Beans and Rice Casserole
This is the "Red Beans and Rice Casserole" from Vegan Fire & Spice. Well, it kind of is. I did my usual hefty dose of modifications. For starters, I didn't even use red beans. Ha.
Beans & Rice Casserole (with my changes)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 onion)
1/2 c. chopped red bell pepper (don't like peppers...used some celery I had lying around)
3c. cooked brown rice (btw, 1c uncooked = 3c cooked, roughly)
1 can kidney beans, drain & rinse (i used black)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can mild chopped green chiles, drained
1/2 c. vegan sour cream ( I pureed 1/2 block of tofu with a ton of lime juice--and I do mean a ton, garlic, salt, and a couple spoons of the tofutti cream cheese that's been in my fridge longer than I'd like to think about...it smelled ok, so meh)
2 tsp. chili powder 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4c. dry bread crumbs (skipped this)
Preheat oven to 375. Saute the onion and celery until softened. In a casserole pan, pour in the rice, the onion/celery, the beans and tomatoes, and the green chiles. Then in a small bowl make and blend the fake sour cream stuff, adding the chili powder and salt. Stir thoroughly until everything's coated. Bake for 30 mins or until you're impatient and can no longer stand it.
Sooo... this was pretty good. If I would've left out the few spoons of cream cheese, it would even be basically fat free I think. I had my usual reaction to the recipes from this book, though,... that it would be even better with more complex flavors, maybe more spices (cumin? chipotle powder?) and that it was DEFINITELY not spicy enough. The book only gives it 1 pepper out of 3 on the heat scale, so I should've realized that and dumped in a bunch of cayenne or something. But with the salt and a bunch of cayenne it was a simple, basic, cheap dinner. With lots of leftovers. And I feel full. And it was different to have a creamy-ish sauce for a change.
Beans & Rice Casserole (with my changes)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 onion)
1/2 c. chopped red bell pepper (don't like peppers...used some celery I had lying around)
3c. cooked brown rice (btw, 1c uncooked = 3c cooked, roughly)
1 can kidney beans, drain & rinse (i used black)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can mild chopped green chiles, drained
1/2 c. vegan sour cream ( I pureed 1/2 block of tofu with a ton of lime juice--and I do mean a ton, garlic, salt, and a couple spoons of the tofutti cream cheese that's been in my fridge longer than I'd like to think about...it smelled ok, so meh)
2 tsp. chili powder 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4c. dry bread crumbs (skipped this)
Preheat oven to 375. Saute the onion and celery until softened. In a casserole pan, pour in the rice, the onion/celery, the beans and tomatoes, and the green chiles. Then in a small bowl make and blend the fake sour cream stuff, adding the chili powder and salt. Stir thoroughly until everything's coated. Bake for 30 mins or until you're impatient and can no longer stand it.
Sooo... this was pretty good. If I would've left out the few spoons of cream cheese, it would even be basically fat free I think. I had my usual reaction to the recipes from this book, though,... that it would be even better with more complex flavors, maybe more spices (cumin? chipotle powder?) and that it was DEFINITELY not spicy enough. The book only gives it 1 pepper out of 3 on the heat scale, so I should've realized that and dumped in a bunch of cayenne or something. But with the salt and a bunch of cayenne it was a simple, basic, cheap dinner. With lots of leftovers. And I feel full. And it was different to have a creamy-ish sauce for a change.