Easy Beans and Brown Rice

Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free/Plant-Based/Vegan

When it comes to food, my oldest brother is an 8 year old stuck inside a 46 year old’s body.

Often when I’m cooking dinner and invite his family to come over, one question is asked almost every single time.

“Is it Michael-friendly?”

This has become a term in our family. To give you a little bit of perspective, the only vegetables he eats are: peas, butter beans, and corn. That’s it. No, I’m not kidding. He says that in most cases, meat and cheese do NOT go together. He only eats cheese pizza. He won’t eat a burger unless it’s totally plain, as in NOTHING on it. He literally won’t eat it. Pickles on a Chick-Fil-A sandwich? Nope, there’s pickle juice on the bread. French fry has a dab of ketchup on it? Nope. How about a salad? You’d have to pay him a large sum of money to force down a salad…and there’s a good possibility that it would come back up.

Recently when we were talking on the phone about the dietary changes I’d been making and seeing a lot of positive results, he said, “See, I just wish that I had a personal chef who would make healthy meals for me and I wouldn’t even have to think about what to eat.”

I was standing in the kitchen when he said this. I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the phone like it had lost its ever-living mind. It’s unfortunate there wasn’t a candid camera nearby to snap a picture of my expression. I put the phone back up to my ear.

“Uhhh, Michael.”

“What?”

“Your sister is a chef.”

Pause.

“Oh! Okay, well then let’s talk about this!” he said excitedly.

I smiled and shook my head. Did he really just say that?

Since he likes most kinds of beans and this is RIDICULOUSLY easy to throw together, it has become a regular item that his “personal chef” drops off at his house. These also freeze really well, so I make them in large batches, and it literally takes ten minutes to throw together ten meals (doubling the recipe makes ten meals).

We had also discussed how he can’t force himself to like brown rice, so I explained that in this particular recipe, you can’t even tell that it’s brown rice because it’s masked by the beans. Double score. It’s packed full of protein and fiber, which means it helps your bowels stay movin’ and workin’ well.

Beans and Beans and Beans and Beans and Beans and Brown Rice

1 (15 oz.) can black beans

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans

1 (15 oz.) can great northern beans

1 (15 oz.) can blackeyed peas

1 (15 oz.) can lima beans

1 bag steam-in-a-bag whole grain brown rice

Cook brown rice in microwave according to package directions. Open and partially drain each can of beans (you want some juice left over for moisture) and dump into a large mixing bowl. Add cooked rice and stir together well. Spoon into five containers, cover with lid and set in refrigerator. Pop in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes when reheating and enjoy.