Y'all Got No Idea...

I'm about to lay on you two of my very favorite foods of all time.  

Get ready.

These are Anasazi Beans:

And this is Garlic Herb Sauce:

When people say "Awesomesauce" this is what they're talking about.  Even if they don't know it.

When you add rice to them you get this:

Holy crabnuggets, Metromon.  

     My next door neighbor, Nancy, turned me on to Anasazi beans a couple of years ago.  They were a favorite from her youth and she asked me if I'd ever seen any in the crazy stores I go to.  I hadn't.  These suckers are hard to find.  Then one day I ran across some and took her the very last in the bin (about half a pound).  Late last year, I actually found these beauties mislabeled as black eyed peas at a Fred Meyer nearby and then suddenly, my favorite grocery Central Market, Shoreline started carrying them!  I am in bean heaven.  (And so is Nancy!)

     Anasazis taste a little like pinto beans, but sweeter and the texture is so smooth.  There's hardly a comparison, really.

     I have only found these in bulk bins.  If you can't find them in the store, anasazibeans.com has them for $1.00 a pound.  They are totally worth paying shipping for, friends.

     Cook Anasazis like you would any other bean, soaking them overnight or doing a quick soak and then boiling them until they are soft.  They cook a little bit quicker than pintos.  These took 45 minutes unsoaked in the pressure cooker.  For this recipe, if you can't find Anasazis, try kidney beans.

     The sauce is a homemade version of one I buy from my farmer's market.  It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn close.

Garlic Herb Sauce (AKA Awesomesauce)

1 1/2 C Cilantro

1 C Parsley

3/4 C Mint

3 very large cloves of garlic

5 Tbs good quality Olive Oil

2 Tbs Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp Salt (heaping)

1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce

Toss the garlic in a blender and buzz until it is chopped pretty well.  Add lemon juice, salt, and 2 Tbs olive oil and blend until garlic is liquified.  Add herbs, remaining oil, and Tabasco sauce and blend until all the herbs are very finely chopped and the sauce forms a watery paste.  

Notes:

• This is best if you let it mellow in the fridge overnight, but you can use it right away if you need to.  
• This sauce will easily keep a week or more in the fridge, if you don't use it all up the first night!  
• Depending on the strength of your ingredients you may want to modify the amount of herbs you add.  The cilantro and mint I bought when developing this recipe was pretty mild.
• I love this sauce as a dip for pretzels and on warm potatoes or cold ones as a potato salad!  I've also used it to perk up hummus and I bet it would be lovely in some cream cheese as a spread on crackers.

Anasazi Beans and Rice

3 C cooked Anasazi beans

3 C cooked rice (I used Jasmine but brown rice would be healthier)

2 Tbs Garlic Herb Sauce

Salt and pepper

Basically, you cook the beans and rice and mix it all up with the sauce.  Add more sauce if you like and salt and pepper to your own taste.

Review:

My husband and I love this, though I find it hard to believe anyone can love this as much as I do.  My eldest asked for extra sauce on his rice and he begs for pretzels to dip in it.  My youngest wouldn't touch the green rice with a 10 foot pole.  So that's where it stands in this house. 3 to 1 in favor of Awesomesauce.