Black Beans and Rice - One pot

1. Day before: Sort and rinse beans. Add 3 cups water to a container, add beans, cover, place in fridge overnight. (Can stay in fridge a few more days if your cooking plans change). Cooking day: Remove beans from fridge and add to large (6 quart) saucepan, water and all. Add remaining 3 cups water or stock. Heat to boil, then reduce to slow boil for 1 hour.
2. While beans are cooking, add all seasonings. Salt added to the beans has not toughened them in my experience. After beans have cooked for 1 hour, add brown rice, stir, raise heat to boil, then reduce to simmer low enough to cover pot as completely as possible without causing spillover.
3. Pot should be large enough so that mixture only fills pot at most half full at this point. Stir briefly a few times during the next 30-40 minutes but recover to maintain simmer. Once rice is al-dente, add all vegetables (if using corn, add last 5-10 minutes of cooking), stir, bring back to simmer, and cover. As vegetables cook, the liquid level will increase but then decrease again as the rice absorbs it.
4. Stir occasionally to incorporate vegetables, and check for desired doneness of vegetables and rice. Keep covered to ensure rice cooks through. Garnish with avocado, if using. Final consistency will be on the thick side, but you can thin down now or later if desired. Can be made a soup with additional water or stock. I like to do this in the winter. Top with fried onions and drizzle with oil, if desired.
Use your imagination on flavoring, garnishes, etc. to adapt to your tastes, and enjoy! I like to adjust (mostly up) the onion, tomato, and garlic.
Source of recipe: I wrote this recipe.