Oh Snap...I haven't posted since April

I knew I was a bad blogger. And I actually was discussing this with Maya L a few days ago. But I didn't know I was this bad.  Damn, it's been months. How have y'all been?!?

I have a lot that I want to share, but the main (i.e. the quickest) thing is that for the past 6 months I have actually kept my New Year's Resolution to make a new dish/meal each month.  I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it in June, but I drew inspiration from my recent trip to Cuba (yep...I did go!) and decided to make some black beans or Frijoles Negros, which I ate over some white rice.

So I'm sure you're thinking, "How hard can it be to make black beans, Shayla?" And you know, it's not hard to throw some beans in a pot, but it isn't the easiest to have flavorful and tender black beans. I searched Foodnetwork.com, RecipeZaar.com, Recipes.com and even came across Tasteofcuba.com, which I plan to reference for some other dishes.  But after all of that, I used the recipe on the back of the can of Goya black beans that I purchased.

I followed the recipe exactly, but added some chopped tomatoes because I had some in the kitchen and instead of letting it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, as they directed, I let it simmer for about 30 minutes. At the end of it all, I was impressed!  My black beans actually  tasted authentic.  The best part, my mom gave them two thumbs up.  She ate them over rice and went out and bought a roast "Latin" chicken from Fairway. Without actually knowing it, she was eating a Cuban meal!

Anyway, I hope to post again before I turn 30...but at the rate I'm going...who knows. hahahaha!