Typically, meals are a bit complicated. But some days, you just want to chuck some food into a bowl and eat it. This is a “healthy” version of that basic idea.

One wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming, part of the holidays for many is consuming sweets and rich foods at basically every turn. This bowl serves to give a respite to that richness, offering a quick nutritious meal that is still filling and flavorful, before the next cookie or meal of wondrous holiday indulgence.

Cozy up under a blanket with one of these bowls and a loved one or friend and enjoy 🙂

Print Recipe

Impromptu Veggie Buddha Bowl

I threw this one together on the spot when wanting something both hearty and also nutritious, to off-set the less nutritious holiday items that I had been consuming.

Servings: 4 bowls

Ingredients

• 6 oz baby spinach
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 12oz bag frozen mixed veggies (I used a pack with peas, carrots, and corn)
• 1/2 – 1 cup salsa
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts
• 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 medium-large sweet potatoes
• other sauce to drizzle on top (optional)
• salt and pepper
• other spices (optional, I used paprika, cumin, and garlic powder)
• cooking oil or water (to deglaze the pan)

Instructions

Cooking the Ingredients

• First step is to decide what flavor profile you want your bowl to take. This decides what additional spices you will use and what sauce to put on top, if you use one. For a mexican-american flavor, I used cumin, paprika, and garlic and this turned out well. I then drizzled some chipotle Bitchin' sauce ontop.
• The next step will be to cut up the sweet potatoes. Dice these into ~1/2 inch wide pieces.
• Place the sweet potatoes on a greased baking sheet and season with salt, pepper, and your other spices. Bake at 425 F for ~30 minutes, until tender, flipping every ~10-15 minutes.
• Next, cook the chickpeas on the stove in a pan over medium-high heat with either oil or water, salt and pepper, and any other spices, for ~5 minutes, until lightly browned and some chickpeas begin to 'pop' out of their shells. Set aside.
• Chop the bell peppers.
• Cook the peppers in a pan on medium heat for ~7 minutes until they begin to soften, then add the frozen vegetables and cook for ~7 more minutes. Set aside.

Creating the Bowl

• Now it is time to prepare the bowl. First, create a bed of spinach on the bottom. Then place the sweet potatoes, then chickpeas, then veggies.
• Now, put salsa ontop, then hemp hearts, then any additional optional sauces. Ready to serve.
• Enjoy!