Even though it’s the dead of winter and all I want to do is crawl under the blankets with some hot cocoa and a chocolate bar, I’ve been making an extra effort to increase my veggie intake. The more veggies I eat, the more chocolate I can have, after all. It’s simple math. Some days it’s easy to forget how great I feel when I’m fueling my body with a rainbow of plants; they keep me sane during the cold, dreary days of winter. Food has this amazing power to influence my mood (much like exercise) and I often tell myself that feeling better is only a meal (or workout) away. It really is true! So keep this in mind if you are feeling the effects of a long winter like I am. Healthy eating begins with the very next meal…
I go through vegetable phases all the time. Right, now I’m hooked on cauliflower (enough to turn it into creamy alfredo which you seem to be enjoying a lot!), cabbage (via sauerkraut…lol), and sweet potatoes. Always sweet potatoes. This tasty lunch is something I threw together recently and I loved the combo so much I decided to share with you. The main event is an energizing black bean and sweet potato quinoa salad. The only thing I missed was a sliced avocado (I opened it up and it was all bruised…sigh), so if you have some around definitely throw it in.
In addition to the salad, I added roasted sweet potato rounds (because you can never have too much sweet potato on a cold winter day), roasted cauliflower, hemp hearts. and a big ‘ol scoop of hummus for good measure. Since I already had the salad made in advance, all I had to do was throw the veggies into the oven to roast while I tended to other things. It came together quite fast! Three cheers for leftovers.
This isn’t so much an exact recipe I’m sharing today, but more of a show and tell to hopefully inspire you to create your own. I lightly adapted one of my favourite quinoa salads from last year (see link below), and then added in other things to create a filling and feel-good lunch bowl! Oh by the way, as my sister discovered last weekend, this quinoa salad is also fantastic in a wrap with hummus and other veggies. A very good idea, I’d say!
For the bowl:
– Black Bean & Quinoa Salad (I made it with roasted sweet potato instead of carrots – loved this variation so much!)
– 1-2 cups chopped roasted cauliflower
– 1 sweet potato, sliced into rounds and roasted
– hummus, as needed to get your daily quota (the salad is so good mixed with some hummus, FYI)
– hemp hearts, for garnish (adds more protein and healthy fats…and let’s not forget edible confetti)
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So there you have it. A mood-booster-in-a-bowl.
Is it spring yet?
Mmmm, looks great! I’m always looking for lunch ideas.
that looks phenomenal, I love all of the colors!
This looks amazing! I wish I could have it right now. I think these ingredients are gunna have to be on the list for my next store run!
I LOVE throwing everything in one bowl and so true you can never have enough sweet taters :) I made this “One Bowl Wonder” with cauliflower last year and loved it
I could do with this right now (and speaking of blankets, I’m sitting under one at work because it’s sooo cold and even 2 cups of tea hasn’t managed to warm me up yet!) Gorgeous photos Ange!
Oh I feel ya Ange! I’m sitting about 4 inches away from the jumbo space heater. My leg might burn off, but oddly enough the rest of my body is still cold? lol. Stay warm!!
Yum – just the sort of inspiration I’m looking for!
I LOVE adding roasted veggies to salads and using hummus as a dressing. Beautiful photos — per the usual. :)
Angela,
This is so inspiring! Just when the blahs of the winter vortex are getting to us, Angela to the rescue!
I love your math ;)
Eating roasted veggies and waiting for it to get warmer sounds like a treat to me! I love your math! More veggies does equal more chocolate any day… :)
Mmm, that looks so good!! Oh yeah and “The more veggies I eat, the more chocolate I can have, after all. It’s simple math.” I like your math skills! ;-)
I also boost my mood with exercise and yummy, healthy food! I’m in love with your banana chocolate chip muffin tops right now… So good!
This looks amazing! Nothing beats a hodgepodge of foods in a bowl + a spoon.
Angela, girl, I used to follow your blog faithfully, but then fell out of the blog world (I sent you several emails asking for help to overcome my ED)
Now I am back and I am so proud of your growth <3 I hope one day to have 1/5 the success you have had.
cm.
Welcome back Caitlyn! I am so happy to hear from you again. xo
I’m a recent convert to sweet potatoes. I think I finally got over the years of forced Thanksgiving consumption. Just added some roasted little cubes to a creamy risotto the other night and it was delicious–balanced out the saltiness of the risotto nicely! Your rounds of them are so pretty here!
Thanks for this idea! I love cold roasted sweet potatoes, and as I, too, have been trying to drastically increase my veggie intake, this is a great inspiration. As always, thank you for sharing!
I was just contemplating what to have for lunch today. Problem solved! As for the weather…sigh. Currently with are having a blizzard, enough of a blizzard to cancel school, which they NEVER do here. But never mind that, it is -41 F wind chill. Sigh. Stay warm, indeed! Sigh.
This looks so good! I have been obsessed lately with adding roasted sweet potatoes to salads. It just adds so much flavor and good bulk to the mix! :)
Mmmm there is just something about sweet potatoes hey? I used all mine up in African sweet potato soup (with peanut butter!) but this is going on the list for the next bag! Looking forward to your cookbook, I have it on preorder!
Isn’t it funny- before becoming vegetarian/health conscious, I thought the only thing to eat for lunch was a sandwich with cold cuts and a processed granola bar and cheezits. It amazing how many tasty things you can make with a bunch of plants :)
That looks so good! I like the sweet potato variation of the quinoa and bean bowl. I hear you about the weather, Canada is sooo cold right now!
Please, can we avoid perpetuating the image of Canada being populated by polar bears & Inuit? I live on the west coast & have been weeding my flower beds in a sweat shirt all day. My heartfelt sympathies for those of you freezing to death (been there, done that, over it), but not *all* of Canada is in a deep freeze. Weather aside, this recipe is going to be tomorrow’s lunch. Fabulous!