Recipe of the Week: Beans and Rice, by Tushaun

Give this Beans and Rice recipe a try now, so you can tweak it to fit your tastes for TEOTWAWKI (later). (Serves 4-6 people)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups rice
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 pound bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 small cans chilliettes type chili beans

Directions:

1. Make your rice:
   1. Combine the rice and water in a large pot.
   2. Place on high heat.
   3. You will make the beans part of the dish while the rice is heating up. When the rice reaches a boil, cut the heat back to medium.
   4. Lid the pot, checking on it from time to time, stirring occasionally until done, re-lidding the pot each time.
   5. The rice should absorb all of the water. So when most of the water seems to be gone, keep the lid on the pot, and remove from the heat.
2. Making the beans:
   1. Fry the bacon pieces in a pretty big skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. (The smaller the pieces, the quicker they cook, and the more bacon you have in each bowl!).
   2. Drain off the majority of the grease, leaving about 2 tablespoons of grease in with the bacon in the pan.
   3. Add the onions to the bacon, and fry until tender. If your grease is absorbed by the sautéing onions, drizzle it back in a teaspoon at a time.
   4. Now comes the tricky part. You will want to add the brown sugar to the bacon-onion mess, stirring to keep it from scorching, and frying it almost to the point of burning the sugar. You want the sugar to caramelize but not burn. When the brown sugar is caramelized, add the beans to the mixture. Continue to cook until the beans are heated throughout. The bean mixture is pretty yummy right away, but a little time for the flavors to meld won’t hurt!
3. Serve:
   1. Place a cup-sized scoop of rice in a bowl.
   2. Ladle the bean mixture over the rice.

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