Pesto Vegetables with Black Beans and Rice Recipe
2013
This delicious recipe for pesto vegetables was a huge hit here at home and so I am going to share it with you. While the dish is primarily vegetables, 80 to 90 % vegetables, the black beans and brown rice provide a dense, filling, satiating feel so after you eat you feel energized from the vegetables yet still completely full and satisfied. The abundant herbs and pesto provide a rich flavor and the lightly cooked green vegetables added and black beans provide a good source of protein.
This abundantly nutritious meal is a one pot meal and after the vegetables are chopped I found it to be quick and easy to put together. I will show you exactly how to make it just like I did with a full photo description below. Come join me in the kitchen!
Pesto Vegetables with Black Beans and Rice
Ingredients
1 cup Brown Rice – use 1 to 2 cups cooked
1 can Black Beans, or 2 cups cooked
1 Onion
1 cup Mushrooms
1 cup Sugar Peas
1 cup Green or Yellow Beans
1 Red Pepper
2 cups Broccoli – chopped
1 Zucchini – spiralized
2 Garlic cloves
handful of Chives – chopped, or 2 Tbsp dried
3 sprigs Oregano, or 2 tsp dried
½ cup Pesto
Directions
Cook rice and beans and set aside. While rice is cooking prepare and chop vegetables, garlic and herbs.
In a stir fry pan, fry together the onion, garlic, mushrooms, yellow or green beans and red pepper together first. When vegetables are beginning to soften, add the green vegetables: broccoli, sugar snap peas and herbs and cook only 1 or 2 minutes to steam, brighten and slightly soften vegetables. Remove pan from heat and add the black beans, rice, zucchini noodles and pesto. Stir together. The vegetables will heat the added ingredients even though they are off the heat.
Serve as is or with a side salad. I lined bowls with lettuce leaves from the garden and filled with the pesto vegetable dish. It was wonderful!
The sugar snap peas were nice with still having a crunch to them.
Photo Description
Assemble vegetables.
Cook rice, and beans. I used a can of black beans, so rinse and drain if you do as well. The zucchini was from my garden. I left the skin on. you can leave it on, or peel first before spiralizing.
Assemble herbs and pesto. If you don’t have fresh, you can use dried.
Chop vegetables and garlic.
Spiralize zucchini. I chopped and set the green vegetables aside as I added them last.
Time to start cooking. Heat stir fry pan and add vegetables.
Stir and cook until just starting to get tender and then add green vegetables and herbs.
I only left this on the heat for one to two minutes, just long enough for broccoli to turn bright green. At this point I took the pan off the heat.
Chop zucchini noodles so they are not too long.
Add the zucchini, brown rice, black beans and pesto.
Stir together. The pan is off the heat but the hot vegetables will heat the added ingredients.
Serve as is, with a side salad, or as I did here in lettuce lined bowls.
Enjoy! Hope you love it as much as we all did here!
