You see, I have never owned a pressure cooker because for some reason I was afraid of them. Not anymore. I have had my InstaPot in the box for over 3 months and I really don’t know why it took me so long to put it to work.

Canned beans are going to be out of the picture from now on. I have already bought enough beans where I don’t have to buy any canned variety. I just have to make sure to soak the beans overnight and then just cook them for a mere 20 minutes.

If you pre-soak the beans, this recipe will only take you about 20 minutes to make. While pre-soaking the beans is optional I prefer to do so since the cooking time gets cut by half so instead of taking about 40 minutes with dried beans it will take you just 20 for them to cook.

I am going to post the other chickpea curry recipe I made twice already in the blog. Super easy as well. I also wanted to make a video of this recipe so that you can see how easy it is to make. If you don’t have a pressure cooker I urge to get one. This brand that I have is rather easy to use and does different things.

I hope you like this caribbean black beans. I couldn’t believe how delicious it was since the recipe was so simple.

Enjoy!

Caribbean black beans

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb black beans, pre-soaked over night
• 14 oz coconut cream, or coconut milk
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 large peppers, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp celtic salt
• Fresh cilantro, chopped
• 4 cups hot water

 

 

 

Directions:

In your InstaPot, or any pressure cooker, add all the ingredients. No need to mix it through. I did a bit but no need.

Close the lid and set the pressure cooker to 20-25 minutes. Enjoy with some brown rice or by itself.

NOTE: You can serve this with brown rice, I did!

The post Caribbean black beans appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Most of you know that my rice cooker is one of my most precious counter kitchen appliances. I use it about 2-3 times per week at least since we eat tons of rice. However, yesterday was the first time I actually used my rice cooker to make a complete rice meal rather than just plain old rice.

I have partner with Della Rice to be one of the members of Create a Stir Campaign.  For this campaign armed with my kitchen appliance and ingredients I was able to create this Caribbean rice and beans recipe that not only worked perfectly in the rice cooker but it was easy, delicious, and healthy which means,  there would be more rice cooker meals coming your way!

For this recipes I used Della Basmati light brown rice. I love this rice because it cooks in just about 20 minutes, it has more fiber and minerals and has the nutritional value of regular brown rice. I love Della Rice because not only they have many different type of rices but they all cook in 20 minutes, which being a busy mom it comes in handy. We all know we don’t want to spend hours cooking in the kitchen.

Della Rice is also available at ShopRite stores and grocery stores across the U.S.  Find a store near you here

For this Caribbean rice and beans recipe I kept it vegetarian. Next time I will add some cooked chicken pieces. If you like to add the chicken, add it to the rice cooker together with all the ingredients before turning it on. I also opted for using plain water rather than using vegetable or chicken stock. My reason for using water is that I want to have total control of the sodium content in my recipe as well as the flavor… and lets no forget water is cheaper!

Here you can see the ingredients in the rice cooker. All you have to do is add the 4 cups of water and turn on the rice cooker. The meal will be done in just 20 minutes.

My friends at Della Rice are giving away 50 rice cookers. Go below to enter. You will love having this in your kitchen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are other StirMaker recipes that you may want to try:

• Souffle Bombay’s Asian Lettuce Wraps Rice Bowl Stir:  http://dellarice.com/lets-stir-up-dinner-with-asian-lettuce-wrap-rice-bowls/
• Healthy Green Kitchen’s Pan-Fried Tofu with Red-Peanut Curry Stir:  http://dellarice.com/stir-alert-pan-fried-tofu-with-red-peanut-curry-sauce-via-healthy-green-kitchen/
• The Chirping Moms Build Your Own Taco Stir:  http://dellarice.com/the-chirping-moms-stir-up-a-taco-rice-bowl-createastir/
• Eat. Sleep. Be.’s Turkey Taco Rice Bowl Stir:  http://dellarice.com/eat-sleep-be-blogger-creates-a-turkey-tex-mex-rice-bowl-stir-recipe/

Or if you are more visual and would like to see a video and the steps on how to create a stir with Della Rice here is a link.

I hope you like this Caribbean rice and beans recipe. It only takes 20 minutes to make, it is super delicious, easy, and healthy.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Della Rice. This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own and I speak from personal experience. The end :-)

Caribbean rice and beans

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Della Rice brown rice
• 1 15 oz can red beans, drained
• 1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 1/2 tsp celtic salt
• 4 cups hot water

Directions:

In a small skillet add the garlic and oil and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Add all the ingredients to the rice cooker and cook until done. I pressed the white rice bottom in my rice cooker.

Serve immediately.

The post Caribbean rice and beans appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I have this Caribbean chicken recipe that I adore. It is so good. Because it is so good I wanted to make a fish version of it. This recipe was almost identical but the cooking time. It took a lot less time to cook since the fish only needs about 10 minutes, and the caramelization and marinate step was also skipped.

I am going to be making this recipe much more often, so easy and delicious. I think I will be trying it next with shrimp. We haven’t had shrimp in months so I think I might get some jumbo size shrimp and try it.

On another note, I am so aggravated right now…. For those that don’t know, my house flooded 8/21. Today 10/2 and my house still sits there with no work being done. The insurance company is going back and forth with my construction people because essentially they don’t want to pay for certain things, so annoying. On the meantime we are in a crapy 2 bedroom apartment that costs $3600 per month but that they are willing to pay no problem.

They pretty much don’t care how long they are taking going back and forth wasting rent money but they don’t want to pay for essential items that need to be repaired at my house. What a nightmare I tell  you. I didn’t think this was going to be such an issue.

Anyhow, I promised you the recipe last night but I was way to tired after school. So here it is first thing, I hope you get to make this Caribbean fish. It is super easy, delicious and still healthy.

Enjoy!

Caribbean fish

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs Mahi Mahi, diced, or any firm fish
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced into big chunks
• 2 large organic red bell peppers, cut into large chunks
• 2 large onions, cut into large chunks
• 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp celtic salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup organic ketchup
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium to high heat. Add all the ingredients except the fish.

Bring the mixture to a rapid boil, then lower the flame a bit and let it cook for 15 minutes to reduce the sauce and cook the veggies. You may have to stir once or twice. Add the fish and cook further for 10 minutes until the fish is fully cooked. Don't stir too much of the fish will break. Turn heat off when fish is cooked through and serve over brown rice.

The post Caribbean fish appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Lately, I have been trying to put my slow cooker to work. I am trying to at least incorporate one slow cooker meal each week.

This Slow cooker Caribbean peanut chicken was absolutely delicious. I enjoyed the flavor of the thyme and peanut butter together. It was rather unique but very good.

I have been finding a lot of chicken recipes for the slow cooker. I want to have more vegetarian options so what I am trying to do is make some of my own recipes in the slow cooker and see how that works. I have done a couple that have turned sort of OK. Not perfect, but OK so I have to try these recipes again.

One important piece of advice for this Slow cooker Caribbean peanut chicken recipe:

Make sure you don’t overcook the rice. The recipe called for 45 minutes on high using white rice. I used long grain brown rice and after the 45 minutes my rice was hard so I cooked it for an extra 30 minutes. Big mistake because that was way too long. My rice came out a bit on the mushy side. It was edible but not of my liking. 45 minutes was not enough for the brown rice to cook but the extra 30 minutes was way too long. I think 45 to 1 hour will be more adequate for next time.

Anyhow, mushy rice or not, I really enjoyed this Slow cooker Caribbean peanut chicken. I will be making it again soon but next time I will be a bit more careful cooking the rice. Let me know if you try this recipe.

I hope you like it as much as we did.

Enjoy!

Here is the chicken right before I added the long grain brown rice. Cooking it 45 to 1 hour on high is sufficient but depending on the rice that you use the cooking time may vary a little bit.

Slow cooker Caribbean peanut chicken

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breast, cut into thin strips
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 fresh tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup organic peanut butter
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 green chili, chopped
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 cup long grain brown rice
• Fresh cilantro
• 1 lemon

Directions:

In a mixing bowl mix, with a wire whisk, mix the chicken stock, olive oil, organic peanut butter and dried spices. Add this mixture to your  slow cooker.

Add the reaming of the ingredients, except lemon and fresh cilantro, and turn the slow cooker to high. Cook for 2 hours. Sprinkle the rice over the casserole and mix well. Cook for 45 to 1 hour minutes. You many need more time depending on the rice.

Sprinkle lemon juice and the fresh cilantro over the rice and chicken when done.

Recipe adapted from Slow Cooking Cookbook

Nutrition facts calculated based on the recipe giving 5 servings.

The post Slow cooker Caribbean peanut chicken appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

How good is this recipe? Well, let me just tell you that you need this Caribbean chicken recipe in your life is that good. Trust me, if you like chicken, this will become one of your favorite chicken recipes. This recipe has been passed down to one of my best friends, which originally comes from her mother in law’s housekeeper while they were living in the Caribbean.

She used to fix this recipe all the time and everyone used to always raved about how good it was. I first had this Caribbean chicken about 2 months ago when I went to my friends house for dinner and she decided to fix it. When I tasted it I had to have the recipe at once. Since then I have made this recipe several times. I am not much of a poultry or meat eater but between this Caribbean chicken, the Moroccan chicken, the parsley and garlic chicken cutlets, and chicken paprikash I made a while back I think is going to be hard to beat these chicken recipes.

I think my chicken recipe repertoire has gotten a lot better in the past month, however, I think I am going to take a brake from the chicken and focus more on veggies and fish for a while. Anyhow, a few suggestions for this dish:

• Make sure you use a big bowl to marinate the ingredients. The bigger the better.
• Turn ingredients around 2-3 times while marinating to make sure all of the liquid distributes equally over the ingredients.
• Cook Caribbean chicken in a big, more like huge, pot :-) Well this is a super winner chicken recipe.

If you make it serve it with brown rice. It goes perfect with it.

Enjoy!

Place the ingredients in your preferred big bowl and mix through. Cover and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Place the sugar in your preferred heavy pot and when it is bubbling and turning brown take the chicken pieces out of the bowl and add it to the hot pan to brown on all sides as best as you can. It’s OK if some sides don’t brown. Mine are never perfect. Then place the marinated ingredients in the pan plus ketchup and about 1-2 cups of water.

Caribbean Chicken

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 whole small organic chicken cut into pieces, or 3 lbs chicken breast cut into large chunks
• 4-6 organic chicken thighs
• 4-6 organic drumsticks
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced into big chunks
• 2 large onions, cut into large chunks
• 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp celtic salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
• 1/2 cup organic ketchup

Directions:

Place first 12 ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Let chicken stand in seasonings for at least 30 minutes, like in the pictures, cover and place in the fridge. I have done between 30 minutes to 1 hour most times. In a large heavy pot, this is what I used, heat oil over high flame.

Add the sugar distributed through the bottom of the pan like in the pictures. When the sugar begins to bubble and color is getting a pale to dark brown take chicken pieces and arrange them into the pan. Cook them on all sides until they brown a bit for about 2-3 minutes.

Add ketchup, marinade, 2 cups of water and stir until blended. Bring chicken to a rapid boil, then lower the flame, cover pan partially, and let cook for 1 hour stirring in between 2-3 times.

Sprinkle some fresh herbs if desired and serve over brown rice.

NOTE: If you have too much liquid at 45 minutes, uncover the pot and turn the heat to a high setting. Some of the liquid will cook away. I like my gravy on the thicker side so this is what I do around 45 minutes.

The post Caribbean Chicken appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.