Southwest Black Bean Couscous Salad
Serves 1

This can be made hot or cold.

1/4 cup (cooked and dried) black beans
1/4 cup couscous
1 teaspoon dried bell pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
1/2 teaspoon dried tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon onion flakes
1 packet True Lime

At home: combine all of the dry ingredients in a zip locking plastic bag.

In camp: add just enough water to cover the salad. Allow to rehydrate.

Hmmm...without the cumin I'd eat it! Maybe that is my lunch for this weekend :-)

Maybe a bit of sage instead??

thanks for the recipe, dicentra. sounds good...speaking of recipes. does anyone out there get backpacker magazine also? does it drive you crazy when they put in a recipe that calls for canned anything or fresh anything??...i can't see myself carrying all that weight. alot of the recipes can be made lighter by using the dried version of ingredients. just separate out things that take longer to rehydrate,adding just enough water, then adding slightly less water then what the recipe calls for. works just fine..

Yep, know what you mean! The old "put a can of drained beans in a bag to take with you". Eek, I'll just take dried beans!

Di, I am thinking a pack of salsa would be good added :-D

Victoria, what you are talking about is a HUGE part of how One Pan Wonders got started!! :)

Dicentra - I just made this, because I like to test the recipes as soon as I see them, so I'll know if I can add them to my repertoire. This one is very good. I decided to play with it a little to get a stronger taste and tossed in one of those little packets of balsamic vinegar from minimus.biz. Zowies! Even better!

Off-topic PS - I read your trip report of your backpack trip to Lake Valhalla on the nwhikers site. You camped very near "Burns Butte" at the south end of the lake where Mr. B and I were married. It's a wonderful lake.

Victoria,

It drives me crazy too. I try to avoid cans for several reasons. It isn't just that they are heavy but I don't want to have to deal with sharp can lids either.

Also in many of the areas where we backpack and paddle there are "can and bottle" bans with hefty fines (which I actually have seen enforced in places like Algonquin Provincial Park here in Ontario). I wish more areas would adopt those types of policies.

If only it had mushrooms in it ;-) Hehheh!

I love the balsamic vinegar packets. Yum!

What a pretty place you got married at!

You guys are too funny!!!

Do I need to write up a different recipe using mushrooms and balsamic vinegar? Sounds kinda good, actually.

Just don't offer Kathleen any with shrooms in it ;-)

I was going to be polite and not mention that I don't care for cumin, either (can you believe it, Sarah, we have the same excellent, discriminating taste on something?!), but since you're playing dirty by suggesting mushrooms, well....

So you're saying I shouldn't bring back Mushroom Madness Mondays?? LOL!!!

If you left in the word Madness it would at least be defined correctly!

I do like the concept of a sturdy salad for lunch that can be hydrated on the hoof without revving up a stove. Cheese and crackers is getting pretty old. A whole new world of possibilities here: mix and match with dried beans (hooray for Harmonyhousefoods.com), dried veggies, and a starch of some sort, such as couscous, ramen, quinoa, bulger?, plus favorite seasonings.

I'm going to dig out my Freezerbagcooking book and check your Onepanwonders site again to wake up my creative genius. Assuming there ever was one!

I posted a lentil salad recipe for you. Lots more on the site. :)

Lol!


I couldn't resist ;-) Btw...Ldyblde took one of the containers of shrooms - she enjoyed them!

I am hoping my recipes for lunches work this weekend :-) If they do, I will post them! I took Di's recipe and took it 180* - no cumin and I used lentils (and shallots). And salsa! Yum!

What containers of mushrooms??

You gonna post the recipe?

Well, that's a long story. I sent off for Harmonyhousefoods.com's pantry special of 16 veggies. Only it came with 15 veggies and one container of fungus. I packed the fungus containers (2 - I bought 2 sets) in my car for over a year until I finally met up with Sarah at the Trailsfest in July and handed them off to her. She gave one to Ladyblade. They thought I was being nice. I was feeling guilty for giving them to them instead of throwing them out.

Here's a great idea - next time anyone posts a recipe with fungus as an ingredient, they could suggest an alternative, such as dehydrated carrots, which taste better anyway. I told you it was a great idea.

Kathleen - there is also the Citrus Lentil Salad recipe on www.wildernesscooking.com. That one makes a great trail lunch (no cooking) and it is fungus free.

Thanks, Laurie. What a relief! I will probably try it tonight when I also make Dicentra's corn and lentil salad. Since I have the ingredients in dehydrated form already, I'll just guess on the quantities when I make it and then rehydrate it. At least I don't have to wonder what's for lunch at work for a few days. I love this testing!