How To: Grain and Veggie Bowls

1.) You want to start by preparing all your ingredients. Depending on what grain you’re using, you’ll want to start cooking that now! In addition, turn your oven on to 425 degrees, wash and chop up a sweet potato into even sized shapes or cubes. (I sliced mine into 1/2 inch rounds and then sliced them up further.) You’ll want to drizzle some olive oil, salt and pepper on the potatoes before putting them in the oven.

2.) Let the sweet potatoes roast for about 40 minutes in the oven, or until the potatoes are lightly browned and soft. At about 20 minutes, shake the pan a little bit to give the the sweet potatoes an even cook.

3.) Rinse some garbanzo beans with water, then pat them dry. Pour them onto a sheet pan where you’ll drizzle them with olive oil, and a few pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.

4.) The garbanzo beans can go in the oven at 425 with the sweet potatoes. You’ll want to take them out after about 30 minutes, or until they are getting browned and crispy.

5.) At the same time and temperature oven, place a few beets in an oven safe bowl with 1 inch of water and cover the bowl with tin foil. These need to stay in the oven for 1 hour, or until a knife can be very smoothly slid into the beets. Once they are done, remove the skin by running the beets under water, and peeling the skin off with your hands. Next, you’ll cut them up into even slices, and mix with a drizzle of olive oil, sherry vinegar, and few pinches of salt and pepper.

6.) Lastly, wash some kale or spinach, then place it in a pan with drizzle of olive oil on medium high heat. Sauté your greens until they have shrunk in size and become soft. After this, you can slice up some avocado, goat cheese, or whatever other toppings you want.

7.) Assemble your bowls, add a dressing of your choice, and eat up!

How To: Grain and Veggie Bowls (Prep Time: 70 minutes, Makes: As many as you want!)

The 70 min prep time and lengthy instructions make sound daunting, but this recipe is actually super simple! You can easily prep all the ingredients ahead of time, the only real effort you need to put in is some basic chopping, drizzling, and boiling. Once you get all your veggies and grains cooking, you really have an hour where you don’t have to do any prep work! There are a few things you need to make a good, well balanced bowl. First, you obviously need a grain. I recommend black or brown rice, or quinoa, sorghum, or millet if you’re looking for protein. (Avoid white rice when possible; it has little protein or nutritional value.) Next you need lots of veggies! Choose your favorites, and your favorite way of cooking them. After veggies, I would recommend adding a protein. This can either come in the form of a meat/tofu, (I like grilled chicken on my bowls) beans, or both! Lastly I think dressings and garnishes are super important. My favorite garnishes are avocado and goat cheese. For my dressing in todays bowl, I used a lemon tahini (extra protein from the tahini!) from minimalistbaker.com. Ranch, caesar, or a balsamic vinaigrette, also pair well with a wide range of ingredients! These bowls are a great thing to prep in big batches at the beginning of a week, so that you can make great lunches or dinners in just minutes, all week long!

Ingredients (For the 2 bowls pictured, feel free to customize your own!)

For the Sweet Potato: 1/2 sweet potato, 1 tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper

For the Beets: 2 beets, 1 tsp olive oil, 1tsp sherry vinegar, pinch of salt and pepper

For the Garbanzo beans: 1/2 can of rinsed garbanzo beans, 1 tsp olive oil, pinch of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder

For the Greens: 2 large handfuls of washed spinach or kale, 1tsp olive oil

For the Grains: 1/2 cup uncooked black rice or sorghum or 1.5 cups of cooked black rice or sorghum

Extras: Dressing of your choice, sprinkle of goat cheese, half an avocado, salt and pepper to taste. (Lemon Tahini Dressing can be found at: http://minimalistbaker.com/white-bean-kale-salad-with-tahini-dressing/)

Directions:

For the Grains: Follow the instructions on the package. You will usually need about a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of water to grain, but be sure to check, as every grain is different. If you aren’t using white rice, other grains tend to take around 50 minutes to cook.

For the Sweet Potato: Heat the oven to 425. Scrub your 1/2 sweet potato to make sure it’s clean. Next slice it into 1/2 inch rounds, the cut the rounds into 4-6 even sections depending on the width of the potato. Next place on a sheet pan, and mix in your olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place in the oven for 40 minutes, cooking until lightly browned and soft. (At 20 minutes I recommend shaking your sheet pan to get the potatoes and even cook.)

For the Beets: Heat the oven to 425. Place your beets in an oven safe bowl with 1 inch of water, and cover with tin foil. Leave in the oven for 1 hour, or until a knife can easily slide in and out of the beets. Rinse the beets with water, this should make the skin easy to peel off. Next slice your beets into your preferred size, then mix with your olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

For the Garbanzo Beans: Heat the oven to 425. Rinse half a can of beans, then pat them dry. Mix them with the olive oil, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Place them on a sheet pan in the oven for 30 minutes, or until slightly browned and crunchy.

For the Greens: Wash your spinach or kale, and heat up a pan/skillet with olive oil on medium high. Add in your greens and cook until they have shrunk significantly, and are softer, or the texture of your liking.

Throw all your ingredients in a bowl, and top with avocado and goat cheese, or the garnishes you prefer. Lastly finish it off with a nice dressing and enjoy!