I cooked today

One of the daycare moms mentioned that she made a bean stew, and it sounded really good so I decided I wanted to make one too.  Finally -- FINALLY -- I forced myself to carve out some time to cook it.

It took about an hour, much of which was spent simmering and waiting, which I used to cut up fruit for Dylan's dinner.  Since there isn't enough time to cook anything that takes more than 20-30 min between our arrival home from daycare and bedtime, I cooked between 4 and 5 PM.  I justified it to myself because Luca took Dyls to daycare this AM, meaning I could start work at 8, and not 9:30 (or 10 if I procrastinate). 

It turned out really nicely!  Below is the recipe, which I simplified considerably from what they wanted me to do, which including overnight soaking of beans  = no freaking way.

Mexican Bean Stew
1. Put three cans of beans (1 Garbanzo, 1 Pinto, 1 Black) in a pot with all the bean juice.  Add a can of water and turn on the flame to medium.
2. Dice an onion and crush 4 cloves of garlic (I loved that they didn't make me chop the garlic -- crushing it is way easier)
3. Saute onion and garlic in a skillet in some olive oil (I always use more than they suggest -- about enough to coat the bottom of the pan) until the onion is translucent
4. Add 1 teaspoon of cumin to the onion + garlic --> stir well.  I actually added a rather heaping teaspoon because I like the way it tastes
5. Add garlic + cumin + onion to the beans
6. Also add some chopped tomatoes to the beans (I used a can of whole peeled tomatoes and crushed them in the sink with my hands)
7. Stir + simmer for about 5 minutes
8. Add a bag of frozen corn
9. Add a 1/2 teaspoon (I did heaping) of cinnamon
10. Add salt and pepper and cayenne to taste
11. Turn up the heat and boil off any extra liquid
12. It's one of those recipes where the longer it sits the better it tastes

I served it over couscous and put some sour cream on top.

Dyls liked it.  She REALLY liked the sour cream (of course).  She was meh on the couscous.  

Luca liked it too.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to do something like this on a regular basis.

*****

I also found out about my return to clinics activity, before I hit the NICU on 3/28.  I will be in the well baby nursery for 2 weeks (pass/fail) for a "warm up" starting on 3/11.