important exercise to keep me focused. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it makes me so grateful to have my family and friends and of course there is the food. This holiday, the goal is to focus of the love and support of my family and not focus on just the food. Food will be eaten and my goal is to actually enjoy it and eat in moderation.

I also would like to share with you all my favorite recipe of all time: rice and beans. It is not a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but being Dominican it is really the only meal you will ever need. I have been using www.supertracker.usda.gov as a tool to help see my calorie intake and according to the site a 1.5 cup of rice and beans is about 381 calories. I use a ¼ cup of basmati rice and mainly use the bean “soup” as the main source of substance. I cook a rice cooker (I know, the horror!) since it is easy so I have not been able to get the right combination of rice and water to use brown rice. So without further ado:

Sorry I am not a good photographer...

Ifi’s Awesome Rice and Beans

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 small potato diced

½ large bell pepper (any color will do)

1 can of chicken broth (veggie broth works well to)

1 can of black or kidney beans (Goya is my favorite and this can be done with dried beans but it takes much longer)

1 packet of Sazon

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

2 tablespoon of fresh cilantro

For the rice, I use rice cooker and put a dab of oil and a pinch of salt to a ¼ cup of rice and ½ cup of water.

First heat your saucepan and while that is warming out dice the onion and garlic cloves. Put the teaspoon of olive oil in hot saucepan making sure the pan is not too hot (if oil evaporates it is too hot). Coat the bottom with oil and add diced onion and garlic. Sauté under medium heat for about 2 minutes or until translucent. Diced the potato and add to onions and garlic. Sauté potatoes for about 5 minutes. While sautéing the potatoes, cut the bell pepper into strips and then add to the pot.  Still working with the medium heat, add the broth and the beans. I let them do their thing for 5 more minutes to get the potatoes softer and to absorb the favors. At this time, I like to raise the heat and add the tomato paste and Sazon. Bring to a boil for an additional 10-15 minutes then bring to a simmer until ready to serve. That’s it!