This recipe is inspired by a place in Seaside, Florida called Raw & Juicy. My daughter and I visited here with some family friends in the Spring of 2018. We were newly vegan still and knew we would have a learning curve.

I rented a bicycle with a seated wagon on the back for Emma and I to scoot around the beach that week. We were about a 10 – 15 minute bike ride away from beach front so I got lots of exercise that week. Working up a hunger when we got to the main strip, I was happily surprised, heck ecstatic, when I saw a vegan food airstream!

Seaside has a “town square” type area that has restaurants, airstream food trucks, and shopping, and even a really neat bookstore called SunDog. The Raw & Juicy Airstream was a shining light in the midst of the crowd. Raw Vegan food, Vegan dishes, Smoothies, Juices, Granola, Fresh Fruit – you name it! I was blown away at how flavorful and reasonably priced the food was.

I had a Costa Rican Bowl.

IT BLEW MY MIND.

Delicious!!!

🤤🤤🤤

So I’ve tried to re-make this dish at home because of how much much I loved it.

Tips before you start:

> this was cooked in a cast iron skillet, so your heat in a regular skillet may be just medium.

> make sure your skillet has depth, as you are going to be adding liquid into this dish.

Ingredients:

For Beans

• 1 can black beans

• 1 can red kidney beans

• 1/2 red onion

• 4 tbls minced garlic

• 2 tbls coconut oil (for sautéing)

• 2 tbsl cumin

• 2 tbls coriander

• 1 tbsl garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

For Rice

• 1 cup basmati rice (usually softer rice = 1 cup rice to 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover for 15 minutes)

• 1 – 2 tablespoons vegan butter

• 1/2 lemon or lime, whatever you have

• 2 tbsl cilantro (fresh would be great, but I buy this dry/wet chopped mixture out of the produce section)

Toppings:

• Avocado, diced

• Tomatoes, diced (splurge on tomatoes, always worth getting the perfect tomato)

• Cholula Hot Sauce (optional, but its really not spicy, give it a try!)

Directions:

1. Prepare and cook rice per instructions.

2. While rice is cooking, heat skillet to medium-high. Add coconut oil. Sauté onions for about 5-8 minutes until translucent. Then add garlic.

3. Open and drain both kidney beans and black beans. (Usually the kidney beans have more liquid that stays in the can, it’s fine). Add both cans of beans to the skillet with onion and garlic.

4. Season beans/onions/garlic with cumin, coriander, garlic powder, and salt. Stir until almost a chalky consistency.

5. Fill one empty can with water. Slowly add back to skillet. Bring to a simmer. Story frequently. 10 minutes tops. Don’t let it get too dry, you want liquid.

6. Serve with rice bed on bottom of bowl, topped with beans/onions mixture, top with lots of tomato (adds liquid and good flavor) & avocado. Optional Cholula Hot Sauce.

Enjoy!!

Love,

B