The Raw & The Cooked

Black Bean Chili & Brown Rice

My daughter and I love chili even though we don’t eat it too much. I made this dish yesterday. The weather was chilly thanks to the rain we received. Cold rainy days & spicy bowls of warm & delicious vegan chili seem to go together. I’ll be sure to update with the recipe I created. I never make the same vegan chili and I’ve never followed a recipe thank you very much!

The black beans I use are dry beans. I usually let them soak overnight. I toss out of the soaking water (helps eliminate the gassiness some people might experience.) I add fresh water to the pot when I cook my beans.

I also go another step to eliminate gas. I always add ginger root or Japanese kombu (sea vegetable) to my bean dishes. Not only is ginger effective in eliminating gas it also aids in digestion. Guess what? We’ve never had a problem when consuming my delicious bean dishes.

We always eat brown rice. It is a healthier choice than white rice since none of the nutrients are stripped away. I don’t prepare my rice with water I use herbal tea it adds a nice flavor to the dish. What was this flavored with? Lemon balm. I picked it from my herbal garden.

My daughter said this tasted better the second day and I would have to agree with her. The above pictures is a fairly large bowl and my daugher, Aiyana, was the one that ate it. My bowl was a lot smaller. I made about two quarts of chili yesterday. The smell of this dish even when it was cold was truly delightful.

Anyway the rest of our vegan chili is packed away in one of my pyrex glass storage containers. I started using pyrex glass containers to store my food several years ago. I became concerned with plastic containers and the possibilities of some of the chemicals leaching into my food. I haven’t looked back. Guess what? Most of my close family/friends have jumped on the bandwagon and you know what even though my daughter was a grabby toddler not one of my glass containers has been broken. I have a feeling we’ll be pulling some of the chili out this weekend.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to make burritos (we’ll see how that goes) and once again I’ll be making food in bulk. Why am I making so much food in bulk? The next coming weeks are going to be extremely busy. I’m a business owner. I make natural beauty products sales are usually high at the end of October well into the beginning of the new year. I want to be prepared.

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