The Veggie Queen Sprouts Again

I have been following a partly-raw diet for most of my life. I have always eaten raw fruit and vegetables, and for at least 30 years, on and off, I have been sprouting. I love the simplicity of the jar method:

• you put the seeds in a jar with a screened lid or piece of cheesecloth secured with a rubber band,
  
• soak,
  
• rinse,
  
• put in a bowl on an angle in a cabinet and then rinse twice a day
  
• When ready, place the jar in a spot with indirect sunlight and let the sprouts green up by absorbing light and turning it into chlorophyll.

Here is the first step in seed soaking overnight. This has to happen no matter which method you use. This jar has a screen on the top.









But for the past 16 months, I have been using the Sprout Master Mini Triple Sprouter which is like a little stacked sprout house which is available from a place called The Sprout House where I buy most of my exotic sprout seeds. I purchase the usual beans and grains in bulk at my local natural foods store and send away for mixes (check out the Veggie Queen mix) and exotic seeds such as broccoli, clover, radish and many more.

I have discovered why my compact sprout system works better for me than the jar method. I recently made mung bean sprouts and put them in the cabinet to sprout in the dark. Twenty four hours later I realized that I had not remembered to rinse them. They were still OK but had a forgotten longer they may have stopped sprouting or rotted which is a big waste. I see my Sproutmaster on the counter top and remember to rinse the seeds which is vitally important.

I also discovered that the seeds seem to sprout better in the Sproutmaster than in the jar so I ended up putting my "jar seeds" into the Sproutmaster to finish sprouting. I made this salad with all those sprouts (no apologies for no photo since I made it for the McDougall program participants and didn't stop to take a photo. Believe me, it was beautiful. If you were there and want to comment, please do. I have to wait a few days for new sprouts before I can shoot the photo so... in the interest of time and getting this post up -- NO photo of the actual recipe).

Contact Rita at The Sprout House if you want to become a great sprouter like me. For the month of March you'll get a free pound of St. Patrick's mix with your sprouter. (Note: I am an affiliate of the Sprout House but only recommend people and products that I personally love.)

Rainbow Sprout Salad
Serves 4
I recently ate something like this at a mushroom hunting potluck. I had already likely eaten too much but it was too beautiful and tasty to pass up. Vary the ingredients based on what you have available.

1 1/2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 1/2 cups lentil sprouts
1 cup shredded red cabbage
½ cup shredded carrots
3 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons dried cranberries or raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons water
1-2 teaspoons mellow white miso
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1-2 teaspoons agave syrup (optional)

Combine all the vegetables in a bowl and toss, adding sunflower seeds and dried fruit, if using.
In a small bowl, combine orange juice, zest, water, miso, mustard and agave syrup, if using. Combine dressing with sprouts and vegetables right before serving.

© 2010 The Veggie Queen™, Jill Nussinow, MS, RD http://www.theveggiequeen.com

Michael Pollan and The Veggie Queen Agree on Vegtables and Cooking

The other day I went to see my former schoolmate, Michael Pollan, speak about his new book Food Rules. I find this ironic because in junior high and high school, I was the one who cared about healthy food, eschewing the garbage served in the cafeteria and bringing my own food to eat. I went on to get a graduate degree in nutrition and I think that Michael got a degree in English, communication or journalism. Michael Pollan became a famous writer. I became a writer with much less status but still with something to say.

Michael (also referred to as Pollan) will tell you that he’s not an authority on food. And this is the part that bothers me just a bit. For more than twenty years, I have been teaching people about eating healthier by eating “real” foods. I’d also tell them that they didn’t need a Registered Dietitian to tell them that the foods at the top of the Food Pyramid – cake, cookies, soda, ice cream, salad dressing and the like- weren’t good for them. Obviously, I was correct – they needed a journalist/writer to do that.

Michael’s new book Food Rules follows the format of his previous book In Defense of Food, going with his haiku, “Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.” This is where we come into agreement. In fact, one of the first statements I heard at the talk (I took 9 pages of notes in just over 30 minutes) was, “The healthiest food is in the produce department.” We agree that eating vegetables is an essential part of eating well.

I will now briefly run through some of the rest of my notes that might be of interest to you. My post title may be misleading because Michael and I agree on much more than just vegetables and cooking. In fact, we encourage people to follow many of the same food rules.

For a little background, Pollan shared that his interest in food grew out of his garden trials and tribulations. He was pleased to be at The Seed Bank and noted that the "real economy" is in the seeds, and that you cannot bail out the "real economy". In fact, we need to grow it. I agree wholeheartedly.

Pollan wonders why Americans are so confused about feeding themselves. And then when he takes a trip to the supermarket, he understands. There are lots of "food like substances" and far less "real food".

He suggests avoiding food that has health claims. He says that the cereal boxes contain the most flagrant examples of misleading claims, such as cereal that improves your immunity, that will improve your child's focus, that will protect you from a heart attack, yet this cereal contains 43% sugar by weight, and so on. And did you know that Froot Loops are better for you than donuts (as if donuts were the gold standard)?

He says that the yogurt aisle isn't much better.

He reminded the audience that food is not biochemistry. You do not need to know what an antioxidant is to eat well. AMEN. I couldn't agree more. You do not need a dietitian to tell you that potato chips are not healthy food. But please, Michael, I beg you to accept the fact that some dietitians are into food and what it can do, and RDs are not the enemy.

Here are the myths that Pollan wants to rebuke:

1. Foods are the sum of their nutrient parts. Nutrients matter.



2. You need experts to tell you how to eat. He likens this process to religion - and discusses the relationship of food and health.



3. Nutritionism divides foods into good and evil nutrients which has led us to where we are now in terms of the obesity epidemic.



4. The whole point of eating is health. Food and eating are on the ruining your health or saving your life spectrum. But what about other perfectly legitimate reasons for eating such as pleasure, community, cultural identity?

Pollan said, "I don't think that science knows enough to tell us what to eat." Agreed -- nutrition science is young. That's why I prefer to follow Mother Nature's need. He likens where we are to surgery in the year 1650 -- "it's interesting to watch but you don't want them to work on you yet," he says.

He suggests that if we tune into nature more and look at our past, we can likely figure out a better way to eat.

People who eat an incredible range of traditional diets around the world do not suffer from the chronic modern diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, that are rampant in the US population who eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) of mostly processed food.

And we can roll back the effects of the SAD diet by changing how you eat.

Here are some of the 64 rules in Food Rules that Pollan shared. Remember:

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.

Avoid foods that make health claims, need a package and a big marketing budget.

The healthiest food is in the produce section. AT this point in the talk, I am smiling wide and patting myself on the back (at least figuratively). He said, "Don't be fooled by the silence of the yams, that they won't contribute to your health."

Don't buy any foods that you see advertised on television. (Big marketing budget at work.)

If it came from a plant, eat it. Woo hoo. Now I am internally cheering.

If it grew in a plant or a laboratory, avoid it. (Please say no to Monsanto as they destroy our food system.)

Rule Number 63: Plant a garden. Make it a large vegetable garden if you have the space, or a window box garden if you don't have room. Get away from fast, cheap and easy food. You'll eat what your garden yields. And you'll save money.(Oh, yes.) A recent study showed that a $70 investment in a garden yields about $700 worth of food. And it will put you in touch with the earth.

Rule Number 64: COOK. It's the easiest way to take back control of your diet and to know where your food comes from. (At this point, I was floating, and thinking that this talk was too good to be true except it could have been me up there wowing the crowd.)

While I wish that it were me or some other Registered Dietitian, with the ability to see beyond nutrients and look at food for the goodness that it provides, doing the bidding and getting people interested in their food, I salute Michael Pollan for all that he’s done to help people wake people up to the state of our food and what we eat. I hope that all that he's doing will make a big difference. It already has for me.

Raw Kale Salad: A Green Time of Year

Today at the farmer's market a guy that I don't think that I know directly asked me if I'd seen any bok choy at the market. I said, "No" because, I hadn't.

Then he asked me if I'd seen chard, and since I was right at the Triple T Ranch and Farm booth, I pointed to the basket of Swiss chard. He went over to it, and I remarked, "Why don't you use kale, there's lots of it here today?" He walked away and I have no idea what he did.

But I know what I did, I bought collards and 2 different kinds of kale: dinosaur and Red Russian and made a raw kale salad. This is certainly one of my favorite winter salads when the greens are sweetest. There are many variations on this but this is my current favorite. I think that this will change when the vegetables change with the seasons.

The Veggie Queen’s Raw Kale Salad
Serves 2-4
This is easy to make and you’ll get a great dose of greens. Use your favorites types, put in extras to suit your taste. The only limit to what goes into this salad is your imagination. When you massage the greens, be sure to add the love.

2 bunches kale, collards or other greens, washed and spun dry
2-3 teaspoons raw tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons miso (my favorite is South River Miso – brown rice or or mellow white works well) or Bragg’s liquid amino acids
1 teaspoon agave, or more to taste
1 apple, sliced thin, julienned or grated

Remove leaves from large ribs and slice thinly. Put into a large bowl. Add the tahini, lemon juice and miso. Put your hands into the bowl and massage the greens until they are wilted, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the agave syrup and apple. Stir well to combine. This tastes best when eaten immediately.

Note: you can also add sunflower seeds or dried fruit to this salad, or go more savory by adding crushed garlic and sliced onion and omitting the apple.

Notice how the greens shrink by about half when they are massaged with the tahini, miso and lemon juice. If you are eating this by yourself, make half a batch at once.

Let me know how you like this salad by leaving a comment here on this blog, below, or sending me an email at jill at theveggiequeen.com.

Please Pop Over the Pears, Drop off the Apples, Leave me Persimmons

In addition to picking produce, which I am happy to do almost any time, I love it when I open my front door to find bags of it. It's often a surprise -- yesterday, my friend Anet dropped off a bag of large Bartlett pears. Hopefully later today someone will show up with some Gravenstein apples.

I had the good fortune of picking figs a couple of weeks ago but didn't realize that their end was so near. (Thank you Carl for your generosity.)

When I went to get a few more baskets the other day, I had to work hard to discover 9 large figs tucked under the leaves of the tree. I traded some of them for other produce and have been eating the rest of them. I never met a fig that I didn't like. Good thing that they are loaded with potassium, fiber and calcium. Unfortunately, they also have plenty of sugar so best to be careful when eating them, or the tummy lets you know.

I do not turn down homegrown produce when someone asks since I am often sure that I can put it to good use. I do request, though, that you don't leave me the not-so-good stuff, such as baseball bat sized zucchini or other summer squash. I will accept smaller squash and with them I will make a batch of my Grilled Asian Squash Salad. My assistant, and friend, Ellen just made these on her George Forman grill and said that they were very good. They also received rave reviews from Jenna of Kid Appeal who wrote a wonderful post about my cookbook and will be giving a copy away (so click on the link). When squash are in season, it's best to cook them up as fast and as often as you can.

Grilled Asian Squash Salad
Serves 4
When the squash is prolific, you always need another way to serve it. This dish is especially easy and delicious. Even people who say they don’t like squash usually find it irresistible.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon reduced sodium tamari
4 summer squash of any kind, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 large onion, cut into rings
3 tablespoons chopped herbs, such as cilantro, Thai basil or parsley
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Chopped cilantro or other herb, for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar, tamari and half the garlic and ginger in a bowl or zippered bag. Mix in squash, onion and herbs. Let marinate at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Place veggies on a screen on your grill over hot coals or gas or inside on a grill pan. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side. Turn carefully and grill for another 3-4 minutes on the other side. Reserve the marinade. Once the squash is grilled, cut it into bite-sized pieces. Mix with cooked onion rings, reserved marinade and remaining ginger and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve as is, or cool to room temperature.

c 2007 From The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment

If you want to do any produce drops, just let me know. I'll even meet you at the farmer's market in any Sonoma County town or city, or I'll do the picking. Produce is my game, The Veggie Queen is my name. Actually, my name is Jill but I do answer to Veggie Queen, with or without the The.

I hope that you are enjoying your summer produce as much as I am.

The Veggie Queen has Salad Days in Glen Ellen

I am not even sure what that term "Salad Days" means but I just had a chance to spend time with my friend Katie of North Coast Holistics (MI) while she housesits here in Sonoma County. She is staying at a beautiful home in Glen Ellen, where she lived with her ex- years ago. He and his current partner have turned the place into a lush oasis, especially for two salad eaters.

Katie and I picked lettuce and Katie made a salad for us, which is a real treat for me since I am usually the salad-maker.

I learned from Katie that the best way to have the freshest tasting salad is to pick the lettuce leaves and put them into a bowl of cool water. Then you rinse them a few more times and dry them off with a salad spinner, although some people have other methods that involve towels or swinging pillowcases.

We picked so much lettuce, yet hardly made a dent in what was growing (they must be supplying the entire neighborhood with greens as there were more than 20 heads fully fruited), that it created a salad for lunch and another for dinner.

While someone making salad for me was a high point of the day, it was nothing compared to spending a good chunk of a day with a close friend who I don't get to see often enough. When we see one another the time is often too short. I don't regret not spending more time and feel lucky that Katie set aside a day for me. She is well loved here in Sonoma County and many people want to see her. She mentioned that she might come back and housesit somewhere else, and I truly hope that happens.

Now, I long for more lettuce and for more "Salad Days" with Katie.

(PS. I looked up what Salad Days means, and it's a time of innocence. While Katie and I are long past that, I still like the phrase.)

Family Foodies CBC Final Answer

Here is the final installment of the CBC, cross blog conversation, with Family Foodies.

FF: I would love some suggestions for “fake meat” products as an foray into vegetarian eating. What are some of your recommendations?

TheVQ: Having just been on Culinate, at the Table Talk Meatless chat with @Kimodonnel from The Washington Post's A Mighty Appetite, here are some suggestions that we discussed: Boca Burgers (my meat-eating husband likes these), Field Roast sausages and roast, Tofurky brats and Italian sausages, as well as Gimme Lean and Lightlife products.

Many people like using the Morningstar Farms products but they seem overly processed to me. I try to stay away from eating soy protein isolate, and prefer items based on beans and grains. But many people new to the veg world go for the meatier tasting items which often contain more processed soy. There are also all the soy hot dog products that kids often like. And once you get them in the bun with stuff on them, it's hard to tell they are not meat (but what do I know about that?).

My husband used to like Yves Veggie Pepperoni so much that he called it turkey pepperoni. As an aside, I will tell you that on his own my husband decided that pepperoni is gross and no longer eats it. I consider that progress.

FF: I see you have a cookbook devoted to pressure cooking, and your blog bio says you are a pressure cooking advocate. Can you talk about your passion about pressure cooking and what you recommend for someone who has never used a pressure cooker?

The VQ: First, let me clarify that my cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment is about vegetables throughout the year, and has a chapter on pressure cooking. I have a DVD on pressure cooking, Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes that comes with a recipe booklet. What follows is my pressure cooking story.

I fell in love with pressure cooking when my son was about 2 or 3. I didn’t have a lot of time yet I wanted to feed him nutritious foods. He was a vegetarian, mostly vegan, from birth. He loved lentils, especially as soup. The first item that I perfected in the pressure cooker was Shane’s Fabulous Lentil Soup which has both red and green lentils. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, including prepping the ingredients. Using my pressure cooker made me feel like a great mother. So I learned to cook other things in it. Shane also loved beans, especially black and garbanzo beans. They take 6 and 12 minutes, respectively, after they’ve been presoaked. I would always make extra and freeze them.

If you are new to pressure cooking, or just want to see it, take a look at my pressure cooking website to see my video clip from my DVD. You’ll see how easy it is to use. Did I also mention that using a pressure cooker helps preserve some nutrients, and that the food looks and tastes great? You can also read my pressure cooking blog or see me on You Tube at TheVQ.

I think that using a pressure cooker is perfect for a family to make cooking fast, easy and delicious. Food tastes and looks better than in a crock pot, and you can wait until late in the afternoon and decide what to have for dinner on a whim, and actually get it on the table on time. I highly recommend it.
I hope that I’ve answered your questions. If anyone has questions, please feel free to comment here and I will get back to you.

Thanks for this great conversation.

Spring Farmer's Markets in Sonoma County

This weekend I went to 2 farmer's markets: one in Santa Rosa on Saturday, the other in Sebastopol on Sunday. I don't often do this but on Saturday I led a group of 4 through the market to buy ingredients for their private cooking class. I was happy to do this, which turned to thrilled when J. one of the tour group said that he's lived in the area for 40 years but had never been to the market. That's a symphony to my ears.

It was luckily a slow market day due to overcast weather, which made it easier to peruse the stalls and traverse the aisles. We have reached spring abundance and I was able to get everything on my list and more. (I did this by showing up about a half hour before our 9 am meeting just to be on the safe side and snagging some locally grown organic strawberries and asparagus.) I didn't have garlic scapes (the curly part of green garlic that will eventually form a flower), baby artichokes or squash blossoms on the list but we had those. And in addition to a bunch of spring kale (a different variety than the regular curly-type), we were also able to get broccoli rabe for our greens sauteed with garlic. The Spring Surprise Saute had a great mix of spring onions, leeks, asparagus, sugar snap peas and a variety of summer squash, which just appeared in the past week. I would have added cilantro to the mix but didn't want to get into who loves and who hates cilantro.

The menu for the day included Creamy Asparagus Soup (which in my book is Creamy Spinach Soup but I say that you can use the formula for almost any vegetable and asparagus is a favorite), Salad with Balsamic Strawberry Dressing (this is a take off of my Sweet Summer Super Salad), Marinated and Baked Tempeh, Quinoa Pilaf with Mushrooms, and the previously mentioned Greens with Garlic and Spring Surprise Saute. I had so much fun leading the group through the cooking. Miraculously, as we were finishing up the dishes and plating, the sun came out and the group headed outside for an amazing lunch. J. loved the tempeh which was a big surprise and S. loved the quinoa, as she'd never had it before.

Taking a group to the market meant that I couldn't really shop for myself so yesterday I went to Sebastopol ready for my weekly vegetable foray. When I saw the Laguna Vegetable stand with their amazingly sweet carrots, I knew that it was going to be an amazing day there. They also had sugar snap peas and young white Tokyo turnips, with great looking tops which I had the young man remove immediately and put into the bag. BIG TIP HERE: You want to remove the tops of all root vegetables right away as they breathe through the tops. Both roots and leaves will stay fresher this way. Everything else looked great, too, but I was moving on.

I stopped to speak to Paul of Paul's Smoked Salmon for a bit. He's a great guy and we have some good laughs together even about serious subjects such as his mother's recent passing. I love people who have a sense of humor, and he's one of them.

As I walked through the market, I got to say hello to people I know and chat with people that I've never met. It's a warm and friendly place. I guess that it's because everyone is happy to be outside, even if it's not sunny, buying produce, flowers and local goods. This is a huge departure from what it must feel like to buy vegetables at the local supermarket, which I try to avoid.

I ended up buying beautiful long beets (about which they didn't know the variety) but didn't want the greens and asked them to give them to pass them along to someone who wants them. I hadn't even left the stand when a woman walked up and asked how much for beet greens. She was handed the bag of my greens. FREE. Now, that is sheer joy, in my book.

I had more than one conversation with a farmer about stores that carry local produce and the small degree to which it really happens. I said that we need to rethink the system and figure out something that works better for all. (I still love my idea of teaching gardening and cooking to all, for FREE. If you know of any companies who might want to throw money at this, just let me know.) Regional food supplies are a good way to start changing things. Maybe each neighborhood has a community garden or group of growers or who knows what?

Dan Kahane (of Graton Greens, or at least that's what I think that his farm is called) and I were about talking about the motto, "reduce, reuse and recycle", and how we might want to add rethink. I told him that means that we have to get more people thinking in the first place. I know you are, and hope that you will work on continuing the conversation with those that you know. Each one of us has the ability to influence change.

I am now going to cook something for a block party this afternoon. Still wondering which of these vegetables I want to use: beets, asparagus, turnips, English peas, sugar snap peas, torpedo onions, garlic scapes, green garlic, summer squash, red romaine lettuce, salad mix and cilantro. I also have organic strawberries, cherries, peaches and nectarines. It may just turn out to be Spring Surprise Salad today. Only time will tell.

Meeting the Rancho Gordo Big Bean Guy at Denver Airport

While snaking through the security line at Denver airport, I spotted Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo bean fame. Just about a week or so ago he was featured in the New York Times. And he still talks to me. That's impressive.

Steve was a presenter at the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) conference in Denver. He was nice enough to mention me during his bean presentation. I felt very special.

So imagine my surprise when I was standing at the Mexican food place in the airport on my way to my Southwest flight, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I was intently studying the menu. "Are you trying to figure out the nutrition of this stuff?" Steve asked.

"No, I want to figure out what I might eat," I replied. Steve had already eaten and wanted some coffee. I wanted to check out my other options so we walked together. It turned out that the Mexican place seemed most appealing -- a better choice than bagels. So we circled around to the Mexican place again where Steve and I talked over my bean tostada with guacamole. It was small and tasty and just a bit spicier than I expected for an airport restaurant.

Steve said that his burrito was quite good. Now, that's like me saying that those vegetables get a B+ for their taste. Steve knows his Mexican food. In fact, as we talked he mentioned that he's now the Big Bean Guy because he's growing so many pounds of them (this has nothing to do with Steve's stature, so don't even go there).

It's almost futile to try to buy Steve's beans at this point because many of them are sold out (but check them out anyway because you never know). He'll have his next crop in the fall. But keep watching because Steve told me that since the Times article the bean farmers are coming out of the woodwork and he should be able to increase production for this year. That means in October or November there could be beans for sale.

Steve is also working with Mexican growers who according to Steve are "beyond organic" because they have to use natural methods for their crops due to lack of money. We talked about how beans are not a crop that is often bothered by a lot of pests. Probably too much work for pests who prefer to attack strawberries as an easy target.

In any case, it was special to share time with the "Big Bean Guy" at the Denver airport. Even though Steve only lives about an hour from my home, we've never had a chance to just chat for 40 minutes. You never know what might come your way --- some heirloom beans would be great. And if you've never had them, there's always later in the year.

Watch for my guest nutrition blog post on Steve's site soon. The preview: beans are very good for you, and for Steve, too.

Sweet Potatoes with Black Beans -- One of My Favorites

OK, I am on a sweet potato kick. It's because there is a sweet potato recipe contest (sponsored by North Carolina sweet potatoes) and I am a big sweet potato fan. What's not to like? (I only enter recipe contests where I truly like the ingredients.)

One of my favorite combinations is sweet potatoes with beans. Had my computer not been wiped out last year, I would likely post my curried sweet potatoes with garbanzo beans but instead, I went with my other favorite sweet potato combo -- with black beans. I happened to have cooked some black beans in my pressure cooker the other night so this dish came together easily. You can used canned beans (or run out and buy a pressure cooker and give up those cans) if you must.

Spicy Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash
Serves 4
This is an ideal breakfast food for me but others will probably like it for lunch or a light dinner. It can be served over brown rice or quinoa, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla or made into a soft taco, featured in the photo, or as a side dish.

1 tablespoon oil
1 cup chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes, about 2 small to medium, peeled
2 teaspoons chili powder (not spice)
½ cup vegetable broth
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup cooked black beans
¼ cup green onion, chopped
Splash of hot sauce, to taste
Salt to taste
Cilantro, chopped for garnish

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic for another minute. Then add the sweet potatoes and chili powder. Stir to coat the sweet potatoes with chili. Add the vegetable broth and stir. Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and add the salt, black beans and green onion. Cook another minute or two, until the beans are heated through. Add hot sauce, if desired. Taste and add more salt, if you like. Top with chopped cilantro.