Happy Meatless Monday Bitches!

Time for some meal prep. Get out your party hats too, because these are vegetarian and vegan!

Chipotle Black Bean Meal Prep Bowls

Right off the bat I’m gonna have to tell you that the magic in this recipe is in the chipotle black beans. I could easily use this recipe to go meatless 4 times a week and never get bored. Even my husband who loves eating meat, is happy to eat these in burrito bowls, tacos, flautas, and burritos.

For these meal prep bowls specifically, I used cauliflower rice to take the place of regular rice as a low carb option.

Now let’s just get this shit straight right here though- cauliflower rice is NOT rice. I dunno about you, but I am verrrry sick and tired of people trying to pass vegetables off as other things. It works great for some, but for others it’s very off puttin.

In my experience the best way to get good results from cauliflower rice is to make it in dishes that are packed with flavor. For these bowls, the Pico de Gallo, Salsa and Chipolte really do the heavy lifting for masking the fact that you are eating cauliflower.

Why Meal Prep?

Meal prepping is a great way to save money, have an ACTIONABLE plan with your leftovers, and save you from the “I have nothing to eat I better just eat fruit snacks and crackers dipped in icing” trap.

Planning food out in advance has been a main factor in MY WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS.

Making the Cauliflower Rice

Cauliflower rice is super easy to make, especially if you have a food processor. I have seen online that you can buy it pre-made, but I find it so simple to prepare that I can’t imagine ever going that route.

Cauliflower rice is pretty popular right now so I won’t bother to make a whole post on this. These bullet points on how to prepare will do:

To Prepare Cauliflower Rice

• Take your cauliflower and remove the green stem/stalks
• Cut the head of the cauliflower into 3 or 4 sections
• Remove the bulk of the thick stalk under the florets (you don’t have to remove it all, I tend to leave about an inch or so beneath the florets)
• Cut into pieces that your food processor can handle
• I use the grater attachment for my food processor or just pulse it with the regular blade until it is the about the size of rice. If there are large pieces I just pull them out. I’d rather do that than over process most of my ‘rice’
• You can also use a box grater if you don’t have a food processor

To cook the Cauliflower Rice

• Heat about 1 tbsp of coconut or olive oil in a pan over medium heat
• Add cauliflower rice and saute for about 5 minutes or so until it is softened and the consistency of rice (watch so it doesn’t get mushy)
• You can also cover it while cooking so that it steams a bit… to be honest I often forget to do this and it ends up just fine though

**For this recipe I used these directions, but also added approximately 1.5 cups of cubed bell peppers while sauteeing**

Making the Chipotle Black Beans

First Some Tips:

• Rinse your beans well or you just might end up being someone’s epic fart story
• Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce can be stored individually in an ice tray so you can easily just pop one out and get on with your life

Freeze chipotle peppers individually in an ice cube tray for easy cooking later

• Keep in mind that beans are NOT low carb. Watch your portions if you’re an Olympic carb dodger.

Yield: 4

Chipotle Black Bean Bowl

Print

Right off the bat I'm gonna have to tell you that the magic in this recipe is in the chipotle black beans. I could easily use this recipe to go meatless 4 times a week and never get bored. Even my husband who loves eating meat, is happy to eat these in burrito bowls, tacos, flautas, and burritos.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Water or broth
• 1 Chipolte pepper in Adobo Sauce Diced
• 1/2 tsp Minced garlic
• 2 tbsp Minced Onion
• 2 tbsp Tomato Sauce (I have used pasta or pizza sauce for this- whatever you have on hand)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 can Black Beans Rinsed and drained

Instructions

Cauliflower Rice

To Prepare Cauliflower Rice

• Take your cauliflower and remove the green stem/stalks
• Cut the head of the cauliflower into 3 or 4 sections
• Remove the bulk of the thick stalk under the florets (you don't have to remove it all, I tend to leave about an inch or so beneath the florets)
• Cut into pieces that your food processor can handle
• I use the grater attachment for my food processor or just pulse it with the regular blade until it is the about the size of rice. If there are large pieces I just pull them out. I'd rather do that than over process most of my 'rice'
• You can also use a box grater if you don't have a food processor

To cook the Cauliflower Rice

• Heat about 1 tbsp of coconut or olive oil in a pan over medium heat
• Add cauliflower rice and saute for about 5 minutes or so until it is softened and the consistency of rice (watch so it doesn't get mushy)
• You can also cover it while cooking so that it steams a bit... to be honest I often forget to do this and it ends up just fine though

To Prepare Chipotle Black beans

• Rinse your beans well or you just might end up being someone's epic fart story

To Cook the Chipotle Black Beans

1. Finely chop chipolte pepper, garlic and onion.
2. In a frying pan over medium heat, add water or broth, tomato sauce and cumin. Mix well and add chipolte, garlic and onion.
3. Add rinsed cooked black beans and simmer in the sauce stirring well.
4. Heat until the sauce is no longer watery

Putting it All Together

1. Take your containers and add your base greens. I use romaine because it holds up well without getting wilty in the fridge.
2. Add your cauliflower rice and peppers mix. I used approximately 1- 1.5 cups of the cauliflower rice for these bowls.
3. Add about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of your chipolte black beans.
4. Top with Pico de Gallo, salsa and other toppings as desired (I'd recommend green onions, jalapenos and guacamole or avocado).

Notes

Freeze chipotle peppers individually in an ice cube tray for easy cooking later

Putting it all Together

Take your containers and add your base greens. I use romaine because it holds up well without getting wilty in the fridge.

Add your cauliflower rice and peppers mix. I used approximately 1- 1.5 cups of the cauliflower rice for these bowls.

Add about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of your chipolte black beans.

Top with Pico de Gallo, salsa and other toppings as desired (I’d recommend green onions, jalapenos and guacamole or avocado).

The best part of these bowls? I took one to work the next day and it was AMAZING without having to reheat it at all. So this is a great cold lunch option as well.

This post originally appeared on Healthy Living For Hot Messes