Meatless Monday - Mexcellent rice bowl

Dress up your rice and beans. Here's a mexcellent rice bowl of chipotle sausage, pinto beans and rice. Feel free to experiment with whatever you've got on hand. A great Mexican meal can be made from just a few pantry staples. You could also stuff this into burritos if that floats your boat. Mexican Rice
1 Cup long grain brown rice
2 Cups water (or whatever the directions say for your rice)
3 TBS green salad olives
1 TBS capers
1/4 cup sofrito*
1 TBS annatto oil**

Seasoned Pinto Beans
1 vegan sausage link (like Chipotle Field Roast)
1/4 cup sofrito*
2 cups cooked (or canned) pinto beans
1 can tomatoes (I use Rotel-tomatoes & green chilies)
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 tsp adobo seasoning***

Chipotle Mayonaise
1 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 cup vegan mayo

I cook my rice in a rice cooker, but you can do this on the stove top, just follow the package instructions for the rice and add the extras.

While the rice is cooking, brown the chipotle sausage with the sofrito, then add the beans, tomatoes, green chilies, and adobo and let simmer. In a small side dish mix together the chipotle powder and vegan mayo.

When the rice is done, dish it out into bowls, and spread sausage bean mix on top. Top with chipotle mayo or vegan sour cream.

*If you don't have sofrito on hand (you really should make some) you can put in a little onion, garlic, and bell pepper if you have it.

Sofrito
1 big onion
1 big green bell pepper
1 big red bell pepper (or orange or yellow)
1-2 heads garlic (10-20 garlic cloves)
1 bunch cilantro
1 cup chopped tomato (fresh or canned-drained)

Chop everything in a food processor. Store in 1/2 cup portions in ziploc bags in the freezer. If you can find culantro-my grocery store calls it recoll-throw in a few leaves as well.

**Annatto oil

1/2 cup corn oil (or olive oil or whatever oil you like or have on hand)
1 TBS annatto seeds

Heat oil and seeds on medium heat until seeds make sizzle-pop sound. Remove from heat, strain and use oil for Latin flavor and red/yellow color. I use corn oil because it stays liquid in the fridge. Look for annatto (achiote) seeds in the Latin section or with the spices.

*** You can buy, or make your own adobo seasoning, or if you don't have any, use a little onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper and cumin.

Adobo seasoning:
2 Tbs salt
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs black pepper
1 Tbs Espazote (or oregano)
1 tsp dried lemon peel
1 tsp cumin (optional)