Kidney bean–brown rice chili

I will admit that most of the time, when a recipe calls for dry beans, I substitute canned. (So far on this blog there has only been one exception.) Despite the fact that 99% of the prep is hands-off, cooking beans from scratch still requires me to remember to soak them the night before. Even the quick-soak method means I need to start the recipe over an hour ahead of time. My point is, I understand if you choose to use canned beans in this recipe (which is, like the skinny bitchtastic brownies, from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch), BUT I do highly recommend going the dry bean route. The firm bite and chewy texture of freshly cooked beans is just so different, and so much better, than canned. That said, I’d estimate you could replace the dry beans with three 15-oz. cans of rinsed and drained kidney beans if you’d prefer.

2 cups dry red kidney beans
1 Tbsp coconut oil (or canola oil)
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
Pinch cayenne pepper
15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup medium-grain brown rice
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
4-6 corn tortillas, cut into strips (optional)

In a large stockpot, combine beans and enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and let sit for 8 hours or overnight. (Alternatively, bring to a boil over high heat, cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 1 hour.)



Drain the beans, return them to the stockpot, and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, sage, and cayenne and sauté for 1 more minute.



(Sorry for the blurry pic!) Add the onion mixture to the beans...



...along with the tomatoes and rice.



Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the bell pepper and cook for 15 more minutes. Add the carrot and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the beans and rice are tender.



Serve with homemade tortilla strips, if you wish: while the chili is cooking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray, and arrange the cut-up tortillas in a single layer. Mist the top with cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 3-5 minutes, or until just beginning to brown. Set aside to cool until the chili’s done.



I LOVED this chili; in fact, I think it gave my three-bean chili a run for its money! I’m convinced that using dry beans made all the difference, since the chewy texture they lend (along with the rice) is the highlight of the dish. It’s quite mildly spiced, but feel free to add a minced jalapeño or more cayenne to kick up the heat if you wish. The crispy baked tortilla strips added a fun crunch and pulled the whole thing together nicely. If I’d had any cilantro, I would have stirred some in at the end. This would also be great served with guacamole or vegan sour cream. It’s low-fat, super-filling, and even better leftover!



Yield: 6-8 servings. Per serving (6): 338 calories, 4.2g fat (2g sat), 61g carbs, 20g fiber, 17.6g protein.
Per serving (8): 253 calories, 3.1g fat (1.5g sat), 45.8g carbs, 15g fiber, 13.2g protein.

If you like this, you might also like...
Chickpea lentil slow-cooker stew
Dal makhani: a refresher
Three-bean vegan chili

No-bake almond butter balls

Sometimes you can take a bunch of tasty-on-their-own ingredients, combine them in a way that should be good, and end up with something awful. This is NOT one of those recipes. It is the exact opposite—a bevy of sweet ‘n salty items that, when smooshed together, become more than the sum of their parts.

Before you say anything—I know, I know, honey’s not technically vegan. Use agave nectar if you must, though I think it could affect the texture. If you really don’t care at all whether it’s vegan, feel free to use nonfat dry milk powder in place of the (more expensive and harder to find) soymilk powder. For that matter, use natural peanut butter instead of almond butter, or unsweetened cocoa powder in place of the carob. Agave or honey, soymilk or skim milk, almond or peanut, carob or cocoa, vegan or not, there’s no need to take food too seriously. Just play around and have fun!

1 cup dry soymilk powder
1/2 cup creamy almond butter
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
Dash of vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp carob powder



Combine the soymilk powder, almond butter, honey, flaxseed, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Grease your hands thoroughly with cooking spray and dig in, squishing everything together until well mixed.



Roll the mixture into about 16 balls (minus however much you munch on right out of the bowl) and place on a small baking sheet. Transfer to the fridge to chill for just a few minutes.



Place the carob powder in a medium bowl. Put the chilled almond butter balls, a few at a time, into the carob powder, and shake the bowl to roll them around until completely coated. Place them back on the baking sheet and chill for an additional few minutes.

These will keep in the refrigerator for at least a week or two, but good luck keeping them around that long. It’s far too easy to pop one, two, five of them at a time, right at the fridge door! At breakfast, for dessert, or in between meals, you’ll find these calling your name at all hours. Surprisingly well-rounded nutritionally, they also make the perfect pre- or post-workout snack. No-bake, no-guilt, and delicious!

Oh, and Hannah, the fact that I could have called these "chocolate-covered nut balls" did not escape me, trust me! ;P



Yield: 16 servings. Per serving: 125 calories, 5.6g fat (trace sat), 16.2g carbs, 2g fiber, 3g protein.

If you like this, you might also like...
Homemade almond milk
No-bake PB-choc-oat cookies
Raw pecan pie cookies

Tidy joes (vegan sloppy joes)

I’m really not a fan of American food; in fact, I list it in the sidebar at right as one of my hates. This makes Urban Vegan’s sloppy joes recipe very special indeed—it appealed to even me! Once I removed the offensive barbeque sauce, at least. (I live in the BBQ capital of the country, and yet I can think of no smell, save sauerkraut, that repels me more.) The one thing that gave me pause about these sloppy joes was that mine turned out to be not at all sloppy, so I have renamed these tidy joes—they won’t make a mess of your plate or your health!

2 Tbsp canola oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
1 scant Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
4 whole grain hamburger buns



Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent...



...then add the garlic and red pepper and sauté for an additional minute.



Add the tomato sauce, TVP, chili powder, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar and turn the heat to low. Stir well, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed and the TVP and red pepper are soft. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.



A toasted whole grain bun was the perfect vehicle for this, but it would be great over brown rice too. I actually just ate the leftovers with a spoon, and loved it. These tidy joes have just the right amount of tang from the tomato sauce and vinegar, tempered nicely by the sweetness of the onion and pepper and the dab of brown sugar. A couple generous dashes of Tabasco rounds out all the flavors, making these truly above-average joes.



Yield: 4 servings. Per serving (without bun): 260 calories, 7.4g fat (.5g sat), 28.7g carbs, 9g fiber, 20.9g protein.

More Urban Vegan recipes...
Black olive tapenade
Whole grain rosemary-olive bread
Cauliflower-chickpea tagine

Falafel night + V-Day dinner

I have two delightful meals to recap for you. Back on February 5th, local Middle Eastern foods company Yummy’s Choice threw a free falafel night! I’ve mentioned Yummy’s Choice once before, a long time ago, when I met Chef Kamal giving samples at Whole Foods. Since then, their product line has grown expansively and their distribution has widened from Kansas City to Denver, St. Louis, Santa Fe, and Albequerque. Falafel night was a treat to those of us that follow Yummy’s on Facebook. It was snowy, slushy, and ominous outside that night, but I dragged Matt along with me to the Yummy’s headquarters on 39th.

The place was packed beyond belief, which made their setup and organization all the more impressive. As soon as we walked in, we were presented with a tray of four meal options (clockwise from top): a falafel wrap, falafel salad, falafel burger, or falafel sandwich. Matt and I both chose the burger.



We were given little tickets and told to hand them to the cooks behind the counter across the room. Chef Kamal himself was back there prepping meals and talking animatedly with patrons. After handing off our orders, we were directed to a huge appetizer bar. This sprawling buffet contained hummus platters the size of hubcaps, pita bread, marinated olives, tabbouleh, chickpea salad, and grilled vegetables. Can you say heaven?



We’d barely gathered some appetizers and served ourselves cups of saffron-infused passionfruit iced tea (yowza) when our orders were ready.



There were not nearly enough tables to handle everyone, so Matt and I nabbed a spot by a windowsill and ate standing up. But there was so much food—after some hummus and pita, olives, tabbouleh, and chickpea salad, I could only manage to eat a couple bites of my falafel burger. Luckily, to-go boxes were provided. Just look at all I took home! I got another two meals out of this box.

I can’t believe that whole thing was free! What an awesome event for Yummy’s Choice to put on.



Switching gears, here’s a look back at Valentine’s Day. I already showed you the Italian feast I made for Matt the Thursday before, but lest you think he did not reciprocate, check out where we went on Saturday night—Aixois, a classy little French bistro in Brookside. What a surprise! I’d never eaten authentic French food in Kansas City, and somehow hadn’t even heard of this place. Matt was hoping it would evoke memories for me of my time in France, and it did.

We noshed on sliced baguette and shared a bottle of red wine from Bordeaux, and though it wasn’t as good as what I drank when I was there, I simply love that region’s wines.



SEAFOOD ALERT, again! This is very unusual for me. But a handsome man was wining and dining me at a fancy French restaurant, so rather than pester them to make me a mediocre vegetable ratatouille, I sprang for the grilled sea scallops in tomato-basil sauce, with pommes frites alongside. The portion size was very French, and I must say, the scallops were melt-in-my-mouth delicious.



The dessert menu at Aixois made me sigh with happy nostalgia. It looked just like the one at Au Bistrot de la Montagne in Paris! Thanks to the mocha devastation cake we’d been plowing through all week, Matt was uncharacteristically uninterested in the chocolate desserts, so we chose the crêpe aux fruits rouges, a perfect little crêpe enfolding fresh strawberries and gently whipped cream, drizzled with a sweet-tart berry coulis.



It was a dreamy ending to a delectable and romantic meal. It had been years since I’d had a proper Valentine’s Day, and thanks to my sweet and thoughtful boyfriend, this one went above and beyond my expectations.

If you like this, you might also like...
Vegan Italian Valentine feast
December-January leftovers
Random 2009 leftover madness

Belated February leftovers

February was full of great food. One Sunday for lunch, Matt and I ate at Vietnam Café. We shared vegetarian spring rolls to start; the dipping sauce was so good I ate some with a spoon.



I hadn’t eaten there in a couple years, so I was delighted to discover that they now have seitan (or just, as they call it, gluten) as a protein option! After enjoying seitan so much at Shojin in Los Angeles in January, I couldn’t resist the piquant yellow gluten curry.



I made Love and Olive Oil’s chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, and oh wow, they were just as amazing as Lindsay promised. These were gobbled up so quickly, I had to make a second batch just a day or two later.



At Panera on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I ate a simple black bean soup with a chunk of whole grain baguette.



One weeknight for dinner, I steamed a huge head of broccoli and ate it drizzled with my favorite spicy peanut sauce from Saigon 39, another Vietnamese restaurant in Midtown.



I don’t often post my breakfasts, so here’s one for you—plain yogurt, Fiber One, chopped raw almonds, and fresh blackberries.



(WARNING: seafood ahead) Matt and I ate a spur-of-the-moment dinner at Figlio, a very nice restaurant on the Plaza. I ordered spaghetti fra diavolo, which had a couple large shrimp and one really massive scallop.



I made this quick weekend lunch by softening a bit of chopped yellow onion in a dab of coconut oil, then adding garlic, ginger, and curry powder, and finally stirring in some home-grown lentil sprouts until just heated through. A sprinkle of minced cilantro completed the dish.



My friends and I ate a big group dinner at Thai Place in Westport before going out. They have my favorite pad thai ever.



Last but not least, Rachel and I had a Wednesday wine night at my place. I made a batch of homemade hummus and sliced up some pita bread to serve it with, and Rachel brought a bottle each of pinot grigio and merlot. I love wine nights!



If you like this, you might also like...
December-January leftovers
Random 2009 leftover madness
August leftovers