Beans and Rice Week Update: How to survive

How do you cope with eating nothing but beans and rice for a week when you have minimal self control?  By minimal "cheating."

Breakfast could have easily been the end of me: I loooooooooove breakfast food.  I found a great substitute that wasn't far off from oatmeal.  I took rice fresh from the warmer and added a fair amount of sugar and cinnamon, then poured milk over it.  I hate rice pudding and was a little worried about how the consistency of this would compare, but it was actually really good!

Tip #1: Make fresh batches of rice as you go along.  Reheated rice is just not as good.

Tip #2: Think outside of the box.  Making your own
refried beans feels much less like "cheating."

I completely failed at my first batch of beans.  

First I forgot to start soaking them early enough, so I couldn't even start cooking them until after 7pm. 

Then I cooked the whole bag at once so after five hours they were still significantly crunchy. 

And then I left them in the slow cooker overnight, so when I awoke they were complete mush.  

But I rallied!  I threw the mushy pintos into my Kitchen Aid mixer and made an enormous pan of refried beans.

My goal was to avoid eating anything but beans and rice with a few simple spices, but that only lasted until Monday when I had to start adding just a little cheese to things and made a modified black bean soup.  My mom makes an AH-mazing black bean soup 

• black beans (duh)
• chicken broth
• chopped onions
• finely chopped celery
• shredded potatoes
• finely chopped carrots
• oregano
• garlic
• salt and pepper
• lemon juice
• bay leaf

Unfortunately for me all I had aside from beans was carrots, garlic, oregano and salt and pepper. But pour that over some rice and add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese?  Mmmmmmm.

Tip #3: A little cheese goes a long way.  Using minimal amounts of your "cheating" ingredients not only makes you feel less like your cheating, but if you've gone a day or more already on simple bland foods, you only need a sprinkle of something special to really wow your tastebuds

Tip #4: Creatively treat yourself.
Any diet will fail if you just deny deny deny

I got a little creative with the definition of "bean" during one of my frequent visits to Crossroads during the week.  I only went to avoid listening to my obnoxious neighbors while I read Dan Brown's (incredibly dated) Digital Fortress, but the smell of Almond Toffee coffee drew me in.  Hey, if they didn't want me drinking coffee during the week they wouldn't leave it out to tempt me right? ;-)

Having a little treat reminded me that I am actually not suffering during this challenge.  The people actually suffering wouldn't have the option to change the definition of the food they're able to eat.

We're half way through the challenge now and I can't wait Saturday night!