Here’s a quick recipe for one of those days when you feel like you have nothing but odds and ends in the cupboard. I usually make this as a black bean and rice bowl in the rice maker, but was missing lots of the essential ingredients…black beans, onions, garlic, salsa….so here’s what I made instead! This recipe was inspired by Robert Irvine’s Red Beans and Rice recipe on the foodnetwork.com.

1. First cook a cup of brown rice with two-and-a-half cups of water with a tsp veggie powder, or use veggie broth instead.
2. While it is cooking, heat up a large pot with a little olive oil and sauté several chopped sweet peppers (I used yellow), and a chopped red hot pepper.  
3. Wander into the garden and pick a few cherry tomatoes, 5 or 6, a handful of chives, a some fresh basil.  
4. Wash and chop the tomatoes and add to the pot. Stir in salt and pepper and a tablespoon of hot sauce. 
5. Then drain and rinse two cans of kidneys beans and add to the pot. 
6. After this all cooks for about 10 minutes, add chopped chives and shredded basil. 
7. Once the rice is ready, mix it all together and serve with corn tortillas or tortilla chips. It’s really yummy….and just spicy enough to give a little heat while retaining lots of flavour. Pretty good for nothing in the cupboard! Can’t believe I cooked without onions and garlic…but it still had flavour! Enjoy!