Huevos rancheros (sort of)

I'm tired of hearing eggs get a bad rap. I grew up thinking that they were horrible for your cholesterol, but there's actually very little evidence that dietary cholesterol has any effect on blood cholesterol levels. And guess what? All animal products have cholesterol. But, in my humble opinion, eggs are one of the tastiest. So, this adulterated version of huevos rancheros is my tribute to eggs everywhere (especially those that came from chickens who are happily frolicking about on the pasture... on a farm very near my kitchen). Ok, the thought of chickens frolicking is a bit absurd, but quite fun to imagine!

Huevos rancheros (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (or 1 can)

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can)

1 can (7 oz.) diced green chiles

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

3 eggs

1/4 cup shredded white cheddar

1 green onion, chopped

Combine tomatoes, beans, chiles (including liquid), cilantro, chili powder, cumin, and salt and pepper in a large skillet. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 min. Pour each egg* into a separate cup and gently pour into bean mixture. Cover and simmer for 7-8 min, until eggs are done to your liking. Garnish with cheese and onion. Serves 3.

*I was cooking for myself, so I only cooked one egg in the mixture. When I was ready for leftovers, I brought an individual serving of the bean mixture to a simmer and then cooked another egg.

I really enjoyed this. Of course traditional huevos rancheros involves a corn tortilla, but I left it out because I was eating this with jalapeno cornbread mini muffins. This was the perfect vegetarian dish for a big meat-eater because I swear that it had a ground beef texture to it. And I don't even have any ground beef in my apartment, so I know that I didn't go into a trance and slip some in. I'm a big fan of topping just about anything with an egg, so this made my night. It was incredibly filling, too, and a leftover serving gave me enough iron to be eligible to donate blood this afternoon!