Coconut Milk Rice and Beans

♫ You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up ♫

For the past few weeks I have been creating, testing and shooting recipes for my upcoming Collagen Boosting ebook – an idea I came up with a long time ago that is finally coming to fruition.

I still have a couple of recipes to shoot and some finishing touches to add before it can officially launch, but it’s only a matter of days at this point and I can tell you it feels great!

For this project I made a big trip to the grocery store and bought excessive amounts of everything as opposed to taking my daily morning trips.

This way I would be able to focus on my recipes and experiment without worrying about whether or not I had a certain spice or herb in the pantry… And boy did I buy a lot of food!

For the first time ever, I had no more space on top of my fridge to fit all the cans of tomato paste, beans, coconut milk and bags of nuts, rice, quinoa and dried fruits I had purchased.

Every time I opened the fridge I felt like something was about to fall on my head and leave me with a big, painful bump.

My solution to this first world problem was to cook a few dishes using as many of these canned and bagged ingredients as possible. So what could I make using lots of coconut milk, rice and beans? Sometimes the question itself becomes the answer.

I am a big fan of rice and beans; in fact, I love rice and beans so much that it’s usually what I look forward to eating the most whenever I have Latin American food. Starchy comfort goodness!

My version has light coconut milk for creaminess and lots of bell peppers and tomatoes to bump up the health factor. Slightly sweet and summery, this coconut milk rice and beans recipe is the perfect accompaniment to meats (like these pork rolls with teriyaki sauce) or fish (try this bright and cleansing lemon ginger marinated salmon). It’s also delicious topped with ratatouille and a little grated cheese!