Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep, Side, Vegan, Vegetarian

Dressing Up Quinoa & Lentils

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Do you ever make something and you’re actually excited for your leftovers and to eat it again? That was this. I give you Cilantro Lentils & Quinoa with Raisins and Walnuts. This can be a side or a base to a meal. You can mix in feta or goat cheese. This would go quite well with roasted root veggies. Pair with grilled chicken. You literally can’t mess it up. I roasted potatoes, beets, and spinach and added some feta for a meal or kept it cold and mixed it into a spinach salad with a lemony vinaigrette. It works well with parsley instead of cilantro for all of you who are cilantro adverse, but fresh herbs with lemon juice and lemon zest keep this light and bright.

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Entrée, Lightened Up, Meal Prep, Salad, Vegetarian

Spring Buddha Bowls with Veggies & Farro

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Ted and I couldn’t get enough of these Spring Veggie, Marinated Chickpeas, & Farro Bowls. It’s the type of meal that you’re sad when you finish the leftovers. These grain bowls are savory yet bright with the dressing, chewy thanks to the farro, crunchy from the radishes and snap peas, and creamy because of the goat cheese and avocado. By marinating the chickpeas directly in the dressing, they absorb some of the flavor. We served this with a piece of crusty bread, channeling our inner sweetgreen during this pandemic. This salad is fun because you can change your veggies and toppings every time. We added pumpkin seeds one night, fresh basil and mint another, and Ted added cherry tomatoes on our third try. We did only spinach for one and mixed greens for another. Mix and match to make it your own!

 

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Better Than Takeout, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Lightened Up, Meal Prep

Perfectly Spiced Harissa Chicken Buddha Bowls

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It’s a meal prep Sunday recipe: Harissa Chicken Bowls. This might be a new staple. Harissa is a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste that goes perfectly with chicken. You can make it from scratch or you can be lazy like me and use a pre-made one like Trader Joe’s. Greek yogurt cuts the spiciness and adds a little tang. I love how fresh these bowls are by using cucumbers, chickpeas and cauliflower as the “rice.” You could also try some avocado tzatziki for dairy-free action and added creaminess.

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Asian, Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep

Meal Prep These Rainbow Veggies & Chicken Buddha Bowls

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This might be my new favorite meal prep. If you have the brown rice and chicken cooked ahead of time, it’s beyond easy to steam some colorful veggies, combine, and add a yummy sauce. I haven’t really used coconut aminos before, but it’s fermented coconut sap with a dash of salt for a slightly sweeter version of soy sauce, but with only a fourth of the sodium. A dash of coconut aminos with some sriracha made a quick and easy blend of sauces. I like steaming the vegetables because it’s so much faster, less oil and clean up are involved, and the veggies are still as tender as ever. Here’s Rainbow Chicken Buddha Bowls, packed with veggies, whole grain and lean baked protein to brighten up your meal prep days.

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Better Than Takeout, Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Lightened Up, Meal Prep, Salad

Copycat Sweetgreen’s Curry Cauliflower Quinoa Bowls

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I love sweetgreen. I love their salad dressings, locally sourced ingredients, clean eating philosophy, and the ease to grab a meal. The only downside is that a salad or bowl runs $10-12. I’ve been craving a sweetgreen, but on a budget. I decided to try my hand at their curry cauliflower bowl that’s offered during the fall; the bowl is: quinoa/farro, arugula, roasted curry cauliflower, cilantro, dried cranberries, roasted chicken, sriracha, & cucumber tahini dressing. While not quite the same since their dressings seem to be top-secret, I basically nailed this with my version of Curry Cauliflower Brown Rice Bowls. I used my own homemade dressing, leftover brown rice from sushi stacks, and roasted cauliflower and chicken. If you make the dressing and rice ahead of time, it’s really an easy meal prep.

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Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep, One Pot Dish, Vegan, Vegetarian

Stay Warm & Cozy with These Harvest Bowls

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I made a similar roasted veggie bowl last year with sweet potato instead of squash, but since then, I’ve somehow perfected this. Maybe it’s because the sauce is juuuuust right; I mixed a little hummus and tahini, apple cider vinegar and dijon mustard. Besides making the dressing and having the quinoa cooked ahead of time, this bowl is really a one pan meal then. You can roast all the veggies at once, adding kale at the end and then keeping the chickpeas separate is they don’t get soggy. These Roasted Vegetable Harvest Bowls keep you full without feeling overly stuffed and kind of even make you feel like you just indulged at Sweetgreen without leaving your home.

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Dairy-Free, Entrée, Low Sugar, Meal Prep

Falling for Farro Bowls

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I really like farro. It’s a chewy grain that’s a nice break from my usual brown rice or gluten-free quinoa options. Farro is high in protein, fiber and vitamins, while low in natural sugar and fat. Plus, it counts as a whole grain. Chipotle has been pretty hit or miss here in Boston (emphasis on miss), and I’ve been craving the flavors of their cilantro lime rice. After making a run to the new Trader Joe’s, I picked up some farro, cilantro and limes and tossed it together for the grain base. I couldn’t decide if I wanted my usual, go-to sriracha topping, so I made one way with it and another with fresh strawberries for an end-of-summer touch. Either way, this Cilantro Lime Farro Bowls with Grilled Chicken are a fun summer take on Buddha bowls.

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Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep, Vegan, Vegetarian

Amazing Almond Butter Tofu Bowls

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Happy meatless Monday! Look how beautiful my aunt and uncle’s kale is!? My parents just visited and flew me back some and it’s so tender and fresh. When they were gone, I kept their car and made a trip to Trader Joe’s. I picked up some creamy, no salt added almond butter (– their version is just made with nuts in their nut butters!), and it was begging to be used along with the a $2.99 whole pineapple and package of tofu (but chicken would be a great carnivore swap). Those paired with that gorgeous kale created Pineapple Almond Butter Tofu Buddha Bowls. They’re really easy to make if you prep the quinoa ahead of time and they’re deliciously different. Continue reading “Amazing Almond Butter Tofu Bowls”

Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep, One Pot Dish

One Pan Grilled Chicken Buddha Bowls

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I’m not even sure what I threw together last night, but this was a great impromptu dinner. Roasted some veggies, already had grilled chicken from Whole Foods, might as well grab an avocado . . . and Grilled Chicken Buddha Bowls with Roasted Veggies are born. Yesterday was a bit chilly and grey and using the oven didn’t sound like the worst idea, even though it’ll be July this weekend. I tossed sweet potatoes, chickpeas and kale in rosemary, garlic and paprika. After roasting in the oven, the sweet potatoes were tender, while the chickpeas and kale were crispy with a crunch. The kale was almost like kale chips, which is never a bad thing. Paired with that perfectly charred taste from the grilled chicken and creamy avocados, these bowls hit the spot. Although grain-free, I’m still calling this a buddha bowl since all these pieces came together in that perfectly assembled way.

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Dairy-Free, Entrée, Gluten-Free, Meal Prep, Salad, Vegan, Vegetarian

The Most Colorful Detox Bowls

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So I’m finally testing out my inspiralizer from William Sonoma that I got for Christmas. First thing I tried? Purple cabbage. Ambitious, I know. While not perfectly spiralized, the cabbage came out in thinner strips than I would’ve been able to chop and much longer than if I used a food processor. The cabbage was mesmerizing and has the coolest designs, in case you were wondering because I know you were. Gimme Some Oven came out with this Detox Salad after New Years. While it is DELISH and I’m obsessed with the dressing, I made it a bit hardier so it would more of a meal and less of a side. The Carrot Ginger Dressing is sweet, tangy, sour and so flavorful. I’m in love with the red cabbage in the bowls. It’s much more tender and benign when spiralized. I’m also just extremely biased to chopped salads and this Rainbow Detox Veggie Bowl is no exception. It’s almost too pretty to eat. (But actually eat it because it’s delicious.)

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