Black Bean & Veggie Sautee for One

I've developed a recent love for black beans. I've been eating lots of them, like two cans in the past week. I put them on salads, in tortillas, with rice, with chicken, and with veggies. Here is one of my absolute favorite ways to have them - sauteed with veggies, and served with dollops of plain yogurt, hot salsa, and avocado. Mush it all together and put it on a chip! Jump through for the "recipe" (if you can call it that...)

Black Bean & Veggie Sautee

INGREDIENTS FOR SAUTEE:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 small winter squash, cut into bite-sized pieces*

1/2 red bell pepper, roughly chopped*

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

ground red pepper, to taste

salt, to taste (I never salt but you can if you want)

EXTRAS:

1/2 Avocado

favorite salsa

tortilla chips

hot sauce

plain yogurt or sour cream

DIRECTIONS:

1) Heat olive oil in pan over medium-low heat. Finely chop onion and garlic. Add onion and garlic to olive oil.

2) Once the onion is cooked until translucent (about 5 minutes), add bell pepper and squash. Cook for another 5 minutes until squash begins to soften, then add red pepper powder and salt to taste. Stir to coat.

3) When the squash is cooked through (5-7 minutes) add drained and rinsed beans. Stir occasionally, until squash is very soft and beans are easy to smash. At this point, feel free to smash up the beans a bit - this time I left them whole, but sometimes I like a different consistency.

4) Remove from heat and garnish with avocado, salsa, hot sauce, and yogurt (or sour cream). Mix, scoop up with tortilla chips, and enjoy!

This made me enough for last night's dinner, as well as today's lunch! I'll pack up the other half of the avocado, some salsa, and chips - perfect!

*This recipe is EXTREMELY flexible. I hardly ever use the same veggie combination, because I'm always buying whatever produce is available in the reduced section. Sometimes, I'll throw in carrots (which require pre-steaming or microwaving), asparagus, peas, whatever I have on hand. It's also delicious over rice or used as a filling in a burrito. I probably have this once a week.