Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

This recipe was suggested to me, and I thought it would be a breeze. And I could make it super easily, with a few substitutions and omissions, etc. Well, it's fine, I guess. I just feel like I'm starting to make the same random recipe over and over again. By that, I mean that my recipes are getting simpler and simpler as my school work takes over more and more of my time, and as my exhaustion level rises accordingly.

My intention with this blog was to make the recipes close to following form. I'm not really doing that. I'm getting exceedingly lazy. My integrity around recipe following is slipping...

I also have Mom's voice in my head with this one right now, because this recipe, now that I have made it and tasted it, is definitely more of a summer recipe than a winter one. I don't know exactly why that causes Mom's voice to go through my head, telling me that I shouldn't have made this when I did, but it does.

So, what have I been doing all day today instead of working on mastering a more challenging recipe? Well, currently I have a paper half written that I could have written at any point last week and not been rushed. But did I? Of course not. Adrenaline, I love you and all, but every now and then I wish I could be like the studious people in my class who already turned in their papers yesterday (early). I wish I could be more like Dad, really. He's such a classic book-learner. When he wants to learn something, he sits down, reads a book, and learns it. I imagine him turning in all of his school papers weeks, if not months early, never waiting until the last moment, never having to cram like I did for my finance midterm last week... But perhaps that's why he went to Harvard and I didn't...

But between catching up on reading that was more skimmed than read for my class that this paper is due in, and staring at the recipe I made last night, and the mess that is now my kitchen, and wondering if the smell will get too awful if I wait until tomorrow to clean it all (I'm not, Mom, I swear. I will clean tonight... after I submit my paper... and go for a run...), I guess that you could homehow call this a day off. And I've still managed to procrastinate from working on my paper as diligently as I'm supposed to be (Hell, I'm writing this blog entry right now.)

Okay, so without further delay, the original recipe, including pretty photo can be found below:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Bean-and-Tomato-Quinoa-238939

I was being lame and decided to double the quinoa. For the purposes of writing this recipe all out, I'm going back to just one cup, because I made way too much for one person. I don't know who all I think I'm feeding, particularly since I'm almost always too embarrassed that I probably messed up to even share my food still... maybe by July.

Ingredients (aka I barely used any of what the Epicurious people called for... but I probably should have...)

This recipe feeds 4-6 (6 being more as a side, 4 if you're vegetarian and love quinoa)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed. Cook according to directions on package, around 20 minutes with a 2-1 water ratio (I tried rinsing it in through rounds of water, as the link above described. I don't think it came out any differently than when I just run water through the quinoa in a strainer. But whateve. I also tried cooking the quinoa the way that the recipe describes above. I'm not even bothering to restate those directions. Total waste of time as far as I'm concerned.)
1 15 oz can of black beans rinsed and drained
1 container of store bought salsa, drained of excess liquid (This is where I pretty much strayed far far away from the original recipe. I like the salsa that you have to buy in the refrigerated section because it always tastes fresher, and I chose one with garlic so that I wouldn't have to add that ingredient either.)
1 15 oz can of yellow corn, rinsed and drained (I only added it because I found two cans of corn in my pantry. Why I have them, I have no idea. I don't even like corn very much. A few of the original reviewers of this actual recipe called for corn, and said how much they loved it. I'm done adding corn. I hate corn. I don't even like corn on the cob. It all just gets stuck in your teeth, and that's just a royal pain.)
Juice from two medium limes (I broke from tradition and didn't shop at Whole Paycheck last night, so didn't buy organic limes, so did not use any zest, but would definitely consider it in the future.)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Allow the cooked quinoa to cool/ chill / just sit there while you:
2. Combine the lime juice, butter and olive oil. Then add all that to the quinoa.
3. Add the salsa, corn and black beans.

The longer the finished product is able to sit, the more the flavors will blend. I think it is best at room temperature.

Wicked hard recipe overall. I know.

I think my favorite part of this recipe was that I didn't use any onions. I am officially on hiatus from trying to cook onions. It does taste pretty good and citrus-y. It just tastes like a summer side-dish, not really for end of January.