Favorite Recipes

Yesterday I spent kind of  a lot at restaurants, so today I decided to cook and I made one of my favorite meals, my "vegan burrito bowl." 

I used to make actual burritos or tacos, but I didn't really like the taste of some of the wheat tortillas I bought and it's too hard to find organic soft corn tortillas. (I really try to stay away from non-organic corn because if it's not a lot of it is genetically modified)  Anyway the best stuff is inside the tortilla right? 

Making it is really easy too, but I use dried pinto beans for the refried beans so you'll need to set aside a little over 4 hours to make it but it's really easy and only a bit labor intensive at the end.

Here's what you need:   btw all of my amounts are approximate I just eyeball everything (except the rice)

This makes about 4 servings of beans and 4-5 servings of rice, depending upon how much you eat...

refried beans:
half of a bag of dry pinto beans  8 oz.
approx 1 plum tomato-diced
approx 3 cloves of garlic- diced
approx 1.5 tbs cumin
approx 1 tbs vegan butter or oil

vegan rice:
1 cup of brown rice
1 tbs vegan butter or oil
1/2 onion
1/4 green pepper
2 tbs coriander
1 jalapeno (optional)
chilli powder (optional) to taste
2 tbs veg bullion base (optional)
1 tbs tomato paste

Plus any other topping and ingredients you'd like.  I also used onions, broccoli, mushrooms, avocado, cilantro, jalapeno and some whole foods salsa.

Here's the vegan bullion base that I use.  This stuff is fantastic.  I use it for everything.

To make the beans you just cover them with almost an inch of water bring them to a boil.  be sure to sort the beans first because there can be pebbles mixed in.

After they boil for a minute or so drain the beans and return them to the pot.  Add the tomato, half of the garlic, the cumin, chilli powder, and about 1-2 inches of water. 

Bring that to a boil and then cover and simmer.  (The beans will need to cook for a little over 3 hours before you start to mash them.)

Stir the beans and check on them periodically, like every 30-45 mins or so just to make sure they have enough water. 

Add water as needed to let them continue to simmer.

*As a side note since the beans take just over 4 hours to cook if you want everything finished at the same time you'll need to start the rice after about 2.5 hours provided you're not using quick cooking brown rice.  I  use brown basmati for everything.  You probably don't need over an hour and a half to make the rice but I'd rather have it done too early than to have to wait for it.

After about 2.5-3 hours you may want to stir the beans more regularly to make sure they don't stick.

Once the beans are really tender, after about 3.5 hours, mash them with the rest of the vegan butter (or oil) and the remaining garlic.

Then cook for another 30 minutes.  Depending upon how thick you like the beans you have had to add extra water.  If you like them thick don't stray too far away from your pot during this final stretch since you'll need to stir pretty often.  Once you have the consistency you want, just add salt and enjoy.

For the rice:
Start by sauteing the onions and green pepper in the fat of your choosing until they're tender.  You can also throw in some fresh diced jalapenos if you want a little extra spice.  I'm adding 1 jalapeno.  After that's cooked for a few minutes add the coriander and the optional chilli powder.  Stir that in and then add your water.

My rice usually requires about 3xs the amount of water, so I'm adding 3 cups. Once the water is hot I add the veg base and the tomato paste.  (it dissolved faster in the warm water) 

Bring this to a boil and then cover and simmer until the rice is cooked.  Usually about halfway through its cooking time I taste the broth and adjust the spices if necessary.

When I checked today, I added a little extra coriander, tomato paste and a dab of the stock paste.

When the rice is almost ready, I like to fry some onions and veggies to go with it.  Today I'm using onions, broccoli, mushrooms and a few slivers of green pepper. 

How long you cook this is really personal preference. I usually add the onions, peppers, and mushrooms before anything else because I like them the most cooked.  Then I add the broccoli or anything else for another few minutes.

Then I just top the beans and rice with the fried veggies, salsa*, avocado, and cilantro.

*sometimes I make my own salsa-which is incredibly easy, but I don't have all the ingredients for it today so the whole foods 365 organic hot salsa will suffice.

ENJOY!!!