It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of quinoa bowls. They’re easy, they don’t take long to make, you can prepare them in advance, they’re a simple solution to excess food in your fridge that needs to be used up, AND they travel well. If those aren’t good enough reasons for you to go make yourself a quinoa bowl RIGHTTHISSECOND, I don’t know what is.
I often make pretty simple quinoa bowls because I can’t be bothered to slave away in the kitchen for hours on end (usually). So recently, I made this bad boy.
And he was YUM. Only 3 things in my quinoa bowl (including the quinoa) and a delicious, savoury dressing smothered on top. Awww yea! It doesn’t look like much, but it was perfect. The dressing really makes this bowl, though, so if you skip it, you will have a very sad, bland, boring quinoa bowl on your hands.
I’m still working on getting my little ones to eat quinoa bowls, but they are stubborn! They’ll eat the quinoa, but only if it’s plain. One of them will eat the lentils, but only if the other one isn’t around telling her how “gross” they are.
Sigh. One of these days my kids will like more than just bread and chocolate – right? Please tell me I’m right!
So – on to this delicious quinoa bowl masterpiece [not]…
First, cook up some quinoa and divide between bowls. Cook up some lentils and do the same. While those two are cooking, sautee some greens with a tiny bit of oil, salt, and black pepper. Then, make the dressing.
Ta-da! No muss, no fuss. Simple, easy, delicious.
- ½ cup brown or green lentils
- 1½ cups water
- 1 medium-large garlic clove, crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup greens of choice (kale, spinach, swiss chard)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 3 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp tamari
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 medium-large clove of garlic, grated
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1.5 tbsp tahini
- Add lentils, water, garlic and bay leaf to a small pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium and simmer about 25-40 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the lentils are tender. Remove bay leaf and crushed garlic. Set aside.
- Add quinoa and water to a small pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium and simmer about 12 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender.
- Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Once warmed, add the greens and cook until softened. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper, turn off the heat, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth.
- Divide quinoa between bowls, then add in the lentils and sauteed greens.
- Pour a healthy amount of dressing over each bowl. Serve warm!
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