3-Ingredient Meals: Bowls Part I

Let’s cook!

This week, we’ll shop for ingredients. Next week, I’ll share a few of my favorite bowl recipes. Bowls can be 2 ingredients to sky’s-the-limit. Make it as simple or complex as you’d like.

Keep in mind, when it comes to establishing new eating patterns, for most simple wins the race.

Bowls are

• Easy to shop for

• Easy to meal prep

• Customizable

• Great for fridge clean-outs

• Ready in minutes

When I was in grade school, taco dinners were a favorite. They weren’t the healthiest, but it was the 80s. I think tacos were a favorite because I could choose my own toppings, and how much of each ingredient to include in each taco, like more shredded iceberg and diced tomato. This was options without options. The only opportunity for choosing what was for dinner was on our birthdays.

This feeling of options may be why I love bowls. Experiment and have fun!

photo by @nicotitto on Unsplash

Shopping list

Veggies

Green leafy veg, such as swiss chard, kale, arugula, spinach, collard greens, beet greens, radish greens
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Bok choy
Mushrooms

radish greens, swiss chard

Beans

Black beans
Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
Lentils — any color
Kidney beans

chickpeas

Whole Grains

Quinoa
Millet
Amaranth
Spelt
Teff
Kamut
Buckwheat groats
Wheat berries

cooked tri-colored quinoa

buckwheat groats, uncooked

Condiment(s)

Avocado
Fresh salsa / pico de gallo
Tomato sauce or passata
Bragg’s liquid aminos / nama shoyu / tamari
Tahini and lemon juice
Nutritional yeast (AKA nooch)
Balsamic vinegar
Sauerkraut
No sugar-added, minimal ingredient sauces
Fresh herbs, such as cilantro, parsley, dill, thyme, basil
Spices — experiment with any spices you enjoy or have on-hand

lime, lemon, avocado

Notes

Grains

• Brown, red, black and purple rice are ok. I feel best when I eat quinoa, and others of the grains I included above. They all fall on the list of ‘least processed grains.’ I talked about this previously in my groats 101 post. Quinoa has 3 to 4 times more nutrients than brown rice. White rice is the most heavily processed and I typically avoid it. Another check in the quinoa column? It cooks in half the time because it’s a smaller grain.

• If you haven’t tried the other grains, keep your eye out for these at stores and on menus, and give them a try sometime. You may find you like them.

Beans

• I buy dried beans whenever possible and cook them in my Instant Pot. I like canned beans, but cooked dried beans are firmer, depending on how long you cook them, and I prefer that. If you love canned beans, go for it — just check the sodium content. If the choice is canned beans or no beans, use the canned beans. I rinse canned beans before using. If canned beans are just OK, try dried beans and see if you prefer them.

• Beans darker in color may contain higher levels of antioxidants.

Condiments

• I’m recommending you add a condiment or sauce so that’s technically 4 ingredients, but you could make this meal with just the vegetable, bean and grain. Or even simpler with just the vegetable and a bean or a grain. Including each of veg, bean, and grain provides a great mix of nutrients. I’ll include nutrition information in part II of the post.

• Nama shoyu is raw, unpasteurized, and fermented. Raw and fermented foods contain living enzymes, and organisms beneficial to gut health. Read more about the benefits of fermented foods here. If you are drawn to salty, umami-like flavors, give nama shoyu a try! If you are on a no salt diet for health issues, choose a different condiment.

• Cooked sauerkraut has little to none of the benefits of raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut. Raw sauerkraut is located in the cold section of the grocery store.
  

tri-colored quinoa, uncooked

Stock up on your veg, bean, and grain this week and I’ll be back next week with recipes and cooking tips! Leave a comment below if you have a favorite bean, grain, veg, or sauce.

Additional resources
Benefits of ancient grains

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Plant Powered Journal

This week, I took Amtrak down to Maryland for my Dad’s 80th birthday. He had a vegan fruit cake (bread?) waiting for me, which he’d picked up from his favorite Italian market in Easton, MD. A gourmet vegan dessert in a stunning gift box in Easton, MD is a big deal. This is a small to medium-sized town on the Eastern Shore of MD. This is one of many indications to me that the plant-based (r)evolution is happening. I’m thrilled.

It’s the spongiest bread dessert I’ve ever had. We all loved it.

The dolce lievitato gift box

Vegan dolce lievitato

We broke in my parent’s new Instant Pot with black beans and rice.

Black beans and rice with spinach, fresh salsa, parsley. The parsley my parents planted on their balcony this spring is still going strong.

Other big news this trip? I made my parents their first green smoothie in their new Vitamix. We forgot to capture the moment with a photo! Smoothie ingredients: spinach, frozen tropical fruit mix, almond milk (no sugar added).

Thanks for reading!

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