Today I thought I would share one tip that has SO touched our family's heart. One week when I was down in Clarkston, the girls and I were headed to eating lunch with Alysia. She called and told me that she would gladly make lunch for us and she would be serving rice and black beans. Now, to be quite honest..my girls had NEVER eaten rice and beans...ever.
I told her we were so excited and when I got off the phone I told the girls what we would be having for lunch. Now, the great thing about my family is that they will try anything. They are always curious and ready to try it. Now, they may never want it again, but they will try it. So, I told them we were having rice and beans and that since Mrs. Alysia was cooking it we KNEW it would be yummy! The girls were just wonderful with it...but I was a little afraid they would take one look and one taste...and not want to eat it. I was nervous for sure:)
When we arrived, she had quite a spread and we all sat down to eat and it was INCREDIBLE! As we talked I told her how awesome it was and she told me WHY they eat mostly a diet of rice, beans, and veggies with meat being an extra special treat once a week (and for leftovers). It touched my heart deeply and I wanted to share this with you.
She shared that most the world lives on some kind of diet of rice and beans. Coupled together they create what is called a complete protein. It keeps you super full and satisfied (without that terrible too full feeling) because it is something that your body can take almost everything from nutrition wise. I thought about that...
If you look around the world at feeding organizations, you will see them with large barrels of rice and then large barrels of some kind of bean mixture...and sometimes...a little pulled meat on top. Now, if those organizations have one shot a day at feeding these children I would think they would choose a meal that is not only economical, can have a long shelf life and survive shipping, but also be super nutritious and filling for their little bellies.
So, I came home and shared all this with Jay and we began a new family tradition. We began to have one night a week that we make some kind of rice and bean dish. We don't have any meat and eat simply. It is our meal we eat together as a family to remember and focus on the world and reality and being thankful. That meal is not only super duper yummy, super duper cheap, but last week we ate off of it for FOUR days!! We LOVE leftovers...like crazy!
Alysia had added a few yummy things to the rice and beans that just took it over the top good and we went with that recipe as well. Take a look at this simple meal:
*Dried Black beans - $1.72 (this has enough beans for 3 recipes! We made the amount on the instructions and we had enough for all of us to eat at various meals for 4 days!!!)
*Jasmine rice - $2.00 (this has enough for us to have rice meals for at least 2 weeks!!)
*Avocado - $1.50 (we used one for the original recipe and it lasted for 2 days. Please make sure you drizzle them in lemon juice if you keep the remaining for leftovers...or you will have a brown gooey mess!)
*Tomato - $.60 (one good sized tomato lasted for about 3 days of leftovers)
*PLAIN yogurt - $3.00 (We got a huge 32 oz. of organic kind that we only used a TBS of for each serving. I have other recipes to use it for...so you could get a .99 small container in the yogurt section).
-Soak your dried black beans according to the directions (6-8 hours) on your bag and your serving amount. We made 2 cups of beans and it lasted us for 4 days...LOTS of beans!!
-Cook your beans for about 1-2 hours (just put them on and leave them to simmer). I put some chicken bullion, season salt, etc that I had into the water to flavor the beans. Use whatever you like!
-Cook your rice according to your taste. Jasmine rice is a sticky rice...that is what makes this so yummy. If you haven't cooked with Jasmine rice (our favorite)...don't expect it to be flaky like some rices.
-I chopped up my avocado and tomato and seasoned them too!
Then, we just got big bowls and piled in lots of yummy rice and beans (remember that if you seasoned the juice of the beans it is super awesome. We drizzle that over the whole thing too! Don't waste that stuff!!). Then we add the plain yogurt (that acts like a sauce...trust me on this...I was skeptical too!) and top with your veggies.
We like to add the tomato and avocado to get some fresh veggies on it and it really brightens it up. This stuff will fill you to the RIM! I can't explain how filling this meal is...so go light at first because you can't imagine how satisfied you will be after a small bowl. This has virtually no fat (except the good fat from avocado) and it is SO cheap.
Now, the key to this meal for us is to take this opportunity to focus on the reality around the world. It is our time to talk about how the rest of the world lives. We use our blessing time as just a time of total thanksgiving and pray for those who don't even have anything this amazing for dinner. It is our focused time to think, pray, and talk about the world.
AND it is preparing your family to live overseas one day. Virtually everywhere around the world has their version of beans and rice. So, as we get used to eating these types of meal...we pray that our family and children won't be shocked when they find these ingredients. They will be comfort food to them by then:)
Let's not forget that this meal offers us a HUGE opportunity to save to GIVE! Let's look at the breakdown:
Money Spent:
Dried Black Beans - $0.57 (One recipe= enough for 4 people 4-5 meals)
Jasmine Rice - $1.00 (1 recipe + leftovers)
Avocado - $1.50 (1 recipe + some leftovers - we bought one more to finish up the leftovers)
Tomato - $.60 (1 recipe + some leftovers)
Plain Organic Yogurt - $.50 (1 recipe - this container was 32 oz size and we only about 1/6 of it at the most)
Total Cost -
$4.17
Four people for 4 days worth of meals! Even if you don't eat it as long we we did...it's still a bargain!
That is a pretty good investment to me...on MANY levels. It's super healthy, super yummy, super cheap, and a wonderful way to engage your family with a more global worldview! Try it...I bet you will LOVE it!
Tonight we are doing black-eyed peas and rice...mmmmm! Can't wait to pass that one along too!
Enjoy...
***Please see new post below***
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