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What's for Dinner tonight?


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It is cold and windy here today from an Artic Blast that blew through yesterday (35 degrees! BRRRR)...so today I felt almost like I was back in Kentucky. But I would prefer the warm tropical climate of my Belize Vacation (86 degrees year round!) - so since I was in a Belize frame of mind I cooked one of my favorite Belize dishes - Rice and Beans. I even made some Belize-style Slaw to go with it. It is different from Kentucky Style home cooking, and the tropical flavor brings back fond memories of warm tropical sunshine and fresh Carribean breezes wafting across me as I sit and watch the herons come down to the river to feed on the fishes...

[b]Rice and Beans.[/b] This is the total Belizean staple side dish, like "Potatoes" in Ireland, or "Fries" in the US. It varies a little, and some people will call the rice "dirty rice", although it's not anything like Cajun "Dirty Rice." Here's the way to make it.

1. When you cook your beans, put a lot of water in them, so that you have lots of "pot liquor" on the top.

2. Take this pot liquor and use it to cook your rice in. This will give the rice a nice brown look, particularly if you use black beans, which is my favorite now-a-days. [i][b]Red kidney beans or brown pinto beans will do in a pinch.[/b][/i]

3. Add some beans from the beans you cooked earlier. I tend to want to put a lot of beans in. The Belizeans just put enuf in that you can see the beans scattered throughout the rice. Remember that this is a Side Dish, like potatoes. It's better with "grubby" (creole for "gravy") or ketchup. Belizean restaurants cover the plate with Rice and Beans, and then put everything else on top!! (a big, filling meal, eh?)

The actual "official" ratio of rice to beans is 5 to 1. (5 pounds rice, 1 pound beans) I think the right ratio is more like 3 to 1. That's what I use -- 3 cups rice , one cup of beans. The Belizeans often cook their rice with "coconut water" which they make by grating a coconut and putting the resulting water and coconut oil in the pan with the rice. This gives the rice a wonderful texture and flavor that I can't get!! [i][b]You can put in a can of Coconut Milk if you can find it and that is almost as good, but not quite.[/b][/i]
You will have to travel to Belize in order to get the authentic version!

This recipe is compliments of a favorite website that I have bookmarked called Belizean Recipes.

http://www.belizenorth.com/belizean_recipes.htm

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[quote="ltl"]
[quote="lettheredeemedsayso"]Baked fish and squash
[/quote]

Erm, what is squash?[/quote]

Some grow on vines whilst others grow on stalks in clumps. The vine-types look like melons with handles on.

There are two basic types::: Winter squash and summer squash. Winter squash will keep for several months, but summer squash are exceedingly perishable.

Please click here:::

http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm

Squash are very versatile and the butternut is my favorite winter type. A butternut squash will make a better pumpkin pie than a pumpkin will, IMHO (my wife's opinion likewise, and she is by far the world's finest cook. :mrgreen: :wink: :mrgreen: )

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