I’ve been making the same three bean chilli and lentil and chickpea dahl for years now and I’m trying to expand my repertoire for midweek meals.
I’m not an amazing cook so I like to make a big pot of something that I can freeze and eat over the course of a few weeks.
Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!
The three bean chilli recipe is easy AF:
Ingredients: 3x tins of different beans (I usually go for kidney, black beans and canneloni)
1x Tin sweetcorn
1 onion, chopped
2 Bell peppers, chopped
Jalapeños, chopped
Vegetable stock cube
Tin tomatoes
Cumin
Paprika
Hot chilli powder
Cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper
I throw the whole lot in a slow cooker. Then I fill one of the tins with water and throw that in too. Then leave on high for 4 hours.
I can’t remember how much of the seasoning the original recipe said to put in. I measure that with my heart ♥
If you have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender you can add beans, lentils, etc and veggies into a red pasta sauce to get your protein and veggies in with keeping a good texture. Just blend up yours beans and veggies (I use frozen stir fry mix but anything works) and add into the sauce as you simmer it for a while. Works well to thicken up a sauce by doing this, so save some pasta water to get the consistency right.
Depending on time I try to simmer my sauce for an hour or two.
If you combine this with whole wheat pasta you have a cheap, healtht, great tasting meal that’s vegan friendly (if you don’t add cheese at the end). I’m sure this is blasphemy for an Italian, but I love the meal.