A few months ago, I picked up a box of Nueva Cocina Black Beans and Rice from Whole Foods.  I was there.  I needed a side dish for whatever it was I was cooking.  Black beans and rice is a favorite dish of mine, but one I can’t ever seem to get right.  This. Was. Awesome.  For a boxed food, this was really darn good.  It was spiced just right, the dehydrated seasonings and veggies plumped back up well, and the black beans were tasty.

Ever since picking this box up, I pick up another whenever I get a chance to go out to Whole Foods again.  In fact, I picked up another box the other day since I had none left in the house.  This little side dish is becoming my go to staple whenever I need a quick side dish.  I just wish I could make it from scratch instead.  But I can’t seem to find a decent recipe.

If you’re in the market for something different and you see this box of black beans & rice on the shelf.  Pick one up.  I’d definitely recommend it.

This post is not sponsored or in any way connected to Nueva Cocina.  I purchased the food item with my own money.

P.S. Today, I do have a most lovely bento to eat.  However, I’m not posting it until tomorrow.  I’m finding that posting my bentos a day or two after I eat them makes it less stressful to blog about them while so work-busy.  Less worry on my end means I keep up with everything a wee bit better here at Not Exactly Bento.

Or so Toby thinks as he rolls around in the hot Louisiana sun.

And to paraphrase ol’ Charlie Brown: “Stinkiness is also a warm puppy.”

I’ve been documenting the things that haven’t gone so well in my cooking adventures.  I don’t normally talk abou them here on the blog.  I know I”m going to change that soon.  I’ve even been going back and finding those recipes that really didnt’ work out so well in the long run.  Things that haven’t become a permanent staple in my cooking life have been moved to the “Recipes that Didn’t Really Work” file.  I guess one day I could go back and see if I can figure out where the mishaps happened.  I doubt it though.  I have too many other recipes I want to try instead.

These blueberry pancakes I made are an example of a recipe that didn’t quite workout.  However, I think that these I will try to go back and figure out how to fix the recipe.  It all started with my finding a recipe on the Everyday Food magazine site for Cherry Almond Cake.  I was looking for recipes that would use up some frozen blueberries.  This one seemed a possibility, though I haven’t made it yet.

One morning as I was about to fix up a batch of blueberry, pecan pancakes, I was reading my go-to pancake recipe (courtesy of Recipezaar) and thought, “What would happen if I substituted almond extract for the vanialla extract?”  I had some sliced almonds on hand.  Into the batter went a nice handful of sliced almonds.  Blueberries were plopped into the pancake batter immediately after pouring out the cake to the hot skillet.

While they didnt’ taste bad, something just didn’t gel quite right.  I think it was the sliced almonds for some reason.  I have a feeling that to fix the recipe I either need to toast the chop the almonds or possibly blanch and chop the almonds.

It is definitely a concept I plan to go back to.

In the middle of the concrete sidewalks in downtown Baton Rouge, I found these signs.  And it made me wonder if areas do drain to a bayou, and which ones.  Either way, I found these under-the-feet signs enchanting.

It’s closing in on a year since my mother adopted Dodger, a small mixed breed dog she found at the Baton Rouge Animal shelter.  Currently, the BR shelter is a kill shelter, and my mom’s adoption of this little guy meant a stay of pardon for him.  But there are certain things that you can’t know ahead of time when you adopt a small dog whose still woozy from his neuter procedure and has soft brown eyes that say, “Please, take me home.”

You can’t know that he once he fully recovers from that surgery that he will be the holy terror of doggie ropes.  A rope a day seems to keep the doggie dentist away.
You can’t know that has the energy of an overcharged, crazed Energizer bunny.
Or that he will fall madly and deeply in love with tennis balls and learn how to dribble them across your living room floor.
Or that he will terrorize the cat by slowly walking behind the cat whever the cat may go.   It is the same as one child annoying another child by placing his pointed finger near the other and saying aggravatingly, “I’m not touching you.  I’m not touching you.”

You can’t know how smart he will be.
And that those smarts will lead him to learn things quickly.
Like the fact that you will use a broom to get his favorite tennis ball from under the sofa when he accidentally rolls it under there.
And then decide that it is a fun game.
So he will roll his tennis ball, on purpose, underneath the couch.
Then crawl halfway underneath the couch, as far as his stocky little body will allow, and cry and whine because he can’t reach it.
You will try to break him of this habit…unsuccessfully.

You can’t know exactly how much you’ll love him.
How much he’ll make you laugh.
Or shake your head at how fast he learns something.
And you’ll slightly wonder if he knows English, but just doesn’t know how to speak.

Nope, my mom couldn’t know all that when she adopted that ball of fur. He’s a fun pup though, even if we do sometimes wish he would take an afternoon nap, or two, or five.

But that’s why the world invented Mother’s Day.  As a side present to my mom this Mother’s Day (and a challenge to myself), I took on the arduous task of seeing if I could tire Dodger out.  He’s an energetic dog who needs lots of play time and vigorous activity.  I personally think he has a bit of Jack Russell terrier somewhere in his dubious lineage.  A favorite outside toy of his is a tennis ball wrapped in a kitchen towel.  Little did I know how high he could jump.  He must have some frog in his lineage as well.

And he has jaws like a pit bull.  Once he clamped on to that towel he wouldn’t let go.   Even if I was spinning in a circle.  Which meant he spun too, feet out, legs off the ground, head clamped to the towel.

It was fun.
It was hilarious.
It caused him to lay down that night and sleep through the night.

And my mom thanked me.

Be the bento everyone!

Photos of Dodger and I taken by my sister-in-law, Cree.

Well, the 30-Day Bento Challenge has come to an end.  I must say that it was a wonderful experience for me.  Not just trying to meet my goals, but to watch my readers and participants work on and meet their goals.  It certainly made me realize that I’m not the only one out there struggling to do what they set their mind to.  Willpower and I don’t have a great working relationship.

I always believe it important to be forthright with myself and take a look at how I did at something.  Let’s remind ourselves of my original goals.

1.  No eating out more than 3 days this month.  And eating out must have purpose, not just because I’m feeling lazy or “too busy.”  – You might find this a cheat, but I know I have things coming up this month that will force me to eat at a restaurant.  I have a monthly meeting at work that involves an out-to-eat meal.  No problem.  That has purpose.  I have family members visiting from California this month.  This may require an eat-out-meal.  Again, it has purpose.  But no more than 3 days.
2. Eat-out meals are defined as fast-food, take out, or meals at a restaurant.  They do not include going to a family members house for dinner.  – Hey, it’s Easter time.  Family time in my area with big meals coming up.  However, each are homecooked affairs.  So they fall in the realm of not eating out to my mind.
3. Make a bento for everyday that I work, including those that I only work in the evenings.
4. Post a bento picture Monday – Friday on this blog.

If I had to rate myself on how I did on my challenge, I’d give myself a C.  I did middle of the road, and that’s how I view a C.  Amazingly, I completed both goals 1 and 2.  I was super pleased with myself for that.  If you read my Leftover Deliciousness post, you know that I didn’t end up eating out with my family when my out-of-state relatives came to visit.  All the events planned this go ’round were family meal affairs.  Not only were they delicious meals, they fit into this 30-Day challenge.  Thank you goes out to my family.  They didn’t intentionally do that, but thanks are given all the same.  I ate out no more than the 3 times allotted this month.  I can’t even describe what an accomplishment this was for me.

Goal 3 I accomplished mainly.  This was a strict rule that in retrospect I find I could have done without.  While I didn’t pack a bento box each day, I didn’t eat out.  Sometimes, it was just a sandwich on a plate with chips and fruit.  This goal I came to realize ended up being a bit too strict when it came to trying to accomplish goal number 1.  In the end, I just shrugged and told myself, “That’s why you blog is called Not Exactly Bento, Jennifer!”

Goal 4 was the one I really failed at completing.  When life got busy, I just let the pictures slide by.  This is the one that I really regret.  My intent for the photographs was to have a documentation of how I did.  Next time I do this (and there will be a next time), I’ve got to find a way to stick with this goal.

How did you all do with your goals?  I’d really like to know.  Judging by the comments, I can tell that each of you seemed to come back and talk about your trials and triumphs.  Thank you for that.  You kept me going even when I wasn’t completely present here at this blog.

Now, on the winners.  Before I announce them, I need to make you all aware of a change in the rules I decided upon while about half way into the challenge.  Only one person posted their country of origin in their comments.  Otherwise, I have no clue where every one lives.  My original intent was to have a big prize that would go to a U.S. resident and a smaller (easier-to-ship) prize that would go to a non-U.S. resident.  However since no one posted their country of origin, I have no idea where anyone lives.  And quite frankly, I didn’t want to hold up the announcement of the winner by trying to contact each entrant to ask that question.  So, I’m instituting the “my blog, my perogative to change my mind” rule that runs this place.  I just simply chose to people randomly.  Wherever in the world these prizes go, happy sailing.

As mentioned in the original rules for the challenge, participants would receive an entry for every day they commented, limited to 1 entry per day.  After tabulating everyone’s comments, I had 107 unique comments made on separate days by our participants.  Thank you again for your participation.  Tonight, I ran the list through Random.org to find two winning numbers. 

The first number drawn was for the big bento box package.  It goes to:

Dawn, congrats.  You do deserve this prize!  I think you posted nearly every day of the challenge, definitely tipping the odds into your favor.  And, it was so much more than just making sure you came by to post and get your entry in.  You shared bento-packing tips, pictures of your lunches, and general encouragement to everyone.  I truly hope you enjoy your prizes!  If you want to see some of Dawn’s lunches, check out her Flickr account.  I’m not a charaben bento packer, but I do admire them.  Dawn has some really nice boxes.  Her KISS band bento box still cracks me up.

Our second winner is Eula.  Congrats Eula.  You win the smaller bento box set! 

Dawn & Eula, please e-mail me with your mailing addresses to nebento at cox dot net. 

As for everyone else, thank you so much for participating.  And watch out for Monday.  I have a whole new challenge I’m going to announce, and it’s going to be way easier than this one!

Be the bento everyone!

Hello Downtown Baton Rouge!  Several weekends ago, I took the time to have a long photography weekend all to myself.  I spent 3 glorious Louisiana spring days driving around, snapping pictures, and generally relaxing.  Relaxation and I have a testy relationship; we don’t always get along so well.  I blame it on my Type A personality.  But sometimes, like this weekend in particular I get it just right.  For the first day of the long weekend, Cree and I visited downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana to see a few sights and play with the cameras.  I couldn’t resist following Cree up to an observation deck and taking pictures of the river, especially this bridge.  This is the Horace Wilkinson Bridge which carries I-10 from Baton Rouge across the Mississippi towards the land and life of west Louisiana.  In all honesty, I had no idea that this bridge was named the Horace Wilkinson Bridge before I started this post. (1)  I’ve only ever known it as the “new bridge.”  And considering it was built in the late 1960s, it isn’t quite so new anymore.  This bridge is known for traffic jams, traffic snarls, and general traffic nastiness at certain times of day since the on-ramps go down to one lane, which isn’t conducive to the large amounts of traffic the bridge handles. But for me, this bridge is awesomeness.  It’s how as a young child my mom brought us to Baton Rouge, a long, long way from the small town we lived in across from a bayou (yes, I’m a bayou child, but not stereotypically so).   It’s how as a young college student I started my journey each day to commute to Hammond, 1 hour one way of music blaring and looking forward to classes.   It is how as a maturing adult I get back to my home parish to visit family and friends.  It also takes a darn nice picture. 

While up on the observation deck, I snapped a picture of the Louisiana Arts & Sciences Museum (LASM) nestled right there near the river.  I took many a school trip to this place, and every time was completely freaked out by the mummy exhibit everytime. 

After geeking out up on the observation deck, we went back to terra firma to look around and find more things to photograph.  We came upon the water fountains at the Shaw Center, and I was instantly fascinated.  Photographing water is something I’m always trying to do.  However, I have a hard time with my focus and shutter speed.  It takes a careful setting of both the shutter speed and focus points to get a water shot right, or so it seems to me.

However, these photographic challenge never deters me as I try again and again to get it right.  Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.  And one day, I’m going to get it right.  I’m getting closer I think.

When I can get my shutter speed just right, it seems to catch water in such a point that it looks like an abstract ice sculpture.  For whatever reason it fascinates me.  I should grab my camera one sunny weekend, go to the Shaw Center, and shoot pictures until I get it just right.  LOL!  I really need to pull out my book by Brian Peterson on shutter speed and read through it some more.

But we couldn’t stand near the water shooting photographs forever.  There was so much to try and see to do in the short day I’d given myself down there.  While up on the observation deck we noticed the Louisiana Old State Capitol with its unique Gothic architecture (2) and round windows.  Off we trooped across the street to get to the capitol and take a look around the museum housed there.

The place is full of interesting architure, from its decorated windows and unexpected turrets…

to its round windows on the ground floor.  I love these windows.  I don’t know why.  But if I had old Gothic weird Louisiana house, I’d love to have a window like this in it. 

Leading into the Old State Capitol are engraved tiles listing important events affecting the building.  Like any other important piece of Louisiana history, this building has a long and checkered past.

And what did I do while in the state capitol.  Did a take pictures of the amount of Louisiana political and governmental history that surrounded me?  Did I take pictures of the spiral staircase, the figures, the bits and pieces of history that make up the state in which I live.  Not at first.  At first, all I did was shoot pictures of the hardware on the doors: door knobs, striker plates, hinges. I mean really, look at it!  It’s gorgeous.  But the lighting was horrid and getting a shot that I was satisfied with was causing me difficulty.  I think Cree just looked at me and slightly shook her head wondering if I’d gone photographically mad.

There are very few museums in Louisiana where you will visit and not find something about Huey P. Long, one of Louisiana’s most famous political figures.  While I took lots of photographs while in the old capitol building (too many to show you here), this one is the one that I enjoyed the most.  I liked this exhibit.  It features a statue of Huey P. Long with a shadow that is actually a film running while one of his speeches runs on audio.  I thought having a stationary statue with a moving shadow was clever, and it caught my interest.

Next up was to take a spin at the Louisiana State Museum.  I knew that several years ago the state had revamped this building.  I had never been, so we took the opportunity to walk in.  It was WONDERFUL, and the only drawback was the fact that we ran out of time.  We weren’t able to tour all the exhibits in the building, though I was able to catch a quick shot of a full size shrimping boat housed in the building.  This has got to be hands down one of the best things to do (at least for me) in downtown Baton Rouge.  It’s two stories of Louisiana history and stories all for FREE.  I couldn’t believe that there was no admission fee and that we were allowed to bring our cameras in and take pictures.  I have plans to go back in the near future.

One of the things I would love to go back and try to get better pictures of are the Mardi Gras costume displays.  It was fantastic; however, the lighting was low, making picturing taking tough.  This pictures look alright small, but aren’t the best large size.  Increasing my ISO caused the pictures to get a bit grainy while trying to capture enough light.  Regardless if the picture is to the standards I’d prefer, look at that costume.  The plaque for  this one stated the costume was created in 1991 for the Endymion parade.  Can you imagine being the maid that had to wear that?  I wonder if she did push ups and strength training beforehand?

The head of a sea horse costume from a New Orleans krewe (the plaque wasn’t really clear on where this came from, or I accidentally photographed the wrong plaque!)

I’m definitely ready to go back to downtown Baton Rouge, back to the Louisiana State Museum and take more pictures.  It was beyond fun!  And besides, I need to take MORE PICTURES!

Have a wonderful Friday everyone, and a great weekend.

Today is my last day off on a long weekend I took.  My mother’s youngest brother and his family came from California to visit.  He and his wife brought along with them their two youngest (both in their upper teens).  It was a lovely weekend full of LOTS OF FOOD.  I’ll get to all the food in a minute.  Let’s talk about today’s lunch above first.

Friday, I enjoyed a potluck lunch at work and my contribution was two rotisserie chickesn from the local supermarket.  I’m always nervous about cooking for other people, so I don’t tend to do that.  The potluck was amazing, but I had a nearly whole rotisserie chicken left.  This is the last of it (nearly).  I think I have enough for some dinner tonight.  Along with it is steamed sweet potatoe slices, roasted broccoli and a honey tangerine.  Some of the rolls leftover from the potluck were left and I toasted those in a pan with a pat of maragarine.

This simple lunch just caps off a long weekend of food, fun, and life…hence the subtitle for this blog!  Let me go over with you what was consumed this weekend.

Friday – Friday morning started off simple with a bit of yogurt and Grape Nuts.  Let me recommend that you do not try this combination.  Though if it is already working for you, YAY!  For me, this didn’t work out so well.  Apparently, I’m not a huge fan of Grape Nuts (resulting heartburn); however, I didn’t know this beforehand.  It was a new to me type of food.  We’ll put that one in the “didn’t work out” column.  Lunch was had at work and was potluck in style.  Each staff member brought a dish to share, and oh my, did we eat well!  And probably a bit too much.  On the menu: quiche with bacon/spinach/carrots, apple salad with walnuts/raisins/celery, tortilla wraps filled with a rotel/cream cheese spread, bbq’d sausage that was AMAZING, baked beans, potato salad, rotisserie chickens, fried rice, chicken casserole that tasted like enchiladas without the tortillas, and a blackberry white chocolate cheesecake.  While some of the dishes I may have never tried before, most contained ingredients that I’ve certainly enjoyed before.  The food spread was just amazing; however, there were two new-to-me foods in the mix.  I’ve never had quiche up to this time.  It was time to try.  Verdict: Not for me.  I liked the flavor.  It was a well-made quiche, but the texture got me.  It just wasn’t something I can do (or at least not right now).  Cheesecake was the other new item.  I’ve never actually eaten cheesecake, never taking the time to try it because I’m not a huge fan of cream cheese.  Verdict: This particular was darn tasty.  However, I was only able to eat a small sliver.  It was quite rich and the texture was something I could only do in a small amount.  I also think I shouldn’t have eaten it.  After that small bit of cheesecake plus all the rest of the food I ate, I was positively ready for my afternoon nap.  Good that my vacation started that afternoon!  Vacation started that evening so I could go off to my parents house to see my California relatives.  I should find out if they live near a Daiso or Ichiban Kan, shouldn’t I?  LOL!  That night was hot dogs with my mom’s homemade deer chili.  OH MY WORD!  Deliciousness. And she sent me home with a container of chili.  It’s in my freezer now.  Waiting to be consumed.  Which it soon will be.

Saturday – Saturday was a day full of food at my aunt’s home, starting with fried fish, french fries, and fried rice.  Alot of fried foods, which I don’t normally indulge in, however, it is a  South Louisiana family get together.  Fried foods are sort of a given, and delicious on these occassions.  The fish was spectacularly good.  Nothing but that wonderful fish flavor without that horrid fishiness that comes from old or badly cleaned fish.  My family knows how to do it right!  Homemade brownies and banana pudding were for dessert.  Since I was still feeling adventurous after all the new foods I tried on Friday, I gave the ol’ banana pudding a try.  Banana pudding is another one of those items that I don’t normally eat due to the texture factor.  I don’t like pudding/plain yogurt/custard etc.  However, I do convince myself to eat these things when mixed with other things…sometimes.  This time, I decided to give it a whirl.  Like any good homemade banana pudding, this one had chunks of banana, banana pudding, and whole Nilla wafers lining the pan, inside the pudding…they were just all over the place.  Verdict: Tasty, but nothing I could eat alot of.  The banana chunks and Nilla wafers added some texture/crunch (so to speak) to the dish that helped with the whole goopy pudding factor I’m not a fan of.  However, the pudding makes the Nilla wafers a bit soggy on one side, something I didn’t overly enjoy.  It is definitely something I’d eat a small scoopful again at a family function; however, not something I’ll make at the house for myself anytime soon.

Sunday – Sunday was the last day my California relatives were in town, though we did try to keep one of them.  However, we couldn’t convince her to go to LSU for college next year.  Ah well, we’ll just have to convince them to come back soon for a visit.    We eat so well when they are in town.  Sundays meal consisted of homemade meatball spaghetti, with french bread and salad.  It was basic, but so darn good.  My family does know how to cook.  On the other end of the small town in which I grew up, my cousin and her son were at a baseball tournament.  Her son plays for a local baseball team.  When they didn’t show up for lunch, we figured they must be winning their games.  My mother and I took a quick trip up the block and around the corner to the baseball fields.  Sure enough, they were ready to head into their championship game.  A speariment snowball and I found ourselves sitting behind home plate watching the game and cheering for my home team.  They lost the game, but came in 2nd place at the tournament.  Good job guys!

As you can see, it was a fabulous tournament.  Today,  I’m tending to all those things I neglected (like the dogs and laundry) while I was hopping around here, there, and yon as I enjoyed food and family this weekend.  Aaaaaahhhh! It was wonderful.

I hope all of you are having a great start to your Mondays!  How are your challenges going as you head into the last week of challenge?  Let me know below or on the original challenge post.  It’s getting close to time for me to finish tallying the entries and pull a name! 

Be the bento everyone!

Today’s Photo Friday features a restaurant review of a eatery in Downtown Baton Rouge.  Recently, I mentioned taking a photo weekend with Cree and eating out to combat two hours of walking around the city.  On our journey around the city, we had passed this restaurant several times on 3rd street: Lucy’s.  The restaurant had a theme of water, waves, and old surfers.  The few times we’d past by the restaurant patrons were outside seemingly enjoying their food.  When we made the decision to grab a bite to eat, we decided to stop in at Lucy’s since we were nearly back to that area of downtown.

The place was comfortable with lots of light, which I quite apprecaited, and big screen tvs showing documentaries featuring old surfers and lots of water.  I’m unsure why, but the utensils were placed in a paper packet on the tables.  Interesting.

After perusing the menu, I settled on the Havana Tacos: flour tortillas with Cuban pulled pork, grilled pineapple relish & crisp red cabbage, over our signature rice and black beans.  Two things sold me on this dish: the Cuban pulled pork and the grilled pineapple relish.  I <3 grilled pineapple.  Absolutely adore the stuff, but it is something I don’t have the opportunity to enjoy often.  When I can find it, I grab the opportunity to enjoy it.

Cree opted for the turkey, bacon, brie, and apple pita pocket with sprouts and an edamame succotash type side.  She really enjoyed the sandwich, but left the edamame side dish nearly untouched.  I found that odd since I knew she liked edamame.  I asked her about it.  She replied that the edamame was a bit too hard for her, not thoroughly cooked enough.  All in all she liked the sandwich, but not the sides.

I had the opposite problem from Cree.  While I did clean my plate, I wasn’t overly impressed by the tacos.  The pineapple was good but missing that nice grilled taste that true grilled pineapple has.  The red cabbage just didn’t seem to match up with the other flavors going on in the dish, and the Cuban pulled pork was a big disappointment.  It was mush, like it had been cooked to within an inch of its life then put in a food processor for a pulse or two.  It just wasn’t what I as expecting.

However, that said, I’d give alot to know how the heck they cook their black beans.  They were delicious, with a slight kick that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Mixed with the rice, they could stand alone as a meal all on their own.  Seriously, I want to know how they make these!  Seriously!

Verdict: All in all, Lucy’s has a nice atmosphere and is a nice addition to the Downtown Baton Rouge eatery scene, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again unless I really wanted those black beans, which is in the realm of possibility.   Not when another restaurant I dearly love, Capital City Grill, is located just a corner or two over.  Lucy’s was a nice experience that I enjoyed, but not one I’ll mostly likely repeat in the near future.

Last Wednesday, I had my last scheduled day to eat out this month as part of the monthly meeting at work I’ve mentioned before.  And as usually happens in the middle of the month I became extremely busy with professional and personal obligations that normallly leave me feeling harried with little time.  This is always when I fall off of any goals I have set for myself.  This time, I did much better.  I ate at home: sandwiches, quickly made hamburgers from frozen- pre-made-by-me-patties, and cereal.  I didn’t pack a bento, didn’t take pictures.  That’s the only part I regret, but I figure one step at a time.  One of these days, I’ll learn to manage my time better.

The next two days I have off from work, and I’m looking forward to accomplishing a little cooking.  Today for lunch, I really wanted something featuring no meat in the meal.  After a week of ham & cheese sandwiches and hamburgers, I’m sort of meated-out at the moment.  I get like that sometimes.  But if I eat all vegetarian meals, I get bored too.  It’s all about finding that right balance for yourself.

The biggest obstacle I have to vegetarian cooking for myself is that I have a hard time finding recipes that read like something I might want to try.  The last 2+ years of this blog has been all about expanding my food repetoire.  And while I’ve made great strides, there is still alot I’m just not willing to try again.  Sorry tofu…I still have problems with you.  The only thing I ever made with you that ended up being something I was willing to eat over and over again were the vegetarian wontons.

Recently, I mentioned going back through my old issues of Everyday Food by Martha Stewart and finding that there are things I’m willing to eat now that I wasn’t willing to eat two years ago when I had a subscription.  Today, I had a hankering for black beans with Spanish rice.  Off to Everyday Food’s website I went.  I like this magazine.  My friend Kim, of Passion and Art blog, introduced me to this magazine back when I first started to cook for myself back in 2007.  It has been a godsend every since.  The simple recipes are just what a struggling cook like me needs.  However, I tend to forget to go back and look at the little magazines or the website most of the time.

So instead of thinking about it or talking about it on the blog, I decided today was the day to do something and actually find a couple of recipes and try them out.  Spicy Black Beans and Spanish Rice were copied and made in my humble little kitchen.  And per usual, things turned out not so bad, but with a few flaws.

The spicy black beans weren’t really all that spicy.  And the red pepper flakes used to give the beans their spiciness wasn’t quite the spiciness profile I was hoping for.  Now granted, I’ve said before I’m a wuss on the spicy scale, but sometimes I like a wee bit of a kick to my food. I used the lower amount suggested in the recipe, 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes, and didn’t really taste the spicy flavor all the way through the beans.  I think when I try this again, and I will try this again, I might opt for a jalepeno pepper diced up well.  Now, that’s being adventurous (for me).  Another big issue I have with this recipe is that it tastes like beans, with a wee bit of red pepper.  There is no depth to the flavor.  Maybe that’s just growing up Louisiana.  I expect more from the seasonings.  I’m going to have to figure out how to season these better.  Spices are needed; I’m just not sure which ones.  A big plus to the beans though were my own addition: mashing several spoonfuls up halfway through the cooking process.  This made the beans thicker and quite good.  However, next time I’m also going to add a bit more water to have a little soupier, thicker broth/sauce that the beans produce.  I like to mix my beans with the Spanish rice.  The mixing just didn’t go as well because the beans didn’t have enough liquid.

The Spanish rice was tasty too.  This recipe worked out much better for me, though I did have to make significant change.  I couldn’t believe it, but I was somehow out of carrots in my refrigerator!  Egads!  I’m hardly ever without carrots.  I love that vegetable.  EEK!  I’ve got to get myself to the produce stand, and quick.  Maybe that should be something I work into tomorrow’s plan for the day.  Instead, I used a vegetable medley from the freezer of peas, carrots, and corn.  It was nice, but I think I would have preferred just sticking to the carrots.  Again, the rice was nice, but a touch on the bland side, needing more spices.  I’m going to figure out which spices to use for this one as well.

Another thing I’m going to need to do for both recipes is to use more garlic!  Neither seemed to call for enough for my tastes.  And while this seems like a long list of complaints, in reality, they aren’t that bad.  Because the plate above with consummed with a smile on my face and happy-enough tastebuds.  But I’m not posting modified recipes until I can figure out what the appropriate modifications are.  Another part of the learning process here at Not Exactly Bento.

Be the bento everyone!  I’ll probably post another lunch tomorrow since I have the day off and won’t pack a bento for myself.