
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?
If you don’t already have one, buy yourself a little knife sharpener. I try to remember to sharpen mine after every use (just 10 swipes across the stone or so) and I’ve really noticed a difference!
we have one and I haaaaate the noise of the blade against the sharpener. Its one of my least fav sounds so Eric is in charge of doing it when Im not in the room…haha
I have knife envy!! I am excited about the upcoming posts!! I too am ready for some healthy meals :)
This look delish! Reminds me of my veggie burrito bowls from Chipotle…yum! Thanks for the recipe. BTW, will the Holiday Glo Bar Pack be available again on your site? I am dying to try them!
Hi Angela!
Happy holidays! Thanks for posting these delicious veggie/bean/etc. salad options. I’m really excited to test some out in the coming weeks. Here’s to getting back on track!
Nice knives, girl!
Thanks for this recipe! It looks really good and I appreciate the seasonal ingredients. I’m trying to eat more seasonal and local and it would kill me to buy a pepper from Israel or a tomato from Mexico. Unfortunately, that is my only choice if I use those two veggies. I’m going strong though and only buying fresh, seasonal produce or frozen/canned, out of season produce.
Thanks for sharing! I was looking for something this yummy, colorful and healthy! Can’t wait to make it!
I lust after wusthof!!! I can’t wait to get my own. another great, fresh salad recipe, yum! Thanks, Angela!
Heidi xo
I am LOVING the healthy salad recipes. Seriously, keep them coming. One of my goals for the new year will be to cook something up on the weekend that I can use for weekday lunches because at the moment they are one of my major downfalls! I am sure that if I added up how much I spent on food at work, it would be way cheaper to make something this healthy and delicious as well.
I too got Vegan Yum Yum for Christmas, I LOVE It! I love how there are so many photos, some day when you write your book, I hope that you incorporate a lot of photos as you always do on your blog.
My dad got me a set of 6 Wusthofs for my college graduation and its probably my most used gift ever…well that and my coffee press.
Funny, though, I must let off a “I love chopping things” vibe because my boss at work got me a great (GIANT) cutting board.
Could not make Christmas dinner for 20 without the two of them (and the coffee press too because, you know I need caffeine to do that much cooking…..)
That salad looks absolutely delicious!!! I may just be making that tonight. I wanted to make the wheat berry salad but can’t find them locally, so I may substitute with bulgur and see how that turns out.
Love the knives. Hubby bought me some beautiful Henkels last year and a Grohman (Canadian made)…. I love them all. It makes all the difference in the world but I didn’t really notice until this Christmas when I was trying to carve the turkey at my parents. I literally had to saw through it. Every knife was sooooo dull. I know what mom’s getting for Christmas next year.
This year I really want to start taking advantage of the classes offered at my school gym! And I’m also dying to give hot yoga a try.
Yum! This looks so good – This is the perfect lunch for me to make on a weekend and bring with me to work!
Yum, just printed this recipe off, not only easy but adds energy, I like that!
As for a new workout regimine…uh yea, next to what I do all the time, running, I’ve dealved into a newfound love for kickboxing and will also be taking a boxing basics class…who woulda thunk. I really love the workout it gives and the burn I feel afterwards.
Thanks for this recipe! Here I was sitting at my kitchen table mulling over what I’d make for dinner after coming home from vacation to an empty kitchen and staring at a bag of beans when voila! Your dish was the next in line on my reader and I definitely have all the ingredients! Can’t wait to eat it :D
Oh I love that cookbook! The nearly raw tahini noodles recipe is amazing if you’re super hungry and in a pinch. Omnivores liked it also when I made it ;)
Angela! I made this recipe for lunch yesterday! Just didn’t use all the ‘spicy’ spices. The oregano brought an amazing flavor! This will be one of my fav rice dishes now!! Thanks for sharing :]
glad u liked it!
thank you! it looks so healthy can’t wait to try it! :)
Hello! I am no vegan, but I definately enjoy your recipes-sometimes they make me consider switching over even! haha. I was looking at ‘Vegan Yum Yum’ at Indigo this week. I LOVE cook books, but find many times I am disappointed by what is in side, and end up resorting back to my good old faithfuls. Once you have tried it out a little, i would LOVE to hear if it is worth my pennies!:)