Big Fat Burrito Bowl

Surprisingly, living in Texas as a vegan was pretty fab most of the time. Lots of natural food stores, exclusively vegetarian restaurants and if you played your cards right-amazing Mexican food! I miss a lot of the conveniences at my fingertips; in particular dining on the fly at Chipotle. Chipotle is a great place to eat as a vegan with lots of super tasty options. I was feeling a bit nostalgic, so recreated a burrito bowl (minus just a bit of the "I didn't have to make this myself" awesomeness) for lunch. The hardest part is making the burrito filling bit, but don't let all the steps scare you off, this shit is easy. You might have to work on your multitasking skills or bribe someone into helping you with prep work.

Big Fat Burrito Bowl

Cook two cups brown rice according to package instructions.
Wash and rip enough greens for however many bowls you're making.

Burrito Filling-
2 tbs coconut oil
1.5 cups sliced mushrooms, portobellos are best but other types work just fine.
1/2 a bell pepper, sliced
1 onion, cut in half and sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup white wine if you have it. Water if you don't
1 tbs of tamari/braggs/soy sauce
Juice of one lime
1-2 tsp of some sort of mesquite seasoning. If you don't have that, cumin, chili or Cayenne taste nice in here

I feel like I can just copy and paste this part from every other recipe I ever post. Melt coconut oil, add onions and cook until translucent and a little brown. Add garlic and peppers and cook for approx. 5 more minutes. Add your mushrooms, cook until marginally soft. Add your wine and other ingredients. Cook down until liquid is reduced and ingredients are soft. Taste for awesomeness.

Chipotle Cashew Sour Creme-
1 big fat chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup water
juice of 1/2 lime
Blend all ingredients into sweet oblivion in your vitamix. If you're not so lucky, soak your cashews for a few hours before hand and cross your fingers that your blender gives you satisfactory results :D
Ingredients that are nice to add but not mandatory:
Roasted corn
Salsa of all types
Diced Avocado
Black beans

So now to make burrito bowl magic. Layers go as follows. Greens. Rice. Burrito filling. Toppings of your choice. Finish with cashew creme.Yum! Now you get to spend the rest of the day complaining about how full you are and rubbing your food baby belly.

Stuff Virgos like....

We virgos are a proud people. Organized, rational, driven. There are few things that virgos like more than order. Or planning. Or alphabetizing things. So when given the chance to cut loose, this virgo loves to plan a dinner party. A themed dinner party in fact. Ideally once monthly, some of my bestest friends come together at rotating homes for potluck madness. And by madness I mean thoughtfully planned out, organized fun. This month was my turn, and I chose Mexican. San Antonio imparted me with a deep love of southwestern cuisine (though adapted to not hurt animals or my cholesterol). The kiddos were around for a bit, and went to bed surprisingly easy considering the full house. (Thanks to the hubby for taking the bullet on that!) Pictured is mini with her favorite person Shawn and cupcake face.There was handmade guac and chips, mexican rice, and cuban rum from Jules and Shawn. Amy and Racheal took charge of drinks and we had a million gallons of margaritas-as you can probably figure out from the mustaches drawn on with permanent marker.

My contribution was my(Anna's) famous tortilla soup, which won high marks from the judges. Also featured was kale, potato and pumpkin seed enchiladas from Veganomicon, with roasted garlic cilantro sour cream. Yum, I could eat this every day.

I also made cupcakes (though I can't remember now what type-probably pumpkin chocolate chip with cinnamon icing. I'm kind of a one trick pony-I love those things!). It was another amazing night with this crew, leaving me bursting with happiness at my luck for great friends and great food. Oh, and mustaches and monocles.