Recipe // Black Bean and Rice Salad with Minute Rice

This post is written by my on behalf of Minute® Rice, a brand I use regularly. The post features a festive holiday recipe and a fun recap of an event I got to attend. Check it out!

During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I feel like I’m always baking and cooking all kinds of things for parties, get togethers and entertaining, and that’s on top of our regular family meals. Anyone else with me?

One go-to ingredient I always keep on hand is Minute® Rice. This pantry staple is quick and easy to prepare and is something my whole family loves (toddlers included!) And even better– Minute Rice is incredibly convenient, fast and consistently turns out right.

I saw just how versatile rice could be at a Vintage Christmas themed party with some fellow bloggers last week.  We all brought a different dish featuring rice- whether is was fluffy Minute White Rice, nutty & rich Minute Whole Grain Brown Rice or Minute Multi-Grain Medley, a blend of four gluten free grains.

The dish I brought was a Black Bean and Rice Salad. The foundation was White Rice, fluffy, fat free and delicious and ready in just 5 minutes.  This salad is served hot or chilled and makes for a great side dish packed full of flavor. And it’s pretty festive with the red and green throughout too!

Here’s the recipe:

Black Bean and Rice Salad
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup Minute White Rice, uncooked
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained & rinsed
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup peppercorn ranch dressing
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
1. Prepare rice according to package directions.
2. Place rice in large bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients, mix lightly. Cover.
4. Serve at room temperature or chill several hours before serving.

It was wonderful to meet some new bloggers from the Chicago area and let’s be honest—it was great to eat and drink.

Check out the the spread we had!

We had a variety of dishes featuring all three versions of rice:
–Minute White Rice: easy to prepare and is the foundation to any wholesome meal, ready in 5 minutes (gluten free and non-GMO)
–Minute 100% Whole Grain Brown Rice: a delicious, nutritious option, as it has similar nutritional values as regular long cooking brown rice, but is ready in just 10 minutes (gluten free and non-GMO)
–Minute Multi-Grain Medley: a new product with a blend of four gluten-free, 100% whole grains, all non-GMO, including long grain brown rice, Thai red rice, wild rice and quinoa, and it conveniently cooks in 10 minutes in pre-portioned bags.

Everything was SO delicious, I couldn’t pick a favorite!

On top of these dishes, there was a horchata bar, complete with all the trimmings. Horchata, as you may have guessed, also contains rice. Such a cute spread, and great idea if you are hosting a holiday party!

And to top it all off, we enjoyed the most epic of dessert tables. Seriously, so cute (and delicious). I was in heaven.

We capped off the event with a fun DIY. We used wooden tags with a bit of chalkboard paint and decorated them with markers. Perfect as an ornament or to adorn on a gift and definitely a “Vintage Christmas” vibe.

So there you have it! So glad to have met these ladies and taste so many delicious rice-based dishes at this event. I’ve got plenty of ideas on how to take my traditional/vintage recipes and use more modern or trendy ingredients to update some of my more classic dishes!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Minute® Rice.