In honor of summer finally starting, here’s a bit of healthy eating for you! The original recipe is from Clean Eating Magazine, and it’s gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free.
The original recipe calls for ground beef, but I use buffalo meat, since it’s a lot leaner and has a lot more healthy iron for you, among other things. It’s a little pricier, but all the other ingredients can be bought for less than $2.00 a pop, if you shop carefully, so it makes it for a good investment in a healthy dish. Need spices? Go to a Whole Foods near you and get them in the tiny bags. They’ll cost less than $1.00, for the most part, and you’ll only have as much as you need! You can also buy the onion pre-chopped in plastic containers at Whole Foods for about $3.00.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup chopped red or yellow onion
- 1 cup brown rice
- 1 tiny can of tomato paste
- 1 15 oz can of beans (I use black, but you can use pinto!)
- 1 lb ground buffalo meat
- 1 bag dairy-free soy cheddar topping (I use Daiya!)
- 1 and 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic power
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1. Mix your spices! You can put them all into the meat, but for a more even flavoring, divide them into two little bowls: Bowl 1 and Bowl 2. In Bowl 1, put: 1/2 tsp of chili powder, 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1/4 tsp of garlic powers, 1/4 tsp of sea salt, and 1/4 tsp of oregano. In Bowl 2, put 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp onion powder, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Set aside.
2. Cook the brown rice! If you’re using instant rice, put 1.5 cups of water into a saucepan and set it to boil. Once it’s boiling, add 1 cup of rice, stir it in and bring it back to a boil, and then lower the heat and put the lid on the pot. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the water is gone and the rice is steamed to a nice rice consistency. Rinse and strain the beans in a strainer, then mix with the rice. Add a 1/2 cup of water and the tomato paste, add the spices in Bowl 1, then mix thoroughly over heat until the water is gone and everything is blended together nicely. Cover and set aside.
3. Cook the meat! Mist a large skillet with olive oil or cooking spray. Break up the meat while the pan heats up, add onions, and then cook until the meat is no longer pink. (At this point, there will likely be some fat sitting around. I lower the heat, push all the meat to one side, and sop up the excess fat with a paper towel before continuing.) Add spices from Bowl 2 and add 1/2 cup of water, mixing thoroughly. Lower the heat and simmer until most of the water has evaporated, stirring as needed.
4. Store! You can either layer the bowl, with meat on the bottom, rice on the top and then the cheese, or mix it together as I did in the photos above, then putting a layer of the cheese imitation on top. This recipe makes about 6 servings!
