Fire-roasted Quinoa and Black Beans

On Sunday, I decided to finally whip up Life Among the Trees' Quinoa and Black Bean Dish that I'd been eyeing for some time so that I'd have something for lunch all week. And let me tell you--it's fricking easy as all get out *AND* it tastes good *AND* (yes, I know you saw it coming) it uses Muir Glen's fire-roasted tomatoes. So seriously: how could you go wrong with this?

I only made two modifications to the recipe (mostly because I wanted to try to make it more soupy than dense--the end result was kind of borderline between the two) and that was to use canned corn and to use only ONE 15-oz can of black beans. It leaves the dish very potently tomatoey, but I likey.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 t. vegetable oil


• 1 onion, chopped


• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped


• 3/4 c. uncooked quinoa


• 1 1/2 c. vegetable broth


• 1 large can of fire-roasted tomatoes


• 1 t. ground cumin


• 1/4 t. cayenne pepper


• salt and pepper to taste


• 1 c. corn kernels (I used canned)


• 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained


• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)


• A dollop of vegan sour cream per serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.

Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth and fire-roasted tomatoes. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,

Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro. Top with vegan sour cream.