Beans & Rice Saga: Korean-ish

Here's attempt number two at beans and rice. I figured, the most appealing thing of my favorite meal (bulgogi/bibimbap) is the sauce... I could basically put that on anything and make it delicious. So it needed to go into our beans and rice.

For the first attempt, I cooked a pound of white beans so we had quite a few beans in the freezer, so this was also the first attempt at using the beans after they were frozen.

The beans: frozen white northern beans
The rice: white medium grain enriched rice
The add-ins: mushrooms sauteed in garlic, green onions
The seasonings: bulgogi sauce; topped with sesame seeds
The process: I thawed the beans for a few hours on the counter. While the rice was cooking, I made the sauce* and sauteed mushrooms in butter and garlic, then added green onions. I nuked the beans for about a minute before stirring them into the rice, then adding the mushroom/onion mix, then the sauce, mixed thoroughly, and let it cook for a couple minutes while I got bowls and forks and cleaned up a bit.

*I made semi-half of the sauce recipe. Here's what I mean... Normally, when I'm making bulgogi/bibimbap, I make the sauce like this: 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp ground ginger. For this, I used about half the soy sauce and half the brown sugar, half the sesame oil, and the same amount of red pepper flakes and ginger.

The verdict: We both give it about a 6/10. We're going to try it at some point with the full sauce recipe, because it could use a little more oomph. (Although the red pepper flake shines through pretty well.) But it's pretty good.

Beans and Rice Saga: Italian

We've decided, in an attempt to spend less money while still remaining nutritionally sound, to start experimenting with beans and rice recipes. The savings are real, people: I got 2 lb. white beans, 1 lb. small red beans, 1 lb. black beans, 1 lb. brown rice, and 3 lb. white medium rice for about $13. The add-ins don't have to be fancy or expensive either (but even when they are, you'll be using less of them than usual, because they'll be mixed in with the filling beans and rice).

Our first attempt was as follows:

The beans: white northern beans
The rice: white medium grain enriched rice
The add-ins: mushrooms, peas, green onions, Parmesan
The seasonings: Italian pasta sprinkle (Penzey's)
The process: We overnight-soaked the beans and cooked them in the crockpot the next day. I made the rice when I got home, while I sauteed mushrooms in a little butter, then added green onions and frozen peas at the end. I mixed some beans and the veggie mixture into the rice, then added Parmesan and pasta sprinkle to taste.
The verdict: Not terrible. We both give it about a 3/10. It was a little dry, a little bland (more Parmesan and some garlic powder helped that a little), and I wasn't feeling particularly well so that may have swayed my opinion a little.