Gluten Free Wednesday: Dominican Beans over Rice with Red Cabbage Salad

Happy Gluten Free Wednesday!

First of all let me say sorry for not posting over the last couple weeks!  My computer officially freaked out , had a nasty virus that wouldn't go away by anything I attempted, and I had to take it to Geek Squad.  3-5 days later, aka almost 2 weeks later, the computer was Finally! ready to come back home.  After waiting in line at Best Buy Union Square for over 45 minutes (there were only 3 people ahead of me!), I finally had my computer back in my grasp.  Damn how I missed it!  I am sooooo happy it's back and more appreciative than ever that everything is ok, and that all my pictures and everything is still here!  Although there is a very strange picture on the front.  Oh well.  So, without further ado, gluten free Wednesday!

(By the way, even though I am not at my old job where I cooked in the kitchen, I found this post from a couple months ago, the last post I did from the era of Lifethyme!)  I knew in advance that today was going to be crazy, so I got a little help from home - I brought in a package of seasoned pinto beans that I had made a couple weeks ago, and froze, for a time like today, when I knew I wouldn't have time to make anything nice otherwise because of the time constraints.  Because of that, lunch was a breeze.  The only thing I actually had to make at work was a veggie - something to even out the meal.  So, I decided to make something nice and crunchy to go along with it: a cabbage salad! And it was definitely tasty!  We were missing a couple ingredients I wanted to put in it, like fresh jalapeno pepper and lime juice.  We only had lemon juice, but I would have definitely preferred lime.  If you have those ingredients and would like to add them, then by all means, do.  If not, no worries because this salad was super tasty as is.  Take a hint from me - next time you make beans, make a giant pot then freeze the leftovers in either individual or two serving containers and you'll have a super easy, healthy meal quickly.  And you won't have to rely upon and form of packaged food. 

Dominican Beans Over Rice with Red Cabbage Salad:



Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Dominican Beans over Rice



                                   

Serves: 4-6 as a side dish

Dominican Beans, or other seasoned beans (recipe to come later)

Cooked white rice

Red Cabbage Salad:

1 small head red cabbage, shredded by hand

1/2 large red pepper, small diced, about 3/4 cup

1/4 large red onion, small diced, about 1/3 cup

1 large avocado, seeded and medium diced

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon, about 2-4 tablespoons, depending on size (or lime, as desired)

1. Prepare the beans.
2. Prepare the rice.

3. Prepare the cabbage salad: shred the cabbage as finely as you can by hand.  Place in a medium sized mixing bowl.  Add the chopped red pepper and onion and toss to coat.  Add the olive oil, lemon juice (beginning with the smaller of the two amounts), sea salt and black pepper.  Mix everything together, using your hands to massage the oil and lemon juice into the cabbage leaves.  Taste. Add more lemon juice or salt as needed.  Add the avocado and stir gently to combine.  Allow the flavors to marinate for about 10 minutes before serving.

4.  Prepare the plate: Spoon a helping of rice onto the plate and top with the cooked beans, adding more of the cooking liquid as desired (it is super flavorful!). Assemble the salad on the same plate. Place a serving of the lettuce on the plate and top with the sliced tomatoes and any other vegetables you have on hand. Sprinkle the tomatoes with sea salt and black pepper if desired. Drizzle with dressing of choice and top with croutons.



Close Up of the Tasty Salad.

Enjoy!

-K