Rice Bowl

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

March 5, 2014 by Erica

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

Thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday’s post. You all sure know how to comfort a girl! Even when that girl is being a self-indulgent whiner. Oops!

I’m going to take my complaining down a notch. As I think we all know, Sunday anxiety is way worse than the actual work week. So next week, feel free to give me a virtual slap if I let out a peep about my busy schedule!

Still, I appreciate Monday’s virtual hugs. You are all way too sweet, and I can’t believe my luck that we get to hang out and talk about food together all the time. Seriously!

Muhammara Roasted Veggie Bowl

We are still enjoying the double batch of muhammara I made last weekend, and this has been one of my favorite combinations: a bowl of wheat berries and roasted veggies topped with a big dollop of that rich spread. It’s not exactly earth-shattering (more like fridge-emptying!), but it’s still high on the deliciousness scale.

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Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

April 12, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

Well, I think I can say that I’m a changed woman.

After just a brief period of cooking with strictly what I have in the house, my creative juices are starting to flow. It really wasn’t that difficult, either. Granted my “pantry cleanse” has turned into more of a fridge cleanse, but that’s OK. I’m realizing that both are a great source of inspiration for new recipes, and I’m getting more comfortable throwing things together without knowing how they’ll turn out. Not everything is blog worthy, that’s for sure, but nothing has turned out too badly, either. I know it comes as second nature to some, but for this type A planner, this is a light bulb moment!

So I’ll chalk up a win in the creativity column, but unfortunately, my cabinets still merit hoarder status. While I’ve used a lot of pantry items that had been languishing for a while, I haven’t necessarily used up any of them. And so it continues…

Roasted Veggie Lentil Bowl with Charred Red Pepper Sauce

My go-to dish during this effort has been a big bowl of roasted veggie goodness, like Wednesday’s sushi bowls: Some sort of grain + roasted veggies + sauce or dressing + a little extra flavor on top. Here I picked lentils instead of a grain for some extra protein, especially because I was already using starchy potatoes. Also, you saw in Monday’s post that I have a ton of legumes, so I had to use at least one kind this week! I realized afterwards that this dish is actually pretty close to my cauliflower steaks with lentils and this same sauce. This time, though, I only had half a pepper to use in the sauce, and successfully resisted the urge to run to the grocery store to grab another one. I also had most of a big can of tomato puree that I wanted to use up, so I just threw it all in. Despite those changes, the sauce was just as good as I remembered; I honestly couldn’t even tell the difference with less pepper and more tomato. Veeeeery flexible – I like it.

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Spelt Berry Sushi Bowl with Roasted Cauliflower

April 10, 2013 by Erica

Spelt Berry Sushi Bowl

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

I wouldn’t be so chipper (I feel morning chipperness is generally uncalled-for), but just look at all these colors. Food like this makes me happy to be alive.

(If you’re still half asleep and don’t feel like eating sushi yet… I apologize. I kind of have a thing for colorful food.)

Spelt Berry Sushi Bowl

In case you missed it, this is Pantry Week here at Coffee & Quinoa: a week of me attempting to simultaneously clean out my cabinets and teach myself to put a meal together without a trip to the store.

This dish is a random weeknight creation that truly belongs in my pantry series. Pawing through the fridge after work one night, I found some leftover veggies and cooked spelt, plus some cauliflower with only a few more days of life left in it. For some reason my sweet potato sushi bowl came to mind. I decided to go for it, but was pretty doubtful as I whipped up the dressing… an Asian dish with cauliflower and spelt, really?

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Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Miso Tahini Sauce

March 18, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Miso Tahini Sauce

I warned you: Sweet Potato Fever over here. Can someone come over to my house and tell me if I’m turning orange around the edges?

Here’s how we’re getting our sweet potato fix today: roasted, in a bowl with quinoa and broccoli, and drenched in a slurpable sauce. This right here is barely a recipe. Buuuut it’s one of the meals I’ve been eating most often recently, so of course I wanted to share. It’s a great way to use up any vegetables you might have gotten overzealous with on your last shopping trip… ahem sweet potatoes.

I almost always use sweet potatoes when I make this, but the other vegetable can be changed up. I usually try to use something green. Here it was broccoli, but I’ve also done Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale. Green beans or asparagus would also be great as we head into spring!

For a hot meal, this is super fast to make. Quinoa is a quick-cooking grain, and I love that it’s cooked and tender by the time the veggies finish roasting. The dressing can also be whipped up in about 30 seconds, making life so easy.

Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Miso Tahini Sauce

I recently made this for lunch for Nate, our friend Pete and myself before an afternoon of skiing. I was out of the house when Nate texted me, saying he and Pete were stopping to get Pete’s ski stuff and would be home soon to eat. Eek – for a second I thought I was going to have to renege on my offer to make lunch. But I quickly got my head screwed on straight, raced home, and popped these veggies in the oven. Lunch was ready by the time the boys got back! Success.

This is also one of my favorite lunches to pack for work. It’s so healthy, and the tart and salty sauce is just the type of thing I look forward to eating all morning. Not to mention the sweet potatoes!

Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Miso Tahini Sauce

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Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Miso Tahini Sauce

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: Erica

Yields: 3 servings

Ingredients

For the bowl:

1 large sweet potato (1 1/2 to 2 lbs), peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
3 small heads broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 tsp olive oil
sprinkle of salt and pepper
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed

For the miso tahini sauce:

2 Tbsp white miso paste
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)
2-4 Tbsp water (as needed)
1 small clove garlic, minced (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 and line 2 baking sheets with tin foil.
Toss sweet potato with 1 tsp olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and spread onto one of the baking sheets. Do the same with the broccoli, remaining olive oil, and another sprinkle of salt and pepper and spread onto the other baking sheet. Roast both for 20-25 minutes, until starting to brown, stirring once halfway through.
While vegetables are roasting, cook quinoa. Add to small pot with 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until tender. Drain any remaining water.
Finally, prepare the miso tahini sauce. With an immersion blender (or a whisk), mix together the miso, tahini, lemon juice, 2 Tbsp water, and optional garlic. Add additional water to reach desired thickness.
Once vegetables are done, you're ready to eat! Scoop quinoa into each bowl and top with vegetables and miso tahini sauce.
Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Sushi Bowl

December 5, 2012 by Erica

Introducing my new favorite dinner, the sweet potato sushi bowl. That boring rice post yesterday was just a way to make sure you were prepared for this.

Make. It. Tonight. (!!!)

This weekend was officially deemed Asian Cooking Weekend in my apartment. I actually didn’t get through all the dishes I wanted to, but luckily I made this sushi bowl a priority. After we ate it, I couldn’t stop smiling. It is just SO GOOD that I couldn’t believe it had come out of my kitchen! It tastes like high-end sushi and really requires minimal effort.

So what’s in this little beauty?

Seasoned rice, roasted sweet potato, avocado, sliced veggies, seaweed, sesame seeds, and green onions, all topped with a gingery sauce. Just tell me that doesn’t look like salmon! And it’s just sweet potato, chopped up like this:

… and then marinated and roasted.

If you like sushi, seriously make this tonight. If don’t have an Asian market nearby, you are excused until tomorrow night. There are a few things in here (sesame oil, nori, and mirin) that you probably can’t find in your grocery store, but I can’t emphasize enough how worth it the extra trip will be. (Don’t skip the nori whatever you do – it’s what makes it taste like sushi!)

If you’re like me, this is also an excellent chance to use those Asian-looking dishes you bought for absolutely no reason and have been occupying shelf space ever since :)

Sweet Potato Sushi Bowl

Serves 4

Time: about 1 hour (less if rice is cooked ahead of time)

Ingredients:

For the sushi bowl:
1 ½ cups dry brown rice
1 large sweet potato
2 Tbsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 avocado, sliced
8 radishes, sliced
4 cups shredded napa cabbage
6-8 green onions (light and dark green parts), thinly sliced
2 4×8 in sheets nori (seaweed)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

For the sauce:
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
juice of 1 orange
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
¼ cup mirin (Japanese rice wine)
2 tsp sesame oil

Instructions:

Cook rice according to these instructions. (This could also be done ahead of time and then reheated.)

Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.

Peel sweet potato and slice into pieces 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (see photo above). Toss in a ziploc bag with 2 Tbsp soy sauce. Lay flat and let marinate 5-10 minutes, turning once or twice to get the soy sauce all over. Spread out on the baking sheet, pouring any soy sauce left in the ziploc over top, and bake for 15 minutes, until tender.

While the sweet potato is roasting, blend or whisk together all sauce ingredients. (I used an immersion blender.)

Toast sheets of nori at 350 degrees for a few minutes, until fragrant. (I like to do this in my toaster oven, but you could also do it just before or after the sweet potato.) Chop or crumble into small pieces. Still at 350, toast sesame seeds for several minutes until golden brown and fragrant.

When rice is done, mix it with about half the sauce, a quarter of the nori, and a quarter of the green onions.

In bowls, layer the rice and napa cabbage and arrange the avocado, radishes, and sweet potato on top. Top with additional nori, green onions, sesame seeds and sauce.

Enjoy with green tea!

Tastes best on the first day made.

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