Quinoa bowls plus my Chipotle order
This week Frank was out of town for three nights but four MORNINGS and three nights. As anyone with a spouse who travels some knows, a morning and a bedtime with the spouse gone each add a new layer of work. So I look at work trips by whether he leaves AFTER the morning routine or gets home BEFORE the nighttime routine… those who know this… know. Anyway, my lunches were the usual array of salads and leftovers and quick grabs. And dinners were pretty basic, since I don’t cook it up as much if he’s traveling. Lots of Annie’s Mac and Cheese and always a Chik fil a night in the mix…. again I’m sure a lot of you can relate.
But as I saw my bag of tri-colored quinoa in the (super messy) pantry, I knew I wanted to share this hero ingredient this week. Quinoa is another of those super grains, in the same spirit as farro, and remarkably easy to throw in here and there. In terms of nutritional benefits to note, quinoa is an excellent source of protein, zinc, fiber, magnesium, folate AND antioxidants. And if you’ve ever heard in the health community of taking quercetin (for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits) quinoa is a natural source of it. Who knew! This means it helps your cells protect themselves from unstable free radicals (= disease causing.) We love that!
Switching gears to “grab and go,” I figured it was time to bring some true “take out” food into the mix, so I’m showing you what I get at Chipotle. That’s one of the only fast foods I’ll eat (other than picking at the kids CFA nuggets) and I think it’s definitely a lesser evil of the options out there.
Prep Ahead: Quinoa Bowls
Here’s one of my quick bowl ideas. But you can honestly throw quinoa into pretty much ANY salad and it works.
Ingredients:
Cooked Quinoa (I like organic tri-color, Trader Joe’s has some good cheap options.)
Greens (arugula or spinach are my favorite, handful chopped or loose leaf)
Tomatoes, chopped
Cucumber, chopped
Feta, crumbled to taste
Olives, chopped
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup olive oil * 3 Tbsps balsamic, apple cider vinegar OR red wine vinegar * 1 Tsp dijon mustard.
1 Tbsp dried oregano or dried italian herbs
Assembly:
This dish is super subjective on amounts but you want enough of the veggies and seasoning to kick up some flavor. Despite its slight nutty taste, quinoa alone can be quite bland. Throw 1.5 (maybe 2) cups of quinoa in a bowl, stir in handfuls of diced veggies, greens, crumbed feta and olives (if you like them) to taste. Sometimes I just throw the dressing and seasonings together directly in my bowl, but you can also make it ahead of time. Plus it’s nice to have extra vinaigrette on hand for salads. If you make it according to the above amounts, you’ll have more than you need for a single quinoa bowl. The quicker dressing option is to just throw 1.5 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 Tsp vinegar, couple shakes of seasonings and salt and pepper directly into your bowl. Mix everything up and enjoy! If you’re going to have more than one meal’s worth definitely store the ingredients and the dressing separately and assemble before eating. So many good plant points and nutritional jazz in this meal!
Grab and Go: Chipotle
I probably go there two times per year so this is not a weekly thing BUT I did get it this week so here we are! I used to be a big fan (I love their guac) plus think the meats are seasoned so well. I do wish of course that they had some organic ingredients but….alas. Someone on TikTok commented that I should try Fresh Kitchen (which I haven’t heard of and we definitely don’t have around this part of NC, sadly… will watch for them though!) But here’s my salad bowl order and how I sometimes spin it just a bit at home:
Ingredients:
Lettuce Bowl (but I leave out the greens if I’m going right home and add them myself).
Shredded beef or pork (I suppose the chicken may be the healthiest meat choice but sometimes I’m weird about chicken!?)
Black Beans and Light Rice
Lots of guacamole
Little cheese (I just love cheese)
Heavy on the salsa
Assembly:
If I’m going home I add a couple bunches of torn up spinach or arugula from home that I know is organic and mix it all up. I find store bought non-organic greens to seem like the riskiest way to get food poisoning, never mind the synthetic pesticides issue. I get weird about salads from places where I question how well it’s washed (Chipotle, Cava, etc.) Sooooo…. that’s my little tip. Cava is actually another fast food I will occasionally eat out, too. Although funny story (or not) I think I got sick from Cava takeout once… so that kind of ruined it for me a bit. Hope that doesn’t ruin your Cava opinion though!
Not sure ending a blog post on a food poisoning story is an uplifting finale…. but I’m just keeping it real!?