Like most bean recipes, black beans usually call for some kind of smoked meat seasoning to flavor them. But of course there are vegetarian recipes.

These came out so good, I have to share this recipe with you.

Vegetarian Black Beans

About a cup of dry black beans
1 tablespoon coarse salt
A bunch of water (twice as much as the beans)

Sort through the beans for any rocks or ones that don't look good. Rinse them off in a strainer. Put them in a glass container with the salt and water and microwave 6 minutes, checking every couple of minutes to make they don't absorb all the water, or overflow.

Still covered with plenty of water, let them soak an hour or two until you cut one in half and soft all the way through. Drain off that soaking water and rinse them to get the salt off. (Salty water makes the soaking go faster, but it slows down the cooking.)

1/2 onion, chopped coarsely
1 tablespoon oil (olive or otherwise)
The soaked beans
Water to cover

Put all this in a covered saucepan and simmer until tender. If this seems to go too slowly for your schedule, put them into a pressure cooker for 15 minutes. I probably needed to do this because I'm 7000 feet above sea level.

Meanwhile, as the beans are cooking:

1/2 onion, diced fine
1 stalk celery, diced fine
(Green pepper, diced fine) - in parentheses because I didn't have any
Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic paste (or minced)
Black pepper

Saute the vegetables in the oil until nice and tender. Sprinkle with the salt and sugar early on, because this makes the juices come out and they cook faster. At the very end, stir in the garlic and cook gently, so it doesn't brown. Taste it and add some pepper if you want to. When the beans are nice and soft, stir them into vegetables with just enough of the bean cooking juice to make them moist.

Now, if you just happened, at the end of this, to find some cooked bacon or a little diced ham, feel free to stir it in.

Many of the recipes I looked at called for wine vinegar, so give that a try if you feel like it.

To go with these black beans, I made some Spanish rice. Keep in mind, I was trying not to make much more than two people could eat at one sitting.

Spanish Rice

1 medium onion, diced fine
1/3 cup rice
Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Saute the onion, rice, and salt in the hot oil until the rice puffs a little and changes color. Stir it a lot so nothing burns. At the end, stir in the cumin and let it toast a little - wonderful aroma. Unless you want a spitting mess, turn off the heat and let it cool a little bit.

1/2 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup salsa
Water or chicken broth to cover the rice

Stir all this in, turn the heat back on, put a lid on it, and simmer until the rice is tender. Check it and stir until the rice is tender, adding more liquid as needed.

Taste it and add salt and/or pepper.

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Okay, to round out the plate, finally something really easy:

Cooked chicken, sliced or cubed
Can of green enchilada sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese

Put the chicken in a casserole, dump the enchilada sauce over it. Strew with cheese, cover, and bake at 350 degrees until heated through.

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Serve on heated plates, garnished with finely chopped lettuce, salsa, and very finely diced onions (if desired) with warmed flour tortillas.