Zesty Sweet Potato Grain Bowls

Even if your husband is a “meat eater” type of guy, you’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand for this one.

All the crunch and vitality of a salad, but with satiating warmth from healthy fats and protein .

You have to promise me something. You WON’T spend time measuring this recipe. I did that for years, but it turns out you can’t mess up this dump and go dish! So even if you’re the do-everything-like-the-book type. Remember, the book says, “just dump it in there.”

Recipe

Bowl Components
Sweet Potatoes (preparation noted below)
Almonds (preparation noted below)
Feta Cheese
Avocado, diced
Quinoa, cooked in chicken broth
Kale, chopped, lightly salted, “scrunched”
Peppers, roasted/sauteed in olive oil (optional, use raw peppers)
Dressing (recipe below)

Sweet Potatoes (chop, mix with spices/oil, move to sheet pan and bake @ 400 until soft)
5 small sweet potatoes
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 T. olive oil 
½ tsp pepper 

Dressing (mix in a mason jar)
½ C. olive oil
½ tsp salt
2 tsp lime zest
¼ tsp pepper
¼ C. lime juice
2 T. cilantro, chopped

Almonds (chop, combine with spices, allow to candy/toast in a pan for a few minutes)
1 C. almonds, chopped or slivered
1 T. honey
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp chili powder
1 tsp lime zest
1 T. olive oil

To Make

Mix chopped sweet potatoes with spices and olive oil, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 400 for 15-20 min or until soft. In the meantime, cook quinoa and sauté peppers. Wash, chop, and lightly salt kale “scrunching” until it becomes tender and fragrant. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a mason jar. Shake to combine. Prepare your candied almonds in a skillet on the stovetop. Be careful not to burn. Slice avocados. Set out feta cheese. Each person can make a grain bowl to their liking!

To Meal Prep

To store for 3-5 days in the fridge, just candy the nuts, grill the peppers, roast the sweet potatoes, cook the quinoa, cut the kale, and store in each of their separate containers. You can toss the ingredients for multiple lunches/dinners each week!

Three tips:
1. Store the kale (or any chopped green ever) with a paper towel or napkin in the container to absorb extra moisture. Greens will stay fresh for weeks this way!

2. Prep the dressing, but leave the cilantro out in it’s own container to add later (it will turn yellow in the lime juice + oil.)

3. You’ll have to chop the nuts because the candied almonds will probably be in a block when you take them out of the fridge . . . if you made them uber ooooy goooy which of course, we all should.

Pair With

This bowl stands on its own two feet as a complete, well-rounded meal, but can you ever go wrong with some homemade sourdough or sweet potato crackers? We think not.