Red beans & rice bowls. Vegan. Gluten free.

Red beans and rice.

Happy Monday my friends! After a lovely weekend of sleeping (I slept 30 hours between Friday night and Monday morning) I feel great. I have no idea where that came from but my body/mind so needed it. I hit the ground running today and was at the gym nice and early. In fact, after speaking to a trainer friend of mine… I bumped up all of my weights 10-15 lbs per machine and I killed my workout.

IT
FELT
SO
GOOD!

So back to the kitchen for menu prepping, client cooking and all things food. I made this dish over the weekend and I was excited to share a super easy recipe that is perfect for week/leftovers for lunch or freezer for a future quick dinner on the fly. I also love this for your taco bar on Tuesday! It’s really easy to prepare and you can add or subtract your favorite veggies/spices etc. I’ve also made this with leftover quinoa for a hefty protein-punch! Think about serving this with your favorite main protein, with tortillas, in a salad or alongside a tofu scramble!

Time to get started… happy new week!

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked brown rice (or quinoa)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small Vidalia onion, diced or 1/2 of a larger onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, any color, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (seeded or not depending on your preference)
2 cans of dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1- 15 oz can of diced tomatoes or 2 medium fresh tomatoes, diced
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/2-1 tsp of red pepper flakes
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper
Fresh cracked pepper
A few pinches of salt (around 1/2 tsp)

Optional: Top with fresh cilantro leaves

Method:

Cook your rice or quinoa depending on your favorite method. I prefer to cook it in my Instant Pot 1 cup of rice to 1.25 cups of broth or water + a pinch of salt. Cook on manual for 22 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release and then remove the top and fluff with a fork.

In the meantime, in a large sauté pan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add your onions, peppers, jalapeño and garlic and cook until tender (about 4 minutes) stirring often. Then add your beans, tomatoes, smoke and seasonings. Stir well and reduce the heat to low/medium. Cook for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to develop then add the rice. Stir to evenly distribute. You can serve immediately, store in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 5 days or freeze once completely cooled for one month.

Due to my fall and subsequent very sore knee, I’ve decided to take my running down a notch to let it recover a bit. I’ll be adding more weightlifting this week which is truly where my attention needs to be to tighten up my body 🙂