Rice, Mango, and Black Eyed Peas Salad and an Award!

Now I’m really back.  I mean, I know I said I was back before, but then I had a crazy finals week, followed by some crazy packing time, followed by crazy moving time.  But things are no longer crazy.  I'm settled for the summer and I'm totally back to my regular scheduled programming.  But first, let’s catch up a bit.

First, I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!  Two amazing bloggers, Jodie @ Binomial Baker and Heather @ Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes, nominated me for this award, and I am so humbled and honored that they did!  More details are below!

Second, I am now officially moved out of DC and into PA.  I’m spending the summer with my parents as I continue to rehab my wrist, and somehow I’ve been named the official cook for the summer.  Honestly, I’m totally ok with that.  I’m mostly just happy to be in a large, light-filled kitchen with tons of counter space and new toys for me to play with.  That and I can finally justify cooking in my usual large quantities because I’m no longer cooking for just myself.

Now, on to the food…have you heard of champagne mangoes?  They’re smaller than your normal mango, and their skin is yellow instead of that green/red color.  But they are absolutely delicious!  We had several hanging around in the fridge that needed to be used, so I decided to make a mango-bean-rice dish. 

Black rice in front, small champagne mangoes in the background

Because I like the color, I used black rice.  It’s literally just a black version of regular rice, which gives a lovely color contrast in this dish.  You can mix up the marinade and chop up the rest of the ingredients while waiting for the rice to cook, making this dish super easy to put together.  It’s light and refreshing, easy to make ahead of time, and if you’re in a rush, you can totally throw some into a tortilla and eat it on the go.

Rice, Mango, and Black Eyed Peas Salad

Serves 8 as a side, 4 as a main

Ingredients:

2 cup uncooked black rice (or any other kind of rice)

3-4 ripe champagne mangoes, diced

1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed well

3 scallions, finely chopped

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 large avocados, diced

1/2 cup fresh lime or lemon juice

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons agave

1-2 tablespoon hot sauce (or more), to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Cook rice according to directions, but use just a bit less water for cooking than recommended (the rice will then be able to soak up the dressing so the dish is not too wet).  For black rice, combine 2 cups of rice with 3 1/3 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer a cook, covered, for half an hour.  Remove from heat, fluff, and let it sit, covered, for a bit.

2.  Mix the lemon or lime juice, olive oil, agave, and hot sauce in a small bowl or jar.  Add in salt and pepper to taste and set the mixture aside to let the flavors combine.

3.  Combine the cooked rice, black eyed peas, scallions, mangoes, peppers, and avocados in a large bowl.  Pour in the vinaigrette mixture and toss.  Serve cold or room temperature.

Enjoy!

Award:

As I mentioned above, I’ve been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award.  Here are the rules for this awesome award:

1. Thank those who nominated you

2. Share 7 things about yourself your readers don't already know

3. Select 5, 10, or 15 bloggers or blogs you recently discovered, or are a long-time follower of, to pass the award to

4. Comment on the chosen blogs to inform them of their nomination

Thank you so so so much to Jodie (Binomial Baker) and Heather (Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes).  I’m such a huge fan of both blogs, and so excited to be nominated for this award.

Here are seven things about me that you probably don’t know:

1.  I’m allergic to cherries.  This has never stopped me from eating cherries.

2.  I am a recovering gummy addict.  And by recovering, I mean I just avoid them altogether.  If you put a bag of gummies in front of me, I will eat them in one sitting.  It’s just bad.

3.  I have the world’s most adorable niece (5) and nephew (2.5) and am utterly obsessed with them.  I think the best part of moving to Philly is that I’m now much closer to their house in NJ than I was before.

4.  I’m terrified of spiders, but I refuse to kill them.  Why?  Because spiders eat mosquitoes, and mosquitoes are THE WORST.

5.  I hate, with a burning passion, both coconut and cilantro.  These are two flavors I do not allow in my kitchen.

6.  My finger nails MUST be polished at all times.  If they’re not, I WILL bite them.  This is the only thing that consistently stops this terrible habit from taking over.

7.  I’m a red head.  By choice.  It’s super fun.

And now, for my own nominations!

1.  Kara @ Happy When Not Hungry

2.  Kaitlin @ The Garden Grazer

3.  Chris @ Sweet Mornings

4.  Nikki @ Little Bites Nutrition

5.  The Professor @ Professor Vegetable

Thank you again to Jodie and Heather!