A Twist on Black Beans and Rice

I am much more of a cook than I am a sewer. I love to do both, but I am more confident in the kitchen than I am behind my sewing machine. I have been reading about all of these great summer recipes using in season fruit. Living in the Caribbean it's summer all the time, but there are so many good summer fruits we miss out on...peaches, strawberries (although we do get some in the winter months, nectarines, plums, blueberries, etc.) How I would love a fresh peach cobbler on my table tonight for dinner, but alas there are no peaches to be found here unless you buy them from the canned fruit aisle (which under desperate measures I have been known to do to get my cobbler fix). SO, I thought I would offer a tropical summer spin on an old favorite in our house.

I usually use a fabulous recipe for black beans and rice from my friend Kristi. Today I took it for a little spin around the local block and added pineapple. I would have sided it with a good ripe avocado, but they are a little hard to find around here right now.

Here's the adapted version I created for our lunch:

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup pineapple, cut-up into bite sized chunks
juice from 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine water, brown rice and 1/4 teaspoon salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and put lid on pan. Simmer for 40 minutes. Then, add can of black beans and return lid to simmer for another 10 minutes. Mix in tomato, red onion, parsley, pineapple, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. That's it!

We served it with grilled chicken. But, it's pretty good by itself or could be good with fish, as well.

The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup grated cheese, which gives it a creamy, cheesy texture and goes so well with the onion and other flavors. Here are some other ingredients you could add that would taste yummy:
lemon juice instead of lime juice
chopped mango
green onion instead of red onion
and, of course the avocado