Pinquitos And Rice A Nutritious, Filling Vegetarian Dinner

Librarian Tina Wynecoop has the right idea when her hungry husband Judge, a logger, comes home for dinner. She plans a quick vegetarian meal that’s not only filling but nutritious.

“I’ve always felt that rice and beans are a really good combination,” says Wynecoop, a young adult specialist at the downtown Spokane Public Library. “When we tried the pinquitos (beans), the recipe just sort of evolved from that.”

Wynecoop inspects the canned bean section at the grocery store often, since hard water at her house makes soaking and cooking dry beans almost impossible. After she discovered the new varieties of beans from S&W that debuted last year, she found a winner in pinquitos, a flavorful, small, tender bean.

Pinquitos are delicately seasoned with onion, garlic, cumin, and chili pepper and packed with 6 grams of dietary fiber in 1/2 cup.

Wynecoop cooks several cups of instant rice and heats the pinquitos. She then layers the two in a casserole dish lined with lettuce and tops it with a variety of ingredients: tomatoes, onion, avocado, reducedfat Cheddar cheese and salsa.

It’s important to choose colorful toppings for extra eye appeal, Wynecoop says.

Drink a goblet of grape juice with the rice and beans, she recommends, since the vitamin C releases some nutrients bound up in the beans, such as iron.

Finally, says this born librarian, you can read a good book while you eat.

Of course, with a dinner like this, your attention will be focused on devouring a meal fit for those logger appetites in your family.

Tina’s Pinquitos and Rice

From Tina Wynecoop, Spokane

Lettuce

2 (15 ounce) cans pinquitos beans, undrained

4-6 cups raw instant rice, cooked as directed on package

Salt

Toppings: chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh green onion, chopped avocados

Optional: reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, salsa

Grape juice

Line a large salad bowl or casserole dish with chopped lettuce.

Heat undrained beans. Make instant rice as directed, adding salt as desired. Place rice on lettuce and add beans. Top with tomatoes or other toppings and optional garnishes.

Serve with grape juice.

Yield: 4 servings.

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