Skipping Dessert … and taking the stairs

Really?  High fructose corn syrup in my diced tomatoes?

We eat black beans and rice about once a week here at Casa Ward (quick-n-ez recipe below).  One of the prime ingredients is diced tomatoes.  Ideally, just a plain ol’ can of diced tomatoes.  Sometimes I grab the wrong can at the Publix and we end up, as we did tonight, with diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, which is generally fine, because we’d have added both those things in the cooking process anyway.

In the cupboard tonight we had two cans of diced tomatoes:  The aforementioned Del Montes and a can of Ro-Tels.  The Ro-Tels were out because they’re a little spicy, and ol’ Dad is the only one here interested in bringing the picante.  So I grabbed the Del Montes.

So far so good.  Then I made the mistake of reading the label.

The first thing I noticed (and by the way, I was already sweating the bell peppers at this point, and the rice was done, so we were committed) was the calorie count.  Now, regular readers know I don’t generally care about calorie counts.  But I had noticed on the Ro-Tel label (because I was checking for ingredients to see how hot it might be) that the Ro-Tel was a measly 20 calories per serving.  The Del Monte tomatoes?  40.  Fully twice as many calories per serving.

And then I read the ingredients:  Item number two on the list?  High fructose corn syrup.  In my tomatoes.  And the garlic and onions?  Not so much.  Garlic powder.  Onion powder.  But not an actual aromatic vegetable to be found.  And a whole bunch of other questionable ingredients, including some chemicals with which I was not familiar.

By comparison, the Ro-Tel ingredients were tomatoes, peppers, salt and some odd chemical for thickening.

So.  We’ve learned two things.  First, read the label.  Always.  I knew that, but I should be able to trust that a can of tomatoes is just a can of tomatoes, right?  Wrong.  Second, I’m not buying Del Monte tomatoes again.  In this battle of Big Ag heavyweights (Ro-Tel is a Con Agra product), Con Agra wins.

Now, you may ask, “Why canned tomatoes, Harv?”  I’m glad you asked.  Generally speaking (before they add the freakin’ high fructose corn syrup), canned tomatoes are every bit as nutritious, and probably tastier, than any “fresh” tomato you pick up at your local supermegamart (Yes, if you grow your own, that would be better.  I do not.)

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As promised, the recipe:

• One can of black beans, drained
• One can of diced tomatoes, mostly drained
• Two bell peppers (different colors, if you can swing it), diced
• Half a red onion, diced
• Chopped garlic, to taste
• A little olive oil
• A pinch of black pepper
• (No salt – there’s plenty in the beans and tomatoes)
• Some rice (I don’t care how much, you’re going to serve this over the rice.  Brown is better than white.)

Heat the olive oil and black pepper in a big pan.  Brown the garlic in the oil.  Dump in the peppers and onions, sweat until they’re translucent/a little soft, stirring consistently.  Introduce the tomatoes, cook off most of the water from the tomatoes.  Introduce the beans.  Cook over medium/low heat for about five minutes, just to make all the ingredients happy with each other.  Serve over the rice.  If you’re feeling froggy, top with shredded queso and/or sour cream.

We’ve been known to include sausage of one sort or another, often chorizo.  If you do that, you might cut the olive oil out and start with the sausage.  You’ll have plenty of oil from that to cook everything else nicely.

Buen Provecho!

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And for those of you checking for the weigh-in, 262 this morning.  Damnit.  Domino’s pizza for dinner Thursday night.  Don’t judge me.  Stop.  I know you’re judging me.  Quit looking at me.

Now go tell your friends to read my blog.

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But seriously, thanks for reading.