Dukan Diet

I don't remember my mother cooking black beans when I was a kid, but sometime after I left home she must have started using them, because they became my father's favorite type of bean, and any dish that had black beans was something he would enjoy.  I was thinking about that as I missed him on Father's day, and remembered all the black bean salads I made for him the last few years of his life when he was in an assisted living center where I'd visit twice a week and cook lunch.  My dad could be a picky customer when it came to trying new dishes, and I doubt he ever heard of vegan food, but I'm betting he would have enjoyed these Slow Cooker Vegan Brown Rice Mexican Bowls with Black Beans, Bell Peppers, and Poblano-Avocado Salsa, if only because of the black beans, rice and avocados; three foods he always loved.   Using the slow cooker to cook the rice and then heat together the chopped peppers, green chiles, and black beans kept the house cool, and I thought one of these Mexican bowls made a perfect Slow Cooker Summer Dinner.

Re-discovering a recipe is always fun, and while I was unpacking from the move I found this old favorite rice salad recipe in a set of binders with recipes I clipped from cooking magazines back in the days before the internet.  The salad was called Roman Rice Salad, but unfortunately I didn't write down where I found it, and I couldn't find anything with that name online.  I made this salad many, many times through the years with white rice, dried basil, and chopped bell pepper, but I loved this updated version with brown rice, fresh chopped basil, and rings of pepper from sweet mini-peppers.