Fall Harvest Buddha Bowl Recipe

By: Barb Biagioli 

In anticipation of cooler days ahead, I’m already thinking about all of my favorite fall meals. Warm cups of tea and hot bowls of soup are on the horizon. The fall harvest yields a bounty that is plentiful and ripe with all of those warm tones and colors; food that is picked from the earth after months of growing into nourishing and sustaining staples that feed us through the cooler days and winter nights.

A great way to incorporate these falls foods – sweet potatoes, squash, Brussels, beets, kale, swiss chard, and other dark leafy greens – is to batch roast them, add them to a bowl with your favorite grain (quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, brown rice) and drizzle with a maple inspired dressing that pulls all of the fall flavors together.

Batch cooking is also a great way to meal plan and prep in advance, especially as our schedules dictate more of a routine with “back to school” and/or back to work after the summer season. Getting into a routine of roasting seasonal vegetables can help save a lot of time on dinner, and many of these vegetables go great over greens for healthy mid-day snacks and take-on-the-go lunches.

An added bonus of eating seasonally and incorporating these foods into your weekly meal plan, is that they are fresh, highly nutritious and immune-boosting – intended to help keep our immune systems healthy and activated, and increase our nutrient density load – keeping us healthier and quite literally happier (thank you gut-health promoting plant foods)!

 Try it for yourself. Here is a fall inspired plant based bowl that is filling, nourishing and delicious.

Fall Harvest Buddha Bowl Recipe

 Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes |Total Time: 60 minutes | Serves: 2-4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups quinoa, cooked

• 1-2 bunches of curly kale

• 2 large sweet potatoes

• 8 medium beets

• 3 cups chickpeas

• 3 tbsp coconut oil

• ½ lemon, squeezed

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 3 tsp sea salt

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp chili powder

• ½ tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp paprika

• ½ tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 tsp sea salt

• Pinch of pepper

 Dressing

• 1 cup tahini

• 2 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp sea salt

 INSTRUCTIONS

 1.      Preheat the oven to 375° and place parchment paper onto 3 baking sheets. While the oven is heating, apply 1 tbsp of coconut oil and a bit of sea salt to your beets. Begin by roasting these first as they typically take the longest (45 – 60 minutes depending on the size of the beets). Once they are complete, you can remove the skins immediately for serving (a paper towel works nicely here to pull the skins from the beet).

2.      Next, cut your sweet potatoes into small cubes and place on a baking sheet. Scoop 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil onto the sheet, pop it into the oven to melt. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cinnamon and bit of sea salt. Stir the sweet potatoes until they are covered in the oil, cinnamon and salt. Return to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, checking for softness in the middle. Once they have fully cooked through (30-45 min), remove from the oven to rest.

3.      In a bowl, combine the chickpeas, olive oil and the spices (chili powder, turmeric, paprika, onion powder, oregano, sea salt and pepper). Stir to combine and lather the chickpeas in the spices. Place into the oven to roast for 30-45 minutes – until the chickpeas are nice and crunchy.

4.      While everything is in the oven cooking, prepare your kale and make the dressing. Then just shy of the dinner, toss the kale into a stir fry pan and steam with sea salt and lemon. You want the kale to be nice and wilted but not over cooked. It is best served for texture and nutrition when it turns bright green.

5.      Now it’s time to build your bowls. With your already cooked quinoa, place 1 heaping scoop into your bowl, arranging each ingredient in their own pocket. Add the sweet potato, beets, and kale. Top with crunchy chickpeas and drizzle with the tahini dressing.

 
Note: It can be very helpful to have all of the batch cooking items prepped in advance. I prefer to cut the kale, sweet potatoes, chickpeas and prep the beets before I begin baking. This helps to cut down on time, allowing you to clean up your mess while everything things cook so that there are minimal after dinner dishes!

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