Bison Black Bean Chili

On the Road Again

I travel 10-15 times per year and 2-3 of those trips are without my wife. Since she doesn’t cook I cook up several meals ahead of time for her so she can do the heat and eat thing. I suspect some of you have this sort of situation come up too? Today I’ll share with you the 4 days of meals my wife will eat while I’m gone as this might help you plan for a similar event. After all we want the ones we love to eat healthy delicious meals when we aren’t there to cook for them don’t we!

First thing I cooked this morning was poached Alaskan Red Salmon for a salmon salad. This can be packed in lunches in a wrap with greens or served on top of a green salad in a nice scoop.

Next on the list was to steam some rice in the rice cooker while doing outside garden chores. This was then allowed to cool so I could make vegetarian fried rice. This will re-heat easily on the stovetop in a saute pan or in the microwave.

Next on the list was Bison Black Bean Chili. This wonderful chili is a meal in itself, but with the addition of a scoop of brown rice is more nutritious and filling too. It re-heats easily on the stovetop or microwave, and topped with grated cheese is mighty tasty. If you have never tried bison/buffalo instead of ground beef you are missing out on a healthy source of protein that usually doesn’t have the fat or additives of ground beef. I’ve been eating it for well over 25 years in tacos, burritos, stroganoff, meatloaf and burgers. I’d much rather eat a meat that doesn’t have growth hormones, and antibiotics especially when it tastes great!

Tonight I’ll cook Sauteed Swiss Chard and Mushrooms on linguine for dinner and make enough that my wife can have it tomorrow night for dinner too. I’ll also make a mushroom soup for later in the week.

I have a few bean and brown rice burritos(http://www.fastandfuriouscook.com/spicy-black-bean-brown-rice-lunch-wraps/) in the freezer for lunches that microwave in a minute or two. These are great as they last for up to three months in the freezer and ready to pack in lunches when I am too busy to cook, or for my wife when I’m out of town. They can be made with or without meat, and portabello mushrooms are quite nice in them also.

So here’s what the menu looks like for Tuesday through Friday.

Tuesday:

Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins

Lunch, salmon salad wrap with fresh lettuce from our garden

Dinner, leftover mushroom pasta, and a green salad

Wednesday:

Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins

Lunch, bison black bean chili in a thermos

Dinner, vegetarian fried rice

Thursday:

Breakfast, frozen fruit smoothie with almond butter toast

Lunch, green salad with a scoop of salmon salad on top

Dinner, bison chili with a scoop of brown rice

Friday:

Breakfast, oatmeal with walnuts and raisins(hey we like oatmeal a lot)

Lunch, mushroom soup and garden salad with our just ready cherry tomatoes

Dinner, vegetarian fried rice with maybe a few shrimp from the freezer tossed in at the beginning for a twist.

There you have it a full four days of meals thought out for my wife so that she doesn’t miss me too much while I’m off to help my parents out a bit in Colorado. All of the cooking I did today totaled no more than 2 hours in the kitchen, and if my wife forgets what’s for lunch or dinner all she has to do is go to my blog and find the menu there. You might notice I didn’t cook up anything for breakfast, and that’s because most breakfast meals are quick and easy while not requiring much experience with cooking. Although I did bake the bread that she will use for toast two weeks ago and took it out of the freezer two days ago.

I hope this helps some of you out there in foodland plan meals for your loved ones that either don’t cook or are too busy to cook. This way while you are out of town your family will eat well, because you don’t want them to eat junk, do you?

Bison Black Bean Chili

1 pound ground Bison/Buffalo

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 yellow onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 jalapeno diced small

1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

1 15 ounce can black beans

1 tablespoon paprika

1-2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder, optional

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

In a 3 quart or bigger pot brown onions in olive oil on medium to medium high heat for 3 minutes stirring often. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for 2 more minutes stirring often. Add ground bison and turn up heat to medium high or high for 2 minutes just to get it going to brown it a bit then turn the heat back down to medium and cook for 8 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a simmer cooking for 10 minutes at a simmer uncovered stirring every 2-3 minutes. Serve with grated cheddar or Manchego cheese and minced jalapenos on top.

Serves 4-6

Note:

A #22 LeCruset round cast iron French oven pot is perfect for cooking this chili in.

If you love onion like I do feel free to increase it to up to 2 cups.

If you like a lot of beans double the black beans or add a can of red kidney beans.

A scoop of steamed brown rice goes real well with this chili whether you add it last or pour the chili into a bowl with the rice as a base.

Bison and buffalo are the same thing when it comes to shopping for this recipe.