Quinoa Bowl Dinner

You’ll find in this blog that I’m all about quick and easy eating. I just happen to be all about being good to my body too. This next recipe is one of my favorite go-to meals because it’s healthy, high in protein and nutrition, fairly quick, and not to mention easy. (Can you tell I’m time efficient (cough) lazy!) ;)

I love meals that are all in one. You can also put it anything that you like! Personalized. Which I also love. I call this the Quinoa Bowl. If you haven’t heard of quinoa, you’re missing out. Read up on the benefits here. (It’s like rice except WAY healthier for you. You can even buy it at Target. I shop mostly at Whole Foods even though some say it’s too expensive. I appreciate that target is starting to supply healthier food, but I like supporting the store that’s been pioneering healthy lifestyles.)

I won’t be putting any measurements on this recipe because it really depends person to person on how much you want in your bowl. The overall cook time is maybe half an hour. It’s so fast and simple, but extremely tasty and filling.

Ingredients:

Quinoa

Coconut Oil (or butter)

Your choice of meat (I normally use 1/2lb grass fed beef)

Peppers (I use 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper)

Onion

Jalepenos

Spinach

Or whatever else you’d like in the bowl

Directions:

READ WHOLE THING FIRST

1: Chop up your peppers/onions/jalapenos and set aside (I use a jar of jalapenos when I don’t have any fresh ones on hand. If you’re using the jar kind, skip all the jalapeno steps and add them onto your bowl at the end)

2: Follow the directions on the box/bag of quinoa to cook it. Be careful on how much you use. One of the recipes I followed said 2 cups of cooked quinoa. I was over here like, “What am I a psychic??” I also doubled the recipe. Quinoa grows, ok? 4 cups of uncooked quinoa came out to about 3 weeks worth of quinoa. Once the water has gone down, you can add some seasonings to it. Taste test it as you go. Salt, pepper.

3: As the water for quinoa is boiling, get started on your meat. Like I said, I use grass fed beef because I like my meal to be a Taco Quinoa bowl. (I’ve also done it with chicken using coconut oil for the oil, and it’s delicious.) I season with salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, paprika, and some chili powder. 

4: Put some coconut oil in a pan and let it start to melt. Once it is melted, add in your pepper, onions, and jalapenos with some salt and pepper. You want to cook those until the onions are translucent and your peppers are at your desired crunchy/softness.

5. Once quinoa and peppers/onions/jalapenos are done cooking, dump your peppers/onions/jalapeno/coconut oil mixture into the pot that has your quinoa and mix them in.

6. Start layering your cooked ingredients in your bowl. I start with quinoa as the base. First layer I put Pepper/onion/jalapeno quinoa, then a layer of spinach, top it with beef, salsa, organic sour cream, tomatoes, feta, and then anything else you’d like!

Special Note:
If I'm out of quinoa, I make everything else and do healthy nachos using non-gmo xochitl chips. It's freakin' delicious. After the meat is cooked and the heat is turned off, I put some raw cheese that I've shredded on top and mix it in before the pan has lost all it's heat. (I've done this with just meat, cheese, salsa, and organic sour cream.)

Enjoy!

~Ariel