Brazilian Rice and Beans

When I make our meal plan it is sometimes with specific recipes in mind, sometimes with specific dishes in mind (though not the exact recipe) and sometimes with just a vague idea of an ingredient or two that I'd like to base the meal around.  Usually it is a combination of all three.  For this meal I knew that I wanted to make something with rice and beans and that was all I had.  So I did a google search to see what I could find. 

Since rice and beans are rather common ingredients my search brought me a lot of results but the one that piqued my curiosity was one I found on Naturally Ella.  The gorgeous photos of this dish of not just rice and beans but the addition of sweet potatoes convinced me that I should try it.  It was delicious.  The addition of sweet potatoes added even more to the heartiness of the rice and beans but without becoming an overly heavy meal.  The rice was gone after dinner but there was a little bit of the sweet potatoes and beans mixture left and so I had those the next day alongside a scrambled egg.

I made no real change to her recipe other than reducing how spicy it was going to be (Little Man will eat a long list of things but spicy foods are not included on that list).  I also found that a little shredded cheddar and some sour cream were wonderful accompaniments.  I am sure that I will be perusing Erin's blog again.  It seems that she is mostly vegetarian and so may be a good source of inspiration for vegetarian entreés, something I try to include often in our menu.  I have plans for a huge garden in the spring and I know I am going to need resources to use up all my homegrown produce.

As I said, I made no changes to Erin's recipe, as such I feel I shouldn't post it.  If you would like to try it please see her original post.  Enjoy!