Burrito Bowl

When I first moved out of my parents house, I had an entry-level job that wasn't paying me very much and paying off some lingering credit card balances from college and I was POOR with a capital P. My roommate Eli and I would meal plan for two weeks at a time and see how we could combine our grocery shopping and meal plan efforts to spend the least amount of money possible. She came up with this delicious, easy, healthy and CHEAP meal. I resurrected it last week as I was looking for a no-effort meal with ingredients I already had on hand from nacho night.

It's kind of like a Burrito Bowl from Chipotle but SOOOO much healthier for you. I definitely recommend this because you can cook up the beans on Sunday night and eat it for at least three days of the week.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans (do not drain!)
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
pinch of salt
about 3 cups of brown rice
3 cups of chopped lettuce
2 cups of tomatoes
1 whole red pepper diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salsa

Directions:

Dump the entire contents of the can of black beans in a saucepan. Simmer until warm and add cumin, chili powder and salt. If you want it spicier, you can add more chili, or you can add garlic powder, onion powder, whatever you want into there.



While beans are on the stove, chop up vegetables. Again, you can add whatever you want into the dish (ie onions, ground beef...etc.)

Put brown rice in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and top with shredded cheese. You can then put salsa and/or sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt) on top. I also added a healthy dose of hot sauce, of course ;)



And with the leftover black beans and soupiness at the bottom of the saucepan, you can make a poor man's black bean soup. Top with cheese and eat with tortilla chips.


I love when you can get two different meals out of one recipe!