Hammy Fact #2

I'm a little pressed for time these days so here is a Hammy Fact.

I once won Honorable Mention in a Cooking Contest for Better Homes and Gardens.
My winning entry was for a concoction called "Beans and Rice". I submitted it as a side dish, but it really made a great main dish, too.

I was living on the West Side at the time, with a large Hispanic population and really dug the food. I just Gringo-ed it up a little. The "secret ingredient" was the authentic Hispanic spices. (It wasn't the same without them.) I managed to Italianize it by beginninging the preparation of the dish with the sauteeing of garlic and onions in the oil. (Every Italian dish starts off with garlic and onion sauteed in oil). It was pretty goddarn good if I do say so myself.

Alas, the written recipe was lost years ago, and I don't have a copy of the magazine...so it's all just a memory now.

-Cookin' Hammy