Cultural Night: BRAZIL (i.e. land of beans and rice)

Sean served his mission (2 years) in Brazil. Did you know that? Two years embraced in a new culture.

He was bound to find some new foods to love.

And he did.

Beans and rice.

Fast forward a few years or so... Sean and I meet, fall in love, get married, etc. And in 6 1/2 years of marriage I never once made beans and rice for dinner. Mean, I know. {But, it's not like he ever requested it... At least, I don't think he did.}

I like rice. Plain.

I'm not a big fan of it mixed with other things {other than Spanish rice} - it's a texture thing.

So, imagine my surprise when reading my favorite cooking blog {Our Best Bites} a few weeks ago and the post of the day is "Black Beans & Rice With Chicken And Apple Salsa" and it actually looks good to me! Knowing my hubby's love of beans and rice, I decided to make a night of it.

Cultural night at the Southworths!

Destination: BRAZIL

I made the beans and rice - though I subbed pinto beans for the black beans.
I even made the apple salsa. It was good, but next time I'll probably just do some fresh pico de gallo.
Sean loved it.
I loved it.
{Ethan was cranky and went to bed early that night. He had something else for dinner.}
Sean said it tasted authentic.
Took him right back to Brazil.
I scored mega good-wife points.

I also made "Quick Brazilian Cheese Rolls" or Pao de Queijo.
You just have to have tapioca flour.
Which you can buy in the bulk section at Winco. About a $1.10/lb. And a single batch only takes 1 cup.
Quick and easy to whip up the batter in your blender.
Just don't overbake them - it's easy to do.
The hubs loved these too.
More good-wife points.

And, of course, to drink we had to have Brazilian Lemonade.
Which is made with limes.
So it should probably be called Brazilian Limeade, but whatever.
Fresh limes, water, sugar and sweetened condensed milk.
SO GOOD!
If you are going to take it slow and only make one thing, start with this!
Sean and I love it.
{We've gotten all our WA peeps to love it, too!}
Good-wife points were off the charts!



We will be having Brazil Night at the Southworth home again. And, if Sean has anything to say about it, the sooner the better!
[All recipes from Our Best Bites.]