Wholesome Bowls
Greetings my long lost friends. I have been missing in action for over a year now, as you may or quite possibly, may not have noticed! But I'm back and hoping you'll welcome the food updates and inspiration again. Please and thank you.
I struggled with the decision of what my "first post back" should be, and while some grand and gourmet recipe seems more exciting - I've decided to go with the Wholesome Bowl. Simple and humble.
You see, big life changes occurred for me over the last year and I didn't always have my full kitchen set up. I often struggled with inspiration and food certainly wasn't always on my mind. Life can occasionally be challenging but taking care of yourself through good, bad, confusing, busy and even awesome times is important. I ate various versions of this recipe, A LOT. It is uncomplicated and doesn't take much thought - but the flavour and health rewards are big. When things are smooth sailing & wonderful - I still eat this at least once a week. It's my absolute favourite.
I'll give you my top combo here but honestly - anything goes. The deep satisfaction of "The Bowls" is quite simply, eating from the bowl itself. For me, it invokes a feeling of comfort. Quite possibly because I associate bowls with soup & pasta? Whatever the reason, trust me on this. A salad in a bowl will satisfy you more than one eaten from a plate. I don't scientifically know why, but it just is what it is. Plus, there are so many beautiful bowls out there - another excuse to just keep adding them to my collection!
Building a bowl. Ideally it's made of greens, carbs, proteins and healthy fats. Any combo of those and you're set. But leaving it at that isn't exactly helpful, so here is a breakdown of my faves.
Greens: Spinach, Kale (black is my favourite for this), Swiss Chard and sprouts
Proteins: Quinoa, Beans, Chickpeas, Salmon, Chicken, Hemp Hearts, Nuts or Seeds - pumpkin & sesame are my fave.
Carbs: Sweet Potato, Rice, Wild Rice, Quinoa
Veggies: Beets, Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumber, Peppers, Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Cauliflower
AND..... AVOCADOS!
You can literally use any ingredients you want - but those are my staples. Sweet potatoes and grated beet together are a top-notch combo.
I suppose the only issue with these is it can be a bit time consuming to do all the chopping, slicing, grating and dicing. One way to minimize prep time is do batch cooking / cutting. Basically, make more than you need so you have veggies ready to go all week!
Now - there's another part to this that REALLY seals the deal for making the Wholesome Bowl part of your weekly rotation. The dressing. MY OH MY this is good. You can put it on anything and I assure you it'll get devoured. It's a take on the Glory Bowl dressing from Whitewater Cooks, which has it's own cult following! I made a few changes, mostly the oil. I wasn't comfortable using that much oil as I drench everything in this dressing, plus it adds up financially! There are other changes, but no doubt Shelley Adams was the inspiration for this.
I'm sure you'll be seeing many more of these up on the blog, but here is 1 to get you started. I hope you enjoy - over & over again.
INGREDIENTS:
peeled and diced sweet potato
1-2 beets grated
1 grated carrot
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 inches cucumber, sliced
5 cherry tomatos
chunk of cabbage, shredded
shredded kale
1 cup quinoa (cooked, yeilds about 2 cups)
Salt and Pepper to taste
sprinkle of sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Peel and dice the potato, toss with oil, salt and pepper, and place in oven. After 5 mins turn the oven down to 375 F, and roast for about 25 minutes, turning occasionally. Slice, and grate the remaining veggies. Once potatoes are done, build your bowl as desired, topping with below dressing.
DRESSING:
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup braggs or soy sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
3 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
Mix all ingredients in high powdered blender, season to taste. This makes a lot of dressing, almost a mason jar full. It'll last you the week so enjoy on EVERYTHING!
