Mmmmm, making food.

There is this book I have recently started reading. It`s called "The Thrive Diet". It`s a book written by an olympic triathelete by the name of Brendan Brazier. In this book Brendan outlines, in a lot of detail, the importance of a balanced diet. That is, a balanced VEGAN diet.

He gives information about almost every kind of food and all the nutritional benefits from them; and also the not so nutritional benefits. He`s brilliant.

In this novel there is a 12 week meal plan following all of his rules on eatng. He is pretty passionate about eating raw foods as well, so quite a number of the recipes are raw. All of his recipes are in the back of the book. Some look quite a bit better then others.

A couple friends and I have decided to choose this lifestyle of ridiculously healthy eating. We are not following the 12 week plan, instead we are creation our own recipes following his direction. That`s not to say that his recipes aren`t good. Some of them are very good. The only difference is it`s pretty easy to just make a soup or a large chili, freeze it, and have it be very good for you.

I am easing my way into this lifestyle change as I have just started to read the book and don`t know the rules yet. But I have cut out a lot of things and started being very careful about the way I think about food and eating it.

As my first big meal I made a very fantastic chili. I was quite proud with the way it turned out.
Here is the recipe:

1 14oz can garbanzo beans
1 14oz can black beans
1 14oz can dark red kidney beans
1 14oz can pinto beans
1 19oz can diced tomatoes
1 12oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
^these just get dumped in your pot

1/2 of medium onion, diced
8 sliced mushrooms, if desired
1 medium red pepper, diced
^sauté - season with salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1 tsp. cayenne pepper, if desired
^or to taste

It makes quite a large amount if you are just eating for one. But it`s great to share. Try having a friend make something different, then swap half and share! My friends and I love to do this becuase it gives us more variety for the week without having to spend all day cooking.

Happy cooking!