Aggie's Kitchen

Quickie Black Beans and Meatless Meals For Lent

Quickie Black Beans | Aggie's Kitchen

For those of us that observe Lent, no meat on Fridays can sometimes throw us for a loop if we’re not prepared. I remember my grandparents always cooking lots of fish on Fridays. If fish wasn’t on the menu, well then we had cheese or some sort of veggie pizza (let’s keep in mind that my family has owned a pizza shop since I was 4 years old, our pizzas got very awesome and creative at times).

Pizza and fish are definitely standby’s during Fridays in Lent, but there are so many other options now that “meatless” has become a little more norm for us. This past week, we celebrated Ash Wednesday – the start of Lent – and one of our no-meat days of abstinence. I wasn’t in the mood for preparing fish, and didn’t want pizza on Wednesday (secretly saving it for the weekend!) so I fell back on another meatless old reliable – Mexican food. Thanks to beans, cheese, tortillas and this awesome homemade green sauce that is so easy to whip up, we enjoyed a fantastic Mexican dinner that was happily eaten up by everyone in my family. Phew. Those kind of meals are hard to come by sometime. I will disclose, my son hasn’t come around to beans yet. My daughter, however, was asking for seconds! Loved that.

Quickie Black Beans | Aggie's Kitchen

I first posted these Cheese & Onion Enchiladas with Verde Sauce back in May of 2011 and didn’t realize that I never followed up with my Quickie Black Bean recipe until a reader recently asked me for it on Facebook. So here it is. It’s simple, and a great way to add plant-based protein to any meatless meal you are cooking up. If you end up with leftovers add them to a tortilla with a little cheese and toast it up in the oven for a tortilla “pizza”.

Print Recipe

Quickie Black Beans

Ingredients:

  • 2 cans Bush's Black Beans, slightly drained
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped small
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped small
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • small pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, pepper and garlic and saute for a few minutes until soft and fragrant. Add beans to pan and stir gently. Season with cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for a few minutes until beans are heated through.
  2. Serve over rice or on its own alongside your favorite Mexican meal.

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There are so many great meatless meals out there to cook up during Lent, whether it be fish or seafood based (not really meatless technically but you know what I mean) – or totally meatless like these cheesy enchiladas. Whether you observe Lent or not, I know a lot of you are trying to incorporate more meatless meals into your diet. Lent is always a great place to start and experiment! Here are some great meatless recipes to get you inspired, there’s something for everyone:

Sesame Noodles with Edamame and Kale

Garden Black Bean Frittata

Roasted Veggie and Black Bean Burritos

Cheese Quesadillas with Pintos and Peppers

Quickie Meatless Enchiladas

Grilled Veggie Naan Pizzas with Pesto

Grilled Stinger Naan Pizzas

Vegetarian Stuffed Poblano Peppers | Bev Cooks

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili | Two Peas and Their Pod

Portabella Gouda Burgers with Roasted Garlic | How Sweet It Is

Curried Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole | Kalyn’s Kitchen

Cannelini Bean Vegetarian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce | Cookin’ Canuck

Black Bean Burgers | Bake Your Day

Moroccan Coconut Chickpea Soup over Brown Rice | Eat 2 Gather

Ziti and Zucchini with Lime and Herbs | Katie’s Cucina

And for some fish recipes, check out last year’s Fish For Fridays round up as well as my Fish For Fridays pin board.

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25 comments on “Quickie Black Beans and Meatless Meals For Lent”

  1. YUM! As I told you before, I adore Bush’s black beans. Kaylin is a huge fan too (I’m hoping she’ll continue to like them). Yayy for meatless meals

  2. Faaaabuloussss. And thanks for the link love!

  3. Loving this round up!!! We are eating meatless more and more these days so I will be pinning this!

  4. I eat meatless every day of the year, so this post is fabulous! Black beans are such a great way to get some protein in your meal fast! Also, I am so jealous of your family pizza shop!! That’s like my dream…

  5. I grew up when you never ate meat on Friday’s it was always fish. As a kid I despised it and dreaded Fridays. Now if my mom would have made this dish I would have loved Fridays.

  6. Loving what you did to my favorite beans! Yum!

  7. This looks awesome, Aggie!! I love having meatless alternatives!

  8. Oh Aggie, you know I love this. They sound perfect. And thanks for the link love!

  9. Aggie this looks great any night of the week. Thanks for sharing my pasta dish!

  10. Love me some Mexican food. I’m really interested in those gorgeous enchiladas, so I’m going to pop on over there… ๐Ÿ˜€

  11. We love black beans! Thanks so much for including E2g in the link up! Have a great weekend!

  12. I’ve been wanting to add at least one meatless meal per week in our house…. and I L O V E Mexican food… so ummm, this is PERFECT! They sound so good!!! Can’t wait to try these.

  13. Great round up, I love that lent gets more people eating meatless ๐Ÿ™‚ (shameless self-promotion: there are more ideas on my veggie blog if you’d like to check it out! ๐Ÿ˜‰ )

  14. Aggie,
    What a great recipe that works up fast with my pantry staples!

    If only I had a can of black beans in the pantry, that is. I really need to do a stock up run at the grocery store–I’m baking a chicken-lentil-leek-corn-rice casserole with salsa verde and cream cheese right now, because that’s what’s available in the kitchen. We’ll see how it turns out.

    Thanks!

    • your casserole sounds delicious! I’m the same way with using up what I have…sometimes a great recipe comes out of it ๐Ÿ™‚ Have a great week!

  15. The enchiladas look terrific. Love the green sauce!

  16. Those enchiladas look amazing!! I love the list of recipes too. Bookmarking many – I don’t observe Lent but I do love a variety of meals and love doing some vegetarian just to get in extra veggies!

  17. The whole meal looks great-Thanks Aggie!

  18. What a coincidence Aggie, we had Mexican for Ash Wednesday as well. It’s funny how traditions differ from cultures to cultures. For us Lent is meatless from Ash Wednesday until Easter day except Saturdays when we’re allowed to eat fish.
    Going to check out other dishes you linked to now, always looking for new dinner ideas.

  19. What a coincidence Aggie, we had Mexican for Ash Wednesday as well. It’s funny how traditions differ from cultures to cultures. For us Lent is meatless from Ash Wednesday until Easter day except Saturdays when we’re allowed to eat fish.
    Going to check out other dishes you linked to now, always looking for new dinner ideas.

  20. Great suggestions for meatless meals…while I don’t do meatless meals for lent I do for Mondays! Thanks so much for the suggestions.

  21. I’m always looking for a great meatless alternative for weeknight meals! Thanks for sharing- these good great!

  22. Pingback: BUSH's Mexican Black Bean Pizza | Aggie's Kitchen

  23. MMMm this looks so good! ย thanks for sharing me blerg ๐Ÿ˜‰ MWAH!! hope you had a great visit to Michigan! ย xoxo, Sheila