Well, 2024 is here, which means my office has ended max telework and I’m now reporting to the office in-person for three days a week.
I’m a little disappointed — I loved max telework. It just makes it much easier to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and it makes it a lot easier to eat healthy when I can cook all my meals at home on my lunch breaks.
But, I digress.
While I do have to give up working from the comfort of home full time, I’m not going to give up healthy lunches.
Enter: grain bowls!
I’ve always been a huge fan of grain bowls. They’re so effortless, healthy, tasty and portable. Plus, the combination options are practically endless. Now that I’m back in the office, I imagine I’ll spend weekends putting together portions to bring with me for lunch.
I recently made a vegetarian-slash-vegan bowl that combines chickpeas and quinoa with some crunchy vegetables and a splash of bright lemon juice for a healthy weekday meal.
I can’t remember where, exactly, I found the recipe, but I think I might have stumbled upon it online. I’m glad I did — this is one of my favorites as of late. This recipe makes between 4 and 6 servings.
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INGREDIENTS:
- 2 whole cucumbers
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 to 1/2 a red onion
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley leaves
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup dried chickpeas (can substitute canned)
- 1/2 cup dried quinoa (white or red)
- Salt (to taste)
- Freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
- Feta cheese (omit for vegan)
- Optional: Spinach
PROCESS:
Start by cooking your quinoa and chickpeas. In separate pots, cook both until soft. Be careful not to undercook your chickpeas or overcook your quinoa! Drain both and set aside to cool.
Tip: I like to pan dry both after draining to ensure my grains are as dry as possible. To pan dry, shake your drained grains back into their respective pots, place back on a burner at low heat, and shake/ gently stir with a spatula until all the water has evaporated from the pot.
Tip: If you’re making this well in advance, ever-so-slightly undercook the quinoa so it can absorb a bit of the lemon juice. This will help keep the grain bowl from going soggy.
While your grains cook, prep your vegetables. Partly peel your cucumbers (take long strips of skin off, but leave about 50% of the skin on — this helps the cucumber hold up for longer in this mixture) and dice. Peel and dice your red onion, slice your tomatoes in half and remove your parsley leaves from their stalks. Juice your lemon.
Combine your prepped vegetables (cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes and parsley) in a large bowl with your cooked and drained grains (chick peas and quinoa). Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix everything together and top with feta cheese before serving.
Serve cold. You can eat as-is, or layer this mixture over a bed of fresh spinach to create a salad.
If you make ahead and are adding feta, avoid putting the feta on too far in advance, or you run the risk of it getting soggy.
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Enjoy!
