The photo above DID NOT come from my kitchen nor would I ever falsely take credit for it. It did come from the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health where I spent a few days back in March. Ever since my time there, I have been trying to make my life less about gluttony and more about balance. Of course hasn’t that been my life’s battle?
This could get complicated, so before it does, I will simply say that the food there is absolutely amazing. With that in mind, I have been a little obsessed with bringing their recipes into the fold in my own kitchen.
For the past few weeks in my neck of the woods, the weather has been absolute shit. Unseasonably cold, raining non stop, and just downright depressing. And since I always seem to naturally enjoy matching my food to my mood, I thought that this recipe for Red and Black Bean Chili would be a nice one to warm us up from the inside out. Upon first glance I thought, “Great! I have all of those ingredients on hand.” This part was true…
Well, at least with a few modifications. I almost never use dried beans. I just really don’t have time. Also, this was not really vegetarian the way I made it because I used bone broth that I had frozen from my Thanksgiving turkey, which I think actually made it healthier. As I read through the recipe, I couldn’t help but thinking “Fuck, this is really way more complicated than it needs to be.” In a moment of frustration, realizing that I actually work and don’t have time to fuck around, I just literally dumped all of the ingredients into my crock pot and set it on low for 10 hours. And you know what? It came out amazingly!
Sure, it probably wasn’t as good as what you might get at Kripalu. But it was damn good. Of course I had to gluttonify it up with a good helping of cheese and sour cream, but hey, that’s what I do.
Bottom line is that healthy cooking does not have to be a lot of effort. Be creative, modify things, and make it your own.
