A Taste of the Islands...

I made this - gosh a while ago now - I know, I'm so far behind!

This dinner was a vegetarian delight!!!

The flavors were sensational, the colors on the plate made you just want to gobble this meal up.

And as many usual readers of this blog may know, I'm not huge on making side dishes from recipes, but I've been wanting to make this recipe for the rice for an age and it did not disappoint.

This made a great leftover lunch too the next few days!

I have had this recipe in my printed pile of papers for so long now I have NO CLUE where it came from! If it's yours - send me a message.

Cuban Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice

Rice
1 bag boil in bag rice (I just used regular rice from my rice cooker)

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup diced fresh pineapple (I just used a can of tidbits, worked perfectly)

2 T cilantro chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

Cook rice according to directions. Drain and place in a bowl. Melt butter on the stove over medium heat and toss in pineapple and saute for 4 minutes or until the pineapple begins to brown. Add pineapple mixture to rice along with cilantro and salt. Toss and keep warm.

Black Bean Patties

2 cups rinsed and drained canned black beans

1/2 tsp. garlic minced

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg white

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese or pepper jack cheese

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup cornmeal

cooking spray

reduced fat sour cream.

Place 1 1/2 cup of the bean, garlic, cumin and salt in a bowl and mas with a fork. Place remaining 1/2 cup beans and egg white in a food processor and process for 30 seconds until well combined. Add bean puree to mashed beans in bowl and stir until combined. Add cheese and onion to bean mixture, stir to combine. Divide bean mixture into 4 each portions and shape in to patties. Place cornmeal in a shallow dish and dredge the patties. Heat pan over medium high heat with cooking spray. Add patties and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned on each side. (Instead of dredging, I just omitted that part and cooked them on a hot griddle pan without any added fat).

Serve with tomato, sour cream, rice and avocado.

DELISH!!!