I love making salads!! I have been more than a little obsessed with this one lately, I think I've eaten it every day for the last week. During spring/summer it’s really nice not to have to turn on the oven or stove during those ever hotter days. I've been making up a big batch of ingredients so I can build my own Mediterranean bowl throughout the week. You could also easily serve this to guests for lunch; I love a "build your own" bowls meal when I have friends over, because then I know everyone can customize their delicious meal exactly how they like it. You can host vegan, vegetarian or paleo friends and serve the same thing! This batch will make around 4 salads, great for hosting, salad bar anyone? Or, simply use as a meal prep for lunches for your busy week.
For the base:
- Cook 1.5 cups quinoa (or any other grain you love!)
- Chop 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley or basil
- Zest form ½ a lemon
- Juice from ½ a lemon
- Salt + Pepper to taste
- Combine all above ingredients, stir together and set aside.
For the toppings:
- Sautéed kale, spinach or chard with garlic
- Sliced cucumbers
- Grated carrot
- Kalamata olives
- Avocado
- White beans
- Roasted beet, potatoes or yam (roast ahead of time.)
- Feta cheese
- Thinly sliced red onion
- Protein (salmon, chicken, tofu, tempeh)
- Hummus
- Roasted red pepper sauce (recipe below)
- Lemon juice to taste
- Fresh basil
- Salt + Pepper + olive oil to taste
- You can play around with how many toppings you include + invent your own and share your discoveries!
Roasted red pepper sauce recipe:
This sauce is pretty dang easy to make and this recipe makes a big batch. You can keep it in your fridge all week to make more bowls with or eat as a snack with carrot sticks and crackers. It's a very versatile dipping sauce so really the possibilities are endless.
Ingredients:
- one 16 oz jar red peppers drained (or roast your own!)
- 1 large or 2 small garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- juice of 1 lemon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbs raw almonds
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- You can also spice things up a bit with chili powder, cumin or paprika. Experiment a little and see what additions make this dip even better.
Add all roasted red pepper sauce ingredients into a food processor, blender or anything else you make salsas and dips with. I used an attachment that came with my immersion blender. Blend for about 30 seconds, more or less depending on your desired consistency.
Now it's time to assemble your bowl! Start with your base, the quinoa that we set aside at the beginning of the recipe then add your desired toppings and whala, you've got a darn good bowl of goodness. I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.
