A Little Desert Apartment

So. I love beans.  Like really, really love beans.

Saturday afternoon, I started a pot of beans in the crockpot.  I make a GOOD pot of beans.  I know, I know... meatless Mondays but my beans need bacon.  I am trying to quit meat but... I love beans with bacon. Mmmmm bacon.  Some day, I'll quit you.  Back to my point, I started a pot.  I put in my washed beans, a quartered vidalia onion, chopped up raw bacon and my seasonings (cumin, chili powder and garlic) and plenty of water.

I took my daughter to her special needs ballet and we were gone about three hours.  I came home to a glorious smell.  I started salivating.  I went to check on my beans and guess what? I forgot to put the freaking lid on it.  Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.  The water was all gone.  I dumped the crock of beans.  Very, very sad.  I would have been fine if I didn't have raw bacon in it.  I was worried about whether or not the temperature was stable enough during that time to kill the bacteria and I am a bit food poisoning paranoid.  I had big dreams for those beans.  I was going to eat them ALLLLL week.  ALL week.

Needless to say, I am using canned beans.  I will make another pot soon and maybe I'll use a ham hock or bacon.  I don't know.  I'm still deeply saddened.

So, for Meatless Monday I still had my bean tacos.  It was GOOD.  I used two cans of  ranch style beans (one with vidalia onions and the other with jalapenos.  Oh and they're pinto beans) and a can of Rotel.  I used the Mexican style (cilantro and lime in with the tomatoes and green chilies).  I made a batch of spanish rice.  I chopped up some cabbage and cilantro.  I also made a cucumber salsa (cucumber, roma tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, green onions, and lime juice) to top.

Did I tell you that this was GOOD? I mean GOOD!

I'm not much of a food photographer ( I am improving and some day, I hope to be GREAT but until then...) but here it is.  Goodness.  Nom. Nom. Nom.