Meatless meals for meat lovers

Ok, so lets face it, not everyone eats the way that they should. For those who feel that they need a slab of meat to create a meal, warm them up to the idea of getting their protein without all of the saturated fats with a hearty stew! Besides the Ohio weather has been getting cooler its about time for the soups.

Now, I don't want to overwhelm you with a whole lot of recipes and info so I will part it to you in several posts so that you can read at your own leisure.

Ok, so on with the show...

White Bean Chili with Jalapeno Bulgur

This takes a total of 30 min total to prepare (YAY!)

1/2 cup bulgur wheat

1 Tb fresh lemon juice

2 scallions

1 jalapeno (sorry no tildes on the blog) seeded and chopped

2 Tb OO (doesn't have to be EVOO but that's always nice, btw OO=olive oil)

1 large onion chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper (I'm partial to sea salt)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder (I'm a spicy girl and like 1 1/2)

1-14.5oz can of diced tomatoes

2-15oz can of cannellini beans rinsed

1 cup water

>Bring water to a boil and add bulgur wheat and let simmer covered until all of the moisture is absorbed and the bulgur is tender which usualy takes 12-15 min. Stir in the lemon juice, scallions, jalapeno, only 1 Tb of OO and 1/4 of salt and pepper.

>Meanwhile, heat the remaining Tb of OO in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and bell pepper and cook until tender (6-8 min). Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and simmer until fragrant (1-2 min, and it smells good!)

>Add tomatoes and their liquid and 1 1/2 cups of water to the onion mixture and bring to a boil. Add beans and simmer until thickened (8-10 min)

Makes 4 servings

Separate into 4 bowls and top with bulgur mixture and voila!

Fact: Consuming less meat puts money in your pocket! If a family of four replaces a steak dinner with a fresh bean and vegetable salad once a week, they could save and extra $7.50. In a year, that's $390! (these numbers are from the USDA on avg. cost of sirloin and cost of a can of beans)

Well until next time local foodies!