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For ten days in January, I did a Daniel Fast. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s based on the diet Daniel and his friends ate instead of the king’s rich foods as described in Daniel 1 and 10. There are several versions of this fast out there, some are more strict than others. Most people do 21 days, but a 10-day period is also mentioned in the book of Daniel, and I wanted my first attempt to be achievable. Basically, I didn’t eat meat, dairy products, bread (or anything made with non-whole-grains), or sugar. I followed the guidelines used by Elevation Church, so I allowed small amounts of honey, olive oil, and spices. It was a good experience, and not as difficult as I anticipated, although I wouldn’t call it easy. The only thing I’ll do differently next time is to ease into the high-fiber aspect of the fast to avoid some…. unpleasant… side effects.

But this post is not about the Daniel Fast itself, but rather one of the meals I ate while on the fast. I liked it so much that I still eat it fairly frequently. In fact, I made a batch Sunday night and have taken it to work for lunch every day this week. It’s super-easy, healthy, tastes good, and reheats well. I don’t have a name for it, but when writing a shopping list or something, I’ve been abbreviating it as: RBCOO. (Rice, Beans, Corn, Olive Oil)

Here’s the recipe:

RBCOO
2 cups uncooked brown rice (I use Minute Brown Rice–not the brown-est, probably, but definitely the easiest.)
15 oz can black beans – rinsed and drained
11 oz can sweet corn – drained
1 tbsp. olive oil
chili powder

Cook the rice as described on the box. Mix in the beans and corn. In a large frying pan over med-high heat, sautee half of the mixture in 1/2 tbsp of olive oil; sprinkle with chili powder to taste as it cooks. I usually leave it in the pan for… I don’t know… 3 or 4 minutes. Just until it looks done. Repeat with second half of mixture. Makes 6 1-cup servings.

Like I said, super-easy. You could skip the sauteeing, olive oil, and chili powder if you were on a stricter fast, but it tastes much better and adds some healthy fat to the fiber and protein. Here are the basic nutrition facts for a 1-cup serving:

225 calories
4g fat
5g dietary fiber
6g protein

You could also add chicken or beef if you wanted to make it a little heartier (but it wouldn’t be Daniel Fast-friendly, obviously.) It is very filling as-is, though. A 1-cup serving, plus a couple snacks like some almonds and an apple easily get me through my day at the office. I snapped a few pics when I made it Sunday night: