2 Bean Salad

Summer has started rolling out her heatwaves in most places and we're looking for the best way to avoid turning on the oven, while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating delicious refreshing foods! In comes this 2 bean salad.  It's a little bit of a deceiving name, because it also has a ton of veggies and is topped off with an oil free dressing.  This salad is full or protein and 21 Day Fix approved, without stealing any added oil.  It's also super flexible, so feel free to swap out some of the veggies, add some additional items like parsley or basil, or just keep it as it is. 

It's a great addition to any dinner as a side or main meal.  I served this on romaine, but you could just as easily serve it on top of some brown or wild rice.

21 Day Fix 2 Bean Salad

Makes 5 servings (2 Cups = 1 serving)

Fix Portions: Vegan Plan: 1 Green 1.5 Red  || 
Vegetarian or Regular Plan: 1 Green 2 Yellows

Ingredients: 
For Salad:

1 medium Cucumber, seeded and diced (peeled if not using english)*
1 medium red onion, chopped into small dice*
1 large green bell pepper, diced (same size as cucumber)*
1.5 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, diced after measuring
1 15oz Can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 15oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

For Dressing:

1/2 cup Silken Tofu

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

3 garlic cloves, crushed

Juice of 1 small lemon

Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Chop cucumber, pepper and tomato into medium sized dice (about 1/4 of an inch) and combine in large bow.  Chop onion into small dice and add onion, along with the chickpeas and kidney beans to the bowl.

2. Make the dressing by blending all ingredients together.

3. Toss all ingredients well to combine.  This can be made ahead of time and enjoyed the next day  

****Recipe Notes****

*If you're trying to be super specific you can measure your veggies. They should come out to 1.5 cups of each vegetable

21 Day Fix Simple Chili

Weeknights can be HECTIC!! Who wants to cook all night after coming home from work or having a busy day.  This recipe is perfect because you can prep all of the ingredients ahead of time by chopping up your veggies, or you can also buy pre-cut vegetables in your grocers produce section.  This also doesn't have a million ingredients, which makes it a lot easier to deal with.

I love serving this with a dollop of our Soy Cream for Anything and some Daiya shredded cheese (or nutritional yeast) on top, but feel free to garnish with whatever you like on your chili.

21 Day Fix Simple Chili

Makes 6 servings (2 Cups = 1 serving)

Fix Portions: Vegan Plan: 1 Green 1.25 Red  || 
Vegetarian or Regular Plan: 1 Green .5 Red 1 Yellow

Ingredients: 
3 Tblsp water or Aquafaba*
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced (same size as onion)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cups low sodium veggie broth
1 6oz can tomato paste
5 Tablespoons Chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cups vegetarian burger crumbles (I use TVP or TSP for this)**
2 15oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
1. Heat water over medium heat in large pot
2. Add onions and bell peppers. Sautee until soft (about 5 minutes)
3. Add diced tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, chili powder, salt, pepper and veggie broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add burger crumbles (if using TVP or TSP, add dry), cover and simmer covered for an additional 15 minutes.  If the chili looks dry during any point of the process, just add more water or veggie broth to get it to your desired consistency.

****Recipe Notes****

* Aquafaba is the water from the can of chickpeas. I no added salt chickpeas and save the water from the can for all of my sauteeing.  It works wonders and allows you to brown your veggies. You to need to use more of this than oil, but it’s great for those who want to cook oil free

** Check your local health food store for this as well. I have found this at Whole Foods. You can also use Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles, which can be found more widely but is a little more expensive.
Alternate Options: You can also use lentils instead of vegetarian beef crumbles, however it would change the Non-Vegan Fix Plan portions to be as follows: 1 Green, 1.5 Yellow.  Vegan portions would be the same.