Best Bowls

Lately I've been all about the one bowl meals. While there's nothing wrong with serving your main protein along with a few sides there's something nice and simple about a good one bowl meal, oh, and the fewer dishes doesn't hurt either! I've also been all about my SPUD deliveries lately too. Since trying them for the first time a few months back, I now look forward to my weekly delivery of fresh organic produce and groceries that are sourced as close to locally as possible.  Today, I've got not one but three recipes for you that I think you'll love. 

Let's start with breakfast. I've already shared my favorite chia pudding recipe but another breakfast staple of mine is a good green smoothie. On the weekends, I like to take it up a notch and have a yummy smoothie bowl. By using frozen bananas instead of fresh, you get a thicker smoothie that's less of a sippin' smoothie, and more of a spooning kind of smoothie. I stick with my favorite green smoothie and then top it off with some added goodness to feel a bit more fancy. My go to-s as of late have been to top it off with chia seeds, gogi berries and blueberries as pictured as well as shredded coconut or homemade coconut chips, hemp hearts or sliced fruit. Really, the sky's the limit here, whatever goodness you want to add, will only further benefit the already healthy smoothie you use as the "base" of your bowl. 

Smoothie Bowl: 1 frozen banana // 2 heaping handfuls of fresh spinach // 1/3 cup frozen mango and pineapple // 1/2 cup almond milk (I like this one because it's carageenan free- read more about that here) - Blend these ingredients together (add extra water or almond milk if needed), then scoop into your bowl and top it off with your choice of add ons! (Serves 1)

Next up for lunch I like to make sure I'm getting lots of veggies and I look for a lunch full of nutrients and protien for energy. A grilled veggie quinoa bowl is one of my favorites because like the smoothie bowl, you can't mess it up! Adding whatever grilled veggies with quinoa is yummy and healthy.  To top it all off, I drizzle the bowl with the best avocado dressing because in my books you can never have enough avocado! And while I've been eating a mainly vegetarian diet as of late, this bowl would be great with grilled salmon or chicken.

Quinoa Veggie Bowl: Toss your choice of veggies lightly in olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a little salt and pepper and roast at 450 for about 20-30 mins. While the veggies are roasting cook your quinoa and begin preparing your avocado dressing. Once the veggies are done, place on top of the cooked quinoa in a bowl (I usually start with 1/2 cup cooked quinoa) then you're ready to drizzle the dressing! 

Avocado dressing: blend together 1/2 of an avocado // 1 tbsp lemon juice // 1/4 cup lite coconut milk// 1 clove of garlic // salt and pepper to taste - add water or more coconut milk if you prefer a runnier consistency

Lastly for dinner I like to feel like I'm getting a yummy hearty meal that's going to keep me full.  This is when I want something a little more savory which is when this delish mushroom gravy from "Oh She Glows" comes into play. I can remember the first time I made this and I didn't know what nutritional yeast was so I just used normal yeast - let's just say that was a bit of a fail! (LOL) Thankfully, SPUD carries nutritional yeast (they always carry those odd items I can't seem to find at the grocery store) so now that I'm properly equipped, this mushroom gravy is one of my go-to's. And if nutritional yeast isn't your jam or you don't want to include it, the recipe will still be totally fine, it's just better with!

Instead of using millet for this recipe as per the instructions, I chose to use red rice from my SPUD order but you can use any grain of your choice. I've had this gravy over brown rice pasta, quinoa, barley and brown rice too! I just like to use red rice every once in a while to mix things up, plus red rice is full of nutrients so when paired with the kale in this recipe, you get lots of nutritional goodness! Another slight change I make to this recipe is I use about 1.5x the kale recommended, or I'll use half spinach and half kale, whatever I have on hand or comes fresh from my SPUD order is usually what goes in! 

This would be a great "meatless monday" recipe but if you wanted to add meat for extra protein, shredded chicken or turkey, or roast beef would go well with this one!

So there you go- those are a few of my favorite "bowls" as of late- have any other recipes you think I should try?

PS- For $20 OFF your SPUD order of $50 or more, use referral code CREDM-TIDDIA and give SPUD a try for yourself!