Since becoming vegan and deciding to follow a plant based foods diet it has been a challenge to make sure I eat enough vegetables and variety of foods every day. One of my key things that I like to stick to is to eat as many foods in all colors of the rainbow every single day. Or, have as much color variety as possible throughout the day because the color in foods is one of the ways that you get antioxidants. Different colors means different properties and benefits. One of the best ways that I found to do this was at lunch spots like salad bars, etc that offer bowls. I found some great options at places like Chipotle, Just Salads, and Pick and Eat in Washington Heights, which still has one of my favorites for quick vegan options. Since lock down I’ve had more time to cook and I have been making my own veggie bowls again. Here is the one I am obsessed with this week.
- 1/4 cup of brown rice
- 1/4 cup of sweet potato home fries https://homeunraveled.com/sweet-potato-home-fries/
- 1/4 cup of steamed broccoli
- 1/4 cup of spinach
- 1/4 cup of tofu
- 2 tablespoons of hummus
- 1 tablespoon of Tahini
- 1 tablespoon of Harissa (skip this if you don’t like spicy foods)
The base is brown rice which I normally cook a large batch of ahead of time and just have on hand for two or three days at a time. Then you add the rest of the ingredients with the Tahini last so that you can drizzle it on top of everything.
The best thing about this meal and any kind of bowl is that you can prepare all of the ingredients and make extra then you just prepare a bowl a la cart whenever you’re ready. I use things like brown rice, broccoli, and mushrooms in a million things so if i’m making them for one dish I usually just cook extra to have for another meal later in the week. You can also substitute for whatever you have on hand and switch things up for variety.
Going back to the rainbow theory of eating this bowl provides me with so much color and variety. I have two forms of greens with cruciferous greens in the broccoli and leafy greens in the spinach. I get the orange from the sweet potatoes and yellow from the Tumeric that I use to season the tofu. I also get the benefits of other herbs and spices that use like the oregano, powdered garlic, sage, thyme, and Kashmiri chilli powder. I also get beans two ways in the form of hummus (chickpeas) and tofu (soy beans). I try to eat multiple servings of beans per day because of the heart health and overall health benefits, but they are also great at making feel satiated for a long period of time. I have grains from the brown rice. And I get a variety of peppers in the red peppers in the baked home fries, the Harissa, and the Kashmiri peppers. That’s at least six colors in this dish, with a variety of foods in each color.
Happy Eating!
