Spicy Rainbow Rice and Bean Salad

I cannot stop eating the Wheat Berry and Bean Salad…it is so good!

However, I must admit that today’s recipe also stole my heart.

My goal for this week is to cook + blog 5 healthy lunch and dinner recipes. You won’t be seeing any desserts on the blog this week I’m afraid. I am all sugared out at the moment! The closest thing I may get to dessert this week is a vegan banana bread if I can ever get the recipe perfect (I’m on trial #3 right now!).

One main factor in healthy eating is planning ahead and making healthy food readily accessible. This week, I plan on stocking my fridge and freezer full of healthy leftovers that can be enjoyed in a snap. Working in a bakery and writing a food blog means that I am often too tired at the end of the day to cook a big dinner. If I can have delicious leftovers waiting in the fridge, I am much more likely to stay on the right track and eat meals that are balanced.

And if all else fails, I have lots of cookies in the freezer.

Today’s recipe prep was improved with some new kitchen tools!

I have needed some good knives for a while now and Eric got me a couple for Christmas. My heart went all a flutter for these Wusthof knives. I got a 20cm Chef’s knife and a 9cm paring knife.

They rock my world!!

I also feel much safer chopping with these knives as compared to my old dull knives that would slide all over the place.

Up next for Back on Track Week is a slightly spicy and energizing rainbow rice and bean salad, full of so many wonderful ingredients you will be bouncing off the walls in no time!

This recipe is so irresistible, I just had to eat it for breakfast this morning. It gave me so much energy too!

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Spicy Rainbow Rice and Bean Salad

Adapted from Vegan Yum Yum Cookbook.

Yield: 6 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice
• 1 tbsp oil of your choice (I used EVOO)
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (optional)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 green onion, chopped (optional)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp Tamari (organic soy sauce)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp Earth Balance, to stir in

Directions: Cook the basmati rice on the stove top according to the package directions. I cooked the rice the night before to save some time when I made the recipe.

Chop all vegetables and get all of your ingredients ready before beginning this recipe.

In a large skillet, add the tablespoon of oil over low-medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté on low-medium heat until golden. Add spices, garlic, and optional green onion and sauté on low for a few minutes until the spices begin to bubble slightly. Be careful not to burn.

Add in the Tamari sauce and the drained and rinsed black beans and stir well. Heat for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add the frozen peas, grated carrots, and frozen corn and stir well. Heat on low for another 5 minutes.

Stir in the cooked and drained rice and a teaspoon of Earth Balance (or butter).

Makes 6 cups.

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I got a few new vegan cookbooks for Christmas, one of which is this Vegan Yum Yum that I am very excited about. I’m hoping to do a post in the future talking about my cookbook collection once I test some of them out a bit more.

I cooked the brown rice last night to save some time this morning!

Gather up your spices!

Note to self: Do not attempt to carry a board across the kitchen with mustard seeds. Half of them will end up on the floor.

It wasn’t pretty.

If you are not a fan of spicy foods, you may want to omit the red pepper flakes and then slowly add the rest of the seasonings to adjust to taste.

In a large skillet, sauté the onion until golden and then add the spices.

I also added a clove of minced garlic and 1 chopped green onion for more flavour.

Gather your black beans, Tamari (organic soy sauce), 2 medium carrots, and frozen peas and corn.

I doubled the vegetables in the original recipe because…why not?

Grate carrots.

After the spices start to bubble a bit, add your black beans and Tamari to the mixture and stir well.

I tasted this bean mixture and it was so salty, I thought there was no way I was going to like this dish. But lo and behold, after I added the frozen veggies and rice it tasted just right. The frozen veggies also release a bit of water into the mixture to help thin out the Tamari sauce.

Heat for about 5 minutes and then add in your carrots, peas, and corn.

Stir well.

Once this mixture is cooked through, stir in your cooked rice.

That’s right.

…and serve. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

It makes about 6 cups so you will have lots of delicious leftovers for lunches and quick dinners!

This Rainbow salad is spicy, but not too spicy, and it is salty thanks to the Tamari, but it wasn’t too salty. Everything seemed to balance out in the end and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I also loved the texture that the vegetables brought to this dish. You could experiment with adding all kinds of vegetables too! Mushrooms or broccoli would be really fun.

Work calls me now and I’m going to squeeze in a Booty Camp Fitness DVD later on today. I’ve been trying to prepare my muscles for my first Body Pump class (in a few years!) tomorrow. My muscles are going to be in shock, no doubt. I’m excited to be pumping iron again. I will be talking about my 2011 health goals soon!

Will you be trying out any new fitness activities for the New Year?