Good morning! :)
So what was this fabulous dinner I was alluding to last night?
Let me show you…
Protein, grains, veggies…OH MY.
and healthy fats to boot!
This was one of my favourite dinners in a long time…
You simply cannot go wrong with caramelized sweet onions.
..
It totally had a Fresh Bowl feel to it which is always a good thing!
Hey chick!
Rocking the bird food.
1 cup of quinoa has over 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fibre…you wouldn’t expect that for such a light and airy grain!
Protein Power Bowl
Adapted from the always fabulous 101 Cookbooks.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups uncooked quinoa + 4 cups water 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups chickpeas, canned
- 1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup sunflower seeds, toasted if preferred
- 2 cups asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch segments
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds per bowl
- 1/4 cup Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette, to taste
- Black pepper and sea salt, to taste
Directions: Cook 2 cups quinoa in 4 cups of water in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. While this is cooking you can sauté the chopped onion and minced garlic in a lightly oiled pan on medium heat. After a few minutes, add the chopped asparagus to the onion mixture and cook for another 5 minutes or so, or until lightly browned. Fluff cooked quinoa and pour on some Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette– use as much or as little as you want. I probably used about 1/4 cup to lightly toss the quinoa and then I used a bit more of the dressing to pour over top of the bowl when I was ready to eat. Scoop quinoa as the base for the bowl and then start adding your toppings in each section- asparagus, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, chickpeas, and onions. Serve and enjoy the leftovers for days to come!
I love sneaking in chia seeds whenever I can! Hint- My new Raw and Gluten Free Glo Bar is loaded with chia seeds!! I’m so excited to show you this bar!
The bunny sure loved it, but was sad there were no carrots. :(
This recipe made a ton of leftovers too (it serves about 6 people). I’m not complaining…leftovers for lunches! Eric gave it two thumbs up. He said, ‘I love all the crunchy textures.’ There is something for everyone in this dish.
In other news, I can’t stop eating Vegan Overnight Oats. My next batch is coming up on OSG! Clue: Carob powder and pumpkin were in the mix. I love carob powder because it is so sweet and means that you don’t need to add much sweetener at all. By the way- if you have made a batch of my Vegan Overnight Oats and posted about it on your blog, send me the link and I will post the link.
Today’s question- What is your approach to cooking on weekends? Do you use the extra time to cook more or to do food prep for the week to come?
I tend to cook more on the weekends since I have more time and I rarely feel like cooking much during the week after a long day of baking. I love cooking big batches of things and then having leftovers or freezing things like my ‘Neat’ Sauce. On Sundays, I usually spend about 30 minutes chopping veggies that I put in Tupperware so they can be grabbed for quick snacks during the week.
Here’s to a healthy and glowing weekend!
What a delish. looking bowl! YUM
Angela, your meals always look so GOOD! Thanks for the ongoing inspiration!
We definitely cook more on the weekends. We have more time and are less distracted by errands and things to do during the week.
What a great looking meal! Honestly, I hardly cook on the weekends! I usually make Saturday my “free day” to go a little crazy and not as healthy, and we usually eat out. Sundays is usually something quick or we go to Nick’s grandma’s for dinner. BUT I would like to start prepping on Sunday so we have quick meals all week!!
xo
K
That is oh-so-Fresh! Beautiful presentation too! :)
I like to do any baking and grocery shopping on the weekend. Anything that can help get me ahead for the week.
What an awesome looking bowl!!! I try and bake on the weekends – but I guess as you do that all week you are probably sick of baking by the weekend hehe
As a busy grad student, it’s so much easier to eat healthfully when I spend some time over the weekend prepping veggies and fixing reheatable meals. However, I’ve been married for a few months now and have been finding it hard to come up with quick & hearty vegan meal ideas for the two of us (er…more like three with the amount my husband eats!) Maybe you could do a post sometime compiling some of your man’s faves to provide a little inspiration?
I had all the ingredients (minus the chia seeds) and made this for dinner tonight! It was fabulous!!! Thanks for the great idea. Your meals are always a great inspiration !!
I’m a college student and make a lot of my own healthy snacks for class and have definitely had the ‘bird food’ comment! lol
Wow, that looks amazing. Kind of reminds me of a Bento Box but all together. Pretty cool presentation as well. As soon as I get my chia seeds in I’ll try this recipe.
I do attempt to prepare a lot of my meals for the week on the weekend, especially like you, slicing up fresh veggies, i.e., radish, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. for the snackies. I wish I had more time on the weekends to prepare even more so for the week but my weekends are spent outdoors doing some type of exercise or gardening more than anything and especially if the weather is nice. I also enjoy making lots of bigger meals to freeze for “later on” meals. I’m also thinking of starting my first veggie garden but first I’m working on my own herbal garden.
I love your meals!
Have a great Sunday all!
So excited to make this tomorrow!
That looks sooooo amazing, delicious and healthy! Thanks for sharing! : )
That dinner looks great!
I use the weekends for prepping food most of the time. This weekend I’m giving myself a break though because I am trying to recover from a cold. I’m just going to chop and roast some vegetables this afternoon and possibly cook a batch of grains that will be the base for lunches/dinners. Weekend prep is definitely a timesaver. Sometimes I’ll even have five lunches prepped and ready go go in the fridge on Sunday evening and that makes me very happy…have to make something different every week though or I’d go crazy ;)
Cooking relaxes me every night, so I enjoy it. And, I agree with you. Caramelized onions are straight from Heaven!!
that looks super tasty and healthy :)… I love asparagus!! its a tasty little goodness <3
Angela, once I read about this yeserday morning I salivated all day about the thought haha! I made it for my dinner last night…it was amazing!!!
I posted it here:
http://thegutgazette.blogspot.com/2010/04/osg-protein-power-bowl.html
Angela, I am trying this recipe ver y soon i did make the Vegan Overnight Oats Thursday night and enjoyed it Friday morning. It kept me soooooooo full, for a good 5 hours before I started feeling hungry. I love having breakfasts that last. I will try and remember to take a picture next time, it was so good though.:)
YUM! I just made this…SO DARN GOOD! I did not have chia seeds but did add some grape tomatoes and mushrooms to the onions, along with a chopped avocado at the end. I really liked the dressing too…love it for sure :)
Just made this today and LOVED it! Thanks so much for the recipe.
wow! this dish was amazing. I just stumbled across your blog yesterday and I was amazed at all the beautiful pics and delicious looking recipes. I went to Whole Foods immediately and picked up some quinoa and chia seeds. I didn’t even know what Chia seeds were! What an amazing little ingredient! My bf and I really enjoyed this dish post work out last night. Thanks for the wonderful recipe and I look forward to reading your blog!