Eli Loves his Rice and Beans!

Eli is a lover of Brazilian cuisine (we all are for that matter). He turns up his nose at all of my cooking but every time he goes to Gracie's school the teachers rave about what a good eater he is and how he consumed three platefuls. (or something ridiculous like that). What's the deal? Why does this little toddler of mine only eat the Brazilian school food? I decided rather than beating the problem I would simply surrender and learn how to make rice and beans like a Brazilian! Today I went to Gracie's  school and this is what I learned...

 Brazilians love garlic. This is a little mixture of garlic and salt that is applied generously to the rice and the beans.

 A little onion action for extra flava....

 Saute the garlic and onion in oil and consume that garlic aroma!

 Add your rice to the heavenly mixture and let it saute.

Next add heated water and let the rice steam for about 20 minutes. Pretty Simple!

The key to the beans is this little contraption right here. It's called a panela de pressão (pressure cooker) This makes it so you don't have to soak the beans overnight. You just cook them in this little contraption for 30 minutes and transfer the cooked beans to a pan with sauteed onion and garlic. Next add salt to taste and they are good to go! I am told a little bacon makes them over the top delicious. Not surprising! Bacon makes everything a bit more delicious.

I think I might have missed my calling in life as a school lunch lady ;) Yikers! Hopefully now Eli will eat for his Mama. I am going to attempt to make these this weekend. It seemed simple enough but we'll see if the Monson crew approves :)

Tchau!