food: Beans and Rice

I know I haven't posted in a while. As I type my house smells like a Mexican Fiesta and I thought I'd share our penny pinching recipe.

As many of you know we are trying super hard to get out of debt so we can afford to have children sent to our family. We are putting every extra cent I can squeeze out of J's paycheck towards debt and we are soooo close! (In theory foster care should help with this but at the end of the day we spend her reimbursement check plus some of our surplus to have SB in the house.) Our food budget is about $3.00/person/day. This recipes costs about $1.50 for the WHOLE HUGE POT. That's mega nice for our budget.

1 lb of dried beans (we like pinto, black or red beans)
6 cups of water

The night before, usually after dinner while little ones are in the bath, I wash the beans and add them to a BIG pot with 6 cups of water. Soak overnight. Rinse the beans in the morning. While the beans are in the strainer add the following ingredients to the pot.

1 TBS olive oil
1 onion chopped
2-3 garlic cloves minced
2-3 stalks celery

Cook 3 to 4 minutes and add:

1 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
3/4 t paprika
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t onion powder
1 t Cayenne pepper
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t sage
1 t thyme
Red pepper flakes

Toast spices and then add the beans back to the pot with 6 cups of water. Simmer 2 1/2 hours. Drain off some of the liquid. Add finally chopped spinach to the beans and let wilt and become almost invisible (Always trying to bump up the nutrition.)

Night one:
Brown rice and beans with a little hot sauce and vinegar

Night Two:
Rice and bean burritos with lots of cheese and salsa

10 Lunches:
Rice and Bean burritos with lots of cheese, frozen and wrapped individually for quick grab and go.

We make this recipe at least 2x a month YUM!