My younger son charlie is crazy about black beans and rice. Andfor a parentwhat a complete thrill when a kid loves a dish thats healthy, inexpensive, easy to make, vegetarian, quickly thrown together with pantry ingredients, and made in large batches. And its even better when you make it a day or two or three ahead of time. I have a recipe for this in the mom 100 cookbook, which ive made countless times, but here is another one that i made recently with exactly what i had on hand. Its a very flexible recipe. Finish it off with a few squeezes of fresh lime or lemon juice, a dash of hot sauce, some shredded cheese, a sprinkle of sliced scallions, and a dollop of sour cream. Any or all of the aforementioned. When you reheat it, or portions of it, you may want to add more water or vegetable broth to loosen it up. For a vegetarian meal, serve with sesame honey quinoa and carrot salad with avocado. For carnivores, create a full-on feast with citrus basil shrimp kebabs, or barbacoa beef tacos, and the always-fun salad on a stick.
