Warm up with this deliciousness!

Two Food Friday’s in a row have gone by and I didn’t get a chance to post! Bad Shayla! Welp, welcome to Food Saturday! This is the first and hopefully last one because I’m a fan of alliteration and “Food Saturday” just doesn’t do it for me.  Anyway, although I didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday, I did get a chance to cook! 

After a week filled with giant chocolate chip cookies and multiple trips to Chick-fil-A, I decided to start a gentle cleanse on Wednesday. I’m not one of those girls who can survive on juice for five days so for me, a cleanse means removing some of my biggest vices (i.e. sweets, most dairy, meat) in addition to drinking tons of water for seven days.  Don’t worry peanut gallery, I can already hear you saying that this is how I should be eating in general, but I love food too much to cut out giant food groups for an undisclosed amount of time.  For this cleanse I’ve focused on whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, plant-based proteins and a bit of seafood.  One of my biggest concerns when I take a break from meat and fish is that I won’t get enough protein in my diet, which brings me to today’s recipe!

So many colors and flavors!

Rachael Ray’s Veg-Head Three-Bean Chili clocks in at a whopping 16 grams of protein per serving and is unbelievably easy to make. It’s the perfect, filling meal for these (hopefully) last few days of winter.  I served the chili over brown rice which also upped its protein amount.  As you may have noticed, I’m a fan of putting my own spin on recipes and I love spicy food.  I’m sure if you follow the exact recipe it will turn out delicious, but I subbed out spicy refried beans for Cannellini beans to make it more colorful, and added an additional jalapeño, an extra clove of garlic and crushed red pepper flakes.  In my opinion, the chili still isn’t spicy enough for me but my family loved it! I also let the chili simmer a lot longer than the recipe called for just to let the flavors marry.  As with most soups/stews, this chili tastes even better on day two.

Mom serving up a bowl 🙂

What’s your favorite cold-weather comfort food? Also, are you a fan of cleanses? Let me know if there’s a new (not insane) one I should try!