Cajun-Spiced Oatmeal with Red Pepper, Black Beans, and Spinach

My mouth is on fire from this one!

To tell the truth, I don't know much about Cajun cuisine. It's not exactly a cuisine that Midwesterners ever experience, sadly (we fear cayenne pepper), and it's not the most vegetarian-friendly cuisine, either. However, I recently discovered Cajun seasoning, and I love it. I made these awesome crunchy Cajun tofu sticks once, and they were so great...



*ahem*

Anyway, the idea for this recipe came from my new-found loves of red peppers and Cajun seasoning. I liked the thought of black beans with it (and the spinach was pretty much an afterthought). From there, I Googled "Cajun cuisine" and blindly put my trust into Wikipedia to help put the finishing touches on my recipe.

IT'S SO COLORFUL!

From my research, I found out the "holy trinity" of Cajun cuisine is bell pepper, onion, and celery. This recipe contains two of those items; if you'd like to complete the trinity, go ahead and add celery! However, I thought this recipe was superb the way it is! Om nom nom...

Cajun-Spiced Oatmeal with Red Pepper & Black Beans

by The Oatmeal Artist

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 10 min

6051259

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 a red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin, 2-inch long strips
• oil for sauteeing
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped spinach
• 1 cup vegetable broth or water
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
• 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1/4 cup cooked and rinsed black beans

Instructions

1. Saute the onion, garlic, and pepper strips in a bit of oil in a skillet for 4-7 minutes, until slightly tender. Add chopped spinach and a pinch of salt and cook an additional minute, until the greens begin to wilt. Remove from heat, and set aside for later.
2. Bring vegetable broth to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add Cajun seasoning. Stir.
4. Add pepper, onion, and spinach, as well as the black beans. Stir.
5. When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. You could top this with fresh flat-leaf parsley, hot sauce, crushed red pepper, and/or ground black pepper. I don't have fresh parsley or hot sauce, so I just went with black pepper and a diced pepper strip that I saved from the skillet.

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I did it! I posted a savory oatmeal recipe! *pats self on the back*

**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!