Background Story on the Red Beans and Couscous Mix:

Last night, my small group, “The Bible Babes”, were back in full swing.  It felt could to see everyone after such a long, summer break.  We are diving into Kelly Minter’s book, “All Things New”.  The session video that we watched last night set the tone for the study by having us to dive into two concepts:  1)  using our weakness to enable God’s strength to be present and seen by others, and 2) keeping our hearts wide open to others, even when we have been faced with some relationship challenges.  Of course, wide open hearts do not take the place of exerting boundaries.  However, it helps us to be vulnerable, release shame, and allow God’s grace to move in our hearts.  It definitely takes the Holy Spirit to be at work in hearts to thrive, even in the midst of our pain.

 

As you all know by now, I am doing something with beans and legumes almost every week.  About a week ago, I made a recipe that is almost gone unfortunately.  It is what I called my Red Beans & Couscous mix.  I didn’t use canned beans.  If I would have used canned beans, the red beans and couscous mix would have been done in about 35 minutes. It ended up taking two hours just for the red beans to be ready.  I literally dumped all kinds of ingredients into this mixture.  Last week, I made “Black Beans and Mixed Greens”.  You can find the recipe here.

 

Here is the recipe:

Activity:  Making Red Beans & Couscous Mix

Total Prepping and Cooking Time:  35 minutes with canned beans, 2.5 hours with regular beans

Ingredients:

• 1 box of couscous
• 1 can of mushrooms
• 1 can of mixed vegetables
• 3 cans of beans or 1 bag of beans
• vegetable broth or chicken broth (non-vegan)
• 3 tablespoons of turmeric
• 3 tablespoons of cumin
• 3 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons of onion powder
• 3 tablespoons of chili powder
• 1 cup of nutritional yeast
• Optional:  vegan mozzarella cheese or regular cheese on top

 

Directions:

• Boil the beans in water according to whether they are bagged or canned.
• Saute the mushrooms and mixed vegetables while the beans are boiling.
• Boil the couscous and fluff with a fork when done.
• Dump all of the above ingredients into a big pot, pouring in about two and a half coups of broth.
• Add cheese as an optional topping.
• Enjoy!

Servings: about 15

Have a blessed night!

 

Katina