Hi all! Sooo I made the most delicious and comforting and cozy quinoa bowl everrrr this week. I whispered to it as I lovingly ate it that I would make it every week for the rest of my life. My favourite vegetables, hands down, are yams and avocados (okay, so an avocado is technically a fruit, but really, I’d never put it in a fruit salad, and that makes it a vegetable in my books, I don’t care what you think). Speaking of fruit, Max and I went and got a peach and cherry tree this weekend for our back yard (and will also be getting a FIG TREE in a few weeks)! Which makes me sooo excited because, fun fact: I point out every single fruit tree I see to Max and usually try to approach it for picking or smelling or both (so long as it isn’t on private property) and then I want to discuss said tree. It drives him nuts. Once in San Diego I picked an orange off a tree in front of a store we were in. I brought it into the car on our way home, and it smelled like I had gone to citrus heaven. Then I went to open it and my thumb went right through it because it was rotten on one side. I was forced to throw it out the window after that. Whomp-whomp. Anyway, THIS BOWL:

It’s got all the things; quinoa, steamed kale, chickpeas infused with a spiced coconut sauce, roasted yam, avocado, cilantro-lime-tahini sauce (OMG), sesame seeds, and more lime. Yuuuuuuuuuum. It’s healthy comfort in a bowl. The recipe may sound like a lot of work, but it only took me about 50 minutes from start to finish. And it’s totally worth the dishes, I promise. It’s like a warm hug. Share some warm tummy hugs this week and make it!

Energy Bowl

Recipe:

Serves 2 for one normal portion and a hungry construction worker portion.

Ingredients:

1 large yam (orange sweet potato)

½ tablespoon melted coconut oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cumin

Fresh ground pepper

½ cup quinoa

1 cup water

½ tablespoon coconut oil

½ teaspoon salt

One can (14 oz.) of Garbanzo beans (chick peas)

1/3 cup coconut milk (from a can) (full fat)

½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon Sambal Olek (or your favourite hot sauce)

Juice of half a lime

Kale, rinsed, shredded with tough stem ripped out

1 garlic clove

Juice of one lime

1/3 cup of cilantro (stalks are ok!)

½ cup tahini (sesame butter)

1/3 cup water

½ an Avocado, sliced

Sesame Seeds

Cilantro leaves

Lime quarters

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Peel and chop your yam into bite-sized pieces, place in a bowl and toss with melted oil, salt, pepper, and cumin. Spread onto a baking sheet that is covered in parchment paper. Once the oven is preheated, put the yam into the oven and roast for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Place rinsed garbanzo beans in a small pot, add coconut milk, lime, hot sauce, and garlic powder. Let it simmer while the yams are roasting. The point isn’t to cook the beans as they are already cooked, but to infuse them with extra yummy flavours.

Rinse your quinoa, and get it ready in a small pot with water, oil, and salt. Once the timer for your yams reaches 20 minutes, turn your quinoa pot onto full blast. Once the water is boiling, turn it to the lowest setting. Turn it off once your yam timer finishes, it should be perfect.

Wash and shred the kale. Once the yam timer gets down to 10 minutes left, turn on your pot that is steaming the kale. Turn this off and remove from heat when the yam timer goes off as well.

In a blender, throw garlic, lime juice, tahini, cilantro, water, and salt and blend well together to create a sauce.

To assemble, divide quinoa and place into bowls, add coconut milk sauce from the beans on top of the quinoa. Place kale over quinoa. Place avocado, beans, and roasted yams on top of the kale. Pour on the tahini sauce (lots and lots because it is gooood), top with sesame seeds, more cilantro, and serve with a wedge of lime.

Devour.