Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I made this side dish with a Cuban pork roast we had a few weeks ago.  It was delicious and pretty easy.  I even froze some of it and it reheated really well later.  

Note on the recipe:  I didn't use a dutch oven.  I just cooked it in a large covered skillet.  Be sure to adjust your liquid to the amount suggested with your particular rice.  If your rice calls for less liquid, it will cook up mushy.  

Cuban Black Beans and Rice - Click to link to recipe.

Mojo-Marinated Pork Roast

As promised from my last post, Pork Cubanos, here is the post for the pork roast that the recipe refers to.  It is actually on the same link as the prior post but further down on the page.

I am kind of weird.  I love fruit.  I love fruity desserts.  But I generally don't love fruit flavors with my meat.  But because I really wanted to try the authentic recipe used in the Chef movie to make my cubanos (see prior post), I gave this recipe a try.  Considering I don't normally like fruity meats, this recipe was really good.  I used two pork tenderloins that I got on sale.  We ate pork roast with some beans and rice the first night and made the sandwiches the second night with the leftovers.  But when you put this same roast on the sandwiches, it doesn't taste fruity at all.  Maybe the pickles and mustard perfectly complement the orange in the meat.

We liked the roast but next time, we will just go straight to the sandwiches and skip eating it any other way!  I did love the Cuban black beans and rice recipe I found.  I will post that one next!

Mojo-Marinated Pork Roast - Click to link to the recipe.

Pork Cubanos

I am obsessed with food trucks.  I find it fascinating that great food, and lots of it, can come out of such a small, mobile space.  Although, I would not want to work in one.  How could it not be steamy hot in there?!  Because of my obsession, I recently watched the movie Chef.  Have you seen it?  The movie is pretty good but I was most excited about the drool worthy Cubanos they show in the movie.  Los Angeles chef, Roy Choi, published the recipe used in the movie on people.com.  You can click to link to the recipe below.  I was determined to make these myself.  I made the pork roast with some black beans and rice the first night.  Then we made the sandwiches the second night with the leftover roast.  Best. Sandwich. Ever.  Delicious!  I will post the recipes and pictures for the pork roast and rice soon!

Mojo Pork Cubanos - Click to link to the recipe.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

You have to try these!  They are SO good!!  We had them a couple of weeks ago when we invited friends over for dinner.  I was looking for something easy for dessert that everyone would like.  I found these on Pinterest and they were a big hit!  The recipe I used was an adaptation from another site.  I will link to both below, as they are very similar.

Yummy!!

The recipe recommends lining the pan with foil.  

I was amazed at how easy it made them to lift out and cut.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Bars - Click to link to recipe.  This is the recipe I followed and is an adaption of the recipe below.  This recipe calls for milk chocolate chips, but I only had semi-sweet chocolate chips.  So, I decided to use mini M&Ms like the recipe below.  If you do use M&Ms, mix them with the topping as suggested in the recipe below.  The M&Ms didn't melt enough to stick if just put them on top. 

Peanut Butter Dream Bars - Click here to link to original recipe.