Coconut Black Beans & Rice and Summer Corn Salad

Happy Friday to all of you! Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? A band called Seven Oh Sixx is performing here at Fort Benning, free of charge, so we're going to go enjoy the show tomorrow night. We're also hosting a sleepover -- a sort of last hurrah before school begins.

My blogger friend Heather at Out of the Box Into the Kitchen made some coconut black beans and rice, but advised that it was bland. So, I decided I'd try it differently and see if I'd like it. The idea of adding coconut both intrigued me and made me nervous at the same time.

WOW! Everyone gobbled it up, even Picky Eater! It was so delicious I'll never make black beans & rice differently again. I know it sounds odd, but give it a try. We had summer Corn Salad on the side. It was fresh and delightful. A good accompaniment to the main dish.

Coconut Black Beans & Rice

What You Need:

for the beans:

• 1 lb black beans, cooked, and drained (or 2 cans, rinsed and drained)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 green onions (greens and whites), sliced
• 1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper

for the rice:

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice (sticky rice is great here)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup coconut milk (full-fat, also called coconut cream)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 green onions, sliced
• a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper and a few more shakes of sea salt

How it's Done:

1. Bring the coconut milk, water, and 1 tsp sea salt to a boil. Add the rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes (for white rice). When finished, remove from heat and stir in green onions and pepper & additional salt (as needed). Rice will be creamy and will absorb the remaining liquid as it sits a few minutes.
2. While the rice is simmering, prepare the beans: In a skillet, heat oil or butter. Saute onion and pepper several minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, beans, and coconut, Cook and stir until heated. Stir in green onions.
3. Serve beans over rice.

Simple Summer Corn Salad

What You Need:

• 15 oz can white corn kernels (drained of liquid)
• a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 banana pepper, sliced into rings
• 1/4 onion, diced
• a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• the juice of one lemon
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl.
2. Cover and chill several hours before serving.

Welcome, friends new & old! Don't forget to enter to win a SodaStream Home Soda Kit! Also, I'll be drawing later this evening for a random follower winner of my Georgia Pay it Forward prize pack! (To win the Georgia Prize, all you need to do is become a public follower via Google Friend Connect!)

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