Martini Prizes & Caribbean Rice, Oh My!

Last night I fixed a recipe for Caribbean rice I found at Deanna's Corner Cooking, as a side dish to some store bought rotisserie chicken. While Terry didn't love it, I did enjoy it. It called for Jasmine rice which I really love & can eat on its own. While I don't rate it as high as most of the recipes I post, I do feel that one person's 6 is another person's 10. It certainly beats making the same rice dishes all the time & keeps me away from the sodium filled prepared boxes. Plus, it has veggies in it. So, it is worth a try because it's so simple, you have nothing to lose!

Caribbean Rice with Black Beans & Coconut Milk
5-6 cups cooked jasmine rice (2 cups uncooked rice)
1 tsp dried thyme (or one Tblsp fresh)
1-2 Tb canola oil
4-5 small sweet peppers of red, orange and yellow
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced thinly
4 cans black beans, drained and rinsed1 can coconut milk

While the rice is cooking, saute the peppers & garlic in the oil until soft. Add the thyme to the rice before covering to simmer. Add the green onions & saute 2-3 minutes more. Stir in the black beans and warm through then add the rice and coconut milk. Stir over med-low heat until well combined and heated through. Serve hot.

I halved this recipe & it still can serve at least 4-5 people. However, I still only used 1 can of beans which was more than enough although halving calls for 2 cans. And I still used about 4 small sweet peppers anyway.

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And here's a couple shots of what my account of the most perfect Martini party won me.

I used my new cocktail shaker to mix up some mojitos Monday night. This is where some of the magic happens - blogging that is. Here at home on Terry's Mac. Most of it though is done at work, naturally!