Healthy Grain Bowl

Name: Healthy Grain Bowl
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 100g (½ cup) brown rice; 100g (½ cup) quinoa; 60g (2oz) slivered almonds; 200g (1 can) chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 1 avocado, cubed; 2 tomatoes, cubed; 30ml (2 tbsp) sesame seeds, toasted; Salt and pepper, to taste; 250ml (1 cup) Greek yogurt; Red and green chillies, sliced [optional]; Coriander leaves, for garnishing

17th May 2017 - By Michelle Minnaar
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In spring we have access to the most beautiful seasonal vegetables. You should definitely make the most of the fresh produce. I know I do! You’ll see this with my delicious grain bowl recipe. Eating the right combination of veggies might just make you less tired. What I love about the healthy grain bowl, is that it’s fresh, easy to make and super light at the same time. It is a good choice for light dinners or takeaway lunches at work, even breakfast!

Our morning routine

Apart from making the healthy grain bowl, Bed Guru might just help you feel less tired as well. In fact, we all know that getting a good night’s sleep does the trick for the next day. Personally, I am exhausted if I don’t sleep well and my morning routine just collapses! What is your morning routine? Mine usually consists of waking up early in the morning and checking emails and social media. Of course, getting the whole family ready, myself included, for the day can be challenging as well. Therefore, I constantly look for ways how I can wake up happy and well rested.

I started by taking part of the Bed Guru #SpringOutOfBed campaign. Bed Guru is an online bed retailer who are sleep specialists, they understand that no two people share the same sleeping requirements and see it not just as a belief but an obligation to ensure that everybody gets a great night’s sleep! I really think this campaign will change the way I wake up in the morning and take that first step of the day. This campaign really helped me reconsider how I prepare myself for the springing out of bed the next day.

I‘ll share some top tips that might make your mornings happier:

Omit sugar after 6pm – sugar is a stimulant and therefore if you eat too much of it before bed, you might get an unwanted sugar rush!
Drink calming herbal tea – not black or green tea. Also, try chamomile or mint. It’s wonderful.
Get yourself a pocket sprung mattress which ensures a good night’s sleep!
Establish a rhythm and stick to a curfew. This rhythm will help you in the long-term!
Eat healthier. The healthy grain bowl is a good start!

Sourcing your delicious produce

As mentioned before, this is the season to get fresh produce. Therefore, I highly recommend getting your ingredients at your local farmer’s market. I know it’s tough to get up in the morning. However, in order to get those fresh vegetables, you need to go to the market quite early in the morning. The fresh produce gets sold out fairly quickly. Furthermore, you want to get the first pick of the day, right? Remember, it’s not a supermarket that keeps restocking the ingredients. Nonetheless, if your local supermarket has a bio section, I highly encourage you to purchase the bio veggies due to flavour intensity.

Healthy Carbs

I can tell you right now that the healthy grain bowl is a light, yet filling dish. It’s easy to digest, but it doesn’t leave you hungry at all. This is a result of the carbs used in the healthy grain bowl. These carbs are totally gluten-free, and they are vastly known for being healthy substitutes in meals. These of course include quinoa and rice.

The trick with quinoa is to let is cook in salty water. If you don’t add salt while the quinoa boils in the water, it will taste really plain. You can choose from various types of quinoa – white, yellow, red or black quinoa. I can never choose which one to use for my dish. You can even use a mix!

Generally, I prefer quinoa to rice. However, the crunchy texture of the brown rice is just as delicious. You can also use dark wild rice, red cargo rice or black rice. I don’t recommend using white or basmati rice as it doesn’t fit the other flavours and textures of the healthy grain bowl.

Lastly, I recommend roasting the chick peas. If rice, quinoa or chick peas are not your thing, you can also try using lentils or roasted Jerusalem artichokes.

Garnish

Once you chop up your veggies into nice chunks, place them on top of your chosen carb. I love to look at the arrangement of vegetables in the healthy grain bowl. However, it’s also nice to add a little garnish. I used fresh coriander leaves and spring onions because I think they work really well with this recipe. However, you can use other herbs for garnish. You can use:

Watercress – tangy and bitter flavour. Very nutritious. Also, the leaves look great. In fact, you can use the watercress to make a delicious walnut and watercress pesto to add into the healthy grain bowl.
Basil – classic and aromatic. Works well with everything.
Parsley – also a classic. Can be too aromatic for some.
Chives – great for some extra tanginess and crunch.

Other toppings

For additional toppings, you can use red and green chillies. Add as many chillies as you please and rest assured they will give your metabolism a boost. Furthermore, you can top it off with nuts for that extra crunch. I used almonds, but you can combine whichever nuts you have at home. Walnuts are the usual substitute.