Linguini Salad

I've been making this pasta salad for years and my family always loved it. The original recipe calls for shredded cheese, but, of course is left out now! This is a great dish for potlucks too, especially with spiral noodles instead of linguini noodles. I'm not a huge fan of ripe olives, so I only add them when I make this for a potluck.

Linguini Salad

1 pound whole wheat linguini, cooked and cooled
1 large tomato, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, diced (half green and half red is great for Christmas!)
4 ounces sliced ripe olives
3 tablespoons Salad Supreme, to taste
8 ounces fat free Italian dressing

Mix all ingredients well and chill for at least an hour before serving (better if made the day before).

5 Bean Chili

Ever since I became plant-based, I've been looking for a good chili recipe. They always seemed to be too labor intensive so I wouldn't even try it or they didn't quite satisfy on the level chili is supposed to. So I've been experimenting and playing around with the recipe. Well, I think I hit it today! I made it for the Super Bowl tomorrow and it smelled so good we each had chili for dinner tonight!

5 Bean Chili

1-28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can dark red beans, drained and rinsed
1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili beans
1/2 bag frozen chopped onions
1/2 bag frozen chopped mixed bell peppers
1 cup frozen corn
1-8 ounce can tomato sauce, no salt added
1 tomato sauce can water
2 packets low sodium mild chili seasoning
4 slices pickled jalapeño
2 teaspoons pickled jalapeño juice
several shakes liquid smoke
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon ground cumin
chili powder, to taste

Add all ingredients to Dutch oven. Stir and bring to a boil on medium heat. Lower heat, cover and cook on low for about 20-30 minutes, adding additional seasonings as needed.

Potato Cabbage Bowl

Today for lunch I was hungry for potatoes, cabbage, and cauliflower. But I couldn't think of any recipe that used all three of those ingredients. And I felt like steamed food too. So I decided to "channel" my Mom and just put everything I was hungry for into my steamer and hope for the best! It was so good I ate almost all of it!

Potato Cabbage Bowl - serves 2

2 medium gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 head of cabbage, rinsed and torn into medium to large pieces

1-2 handfuls of cauliflower florets, rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Low sodium seasoning salt

Put all ingredients into a steamer and liberally sprinkle with seasoning salt. No need to stir. Add water to steamer bottom and set timer for 40 minutes. When done, stir to mix vegetables and seasoning. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, to taste.

Note: You can mix and match the vegetables, change the type of beans, use different seasonings, add onions, etc. to add variety if you wish.