The Bowl

It all started with the Chipotle burrito bowl. When I ate meat, I'd get it with chicken. Now, I get it with grilled veggies. I always top it with guacamole rather than cheese, and add black beans and pico de gallo. With the bowl's base of brown cilantro lime rice, it makes for one delicious dinner.

After reading a bunch of vegan cooking blogs and cookbooks, I discovered that the bowl is a versatile and balanced meal, combining whole grains, protein and veggies. Although I'm not vegan, I often eat vegan when I make a bowl. I've just discovered smoked tofu which is a delicious protein to add to a bowl. But today, I'm skipping the vegan part and embracing dairy in my bowl.

Building the bowl

My lunch bowl today consists of quinoa, kale, peas and cottage cheese. I had a similar bowl yesterday, but added a quarter of an avocado on top. It was delicious, but sadly that was the last of my avocados and I haven't had time to go to the store.

This recipe is my basic bowl, but bear in mind that you can use any grain, such as rice, millet or bulgur, any veggie you have on hand, and any protein, whether it's meat, vegetarian or vegan. I chose kale and peas because they are quick-cooking and I don't want to spend too much time making lunch. Usually I use beans or tofu, but today I used cottage cheese because I had some in my fridge and I love it.

The finished bowl

Quinoa, Kale, Peas and Cottage Cheese Bowl

1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups kale, shredded
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cottage cheese

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Meanwhile, steam peas and kale either in a steamer or in the microwave.

Once quinoa is done, top with veggies and dollop your cottage cheese on top. Mix well and enjoy!

Quinoa for Breakfast

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. Well, apart from lunch and dinner. And snacks. Perhaps it's easier to just say I love all meals, but I'm a firm believer in breakfast.

Usually I make oatmeal on the stove top, using almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla or whatever else I find that looks good. I've used canned pumpkin, cocoa, peppermint extract and even Baileys in my oatmeal. Since I eat it almost every day I need to mix it up sometimes to stop it being boring.

The thought of using a grain other than oats for my breakfast has crossed my mind more than once. There are plenty of grains out there you can sub for oats, like millet, amaranth or quinoa. Since I recently went on a quinoa shopping spree (it was on sale!) I decided to experiment with breakfast quinoa to see if it was something worthy of making again. It was.

It looks a little weird because I used tricolor quinoa, but let me tell you, it was delicious and filling -- exactly what I'm looking for in a breakfast food. You could mix it with anything; I used chia seeds, ground flax, bananas, coconut and raisins. Because the chia and flax absorb liquid I added about another 1/4 cup of milk to the quinoa to stop it drying out. I'm trying to eat less sugar so I didn't use sweetener but it would be delicious with a touch of honey or maple syrup. Once you have the basic recipe down, you can mix and match with whatever toppings you want -- that's the beauty of the breakfast grain!

Breakfast Quinoa


1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients well in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. Add toppings and more milk if you like, and enjoy!

Quick and Easy Enchilada Casserole

So I saw this post on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen for microwave enchilada casserole. It sounded like the perfect thing for me to bring to work for lunch some day, but the problem was that I had leftovers coming out of my ears (not literally) and so I had no time to eat a microwave enchilada casserole for lunch! What a dilemma to have. So all last week, I had a craving for something similar. I even went out and bought a nice-looking jar of salsa with which to make said casserole, but before I knew it, Saturday was here and I was casserole-free.

Luckily for my craving, we had a super busy Saturday redecorating our living room and spending too much  money at Ikea, so I needed a quick and easy recipe to make for our dinner. Enter my oven version of the microwave enchilada casserole.

Fresh from the oven

It literally took less than five minutes to put this casserole together, so that left plenty of time to unpack our new furniture and get our new living room in shape while it was cooking. That's my kind of quick weekend meal!

Served with roasted kale

Enchilada Casserole

8 corn tortillas

1 jar salsa

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed and diced

1/2 an onion, diced

10 olives, sliced

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Spread a thin layer of salsa over the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish. Top with four of the tortillas, cutting them if necessary to almost completely cover the salsa layer. Sprinkle half the corn and beans on top of the tortillas, along with the diced onions and jalapeno. Spread another layer of salsa over the bean mixture, then arrange the remaining beans and corn on top. Finish with the rest of the salsa, then top with shredded cheese and sliced olives. 

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes to allow the cheese to crisp up slightly. 

Slice into 6 pieces and enjoy with guacamole, sour cream or any other sides you have on hand (I roasted some kale because I love kale with everything!)