Grain Bowls!

I used to love cooking. As a teen, part of my responsibilities while working at a retirement home, was to cook food for all the residents. I loved making the dishes beautiful, tasty and satisfying! I loved seeing the residents revel in the delicious meals and sit back satisfied after their meal experience.

That love for cooking came with me when I got married and as I had children. However, after suffering with Lyme for so long and trying every type of diet under the sun to try and heal my body and help me feel whole again, coupled with having 4 picky children, being on a tight budget, trying to cook healthy for my family and then making a second meal for myself (outside of what I made for my family) that was free of dairy, gluten, corn, soy or sugar - and doing this for YEARS ...

I may have developed a bit of PTSD from all of that and my love for cooking completely left me. That desire and passion for cooking hadn't returned even years after overcoming my health issues and having mealtime be less stressful. As I make meals I still try to keep in mind what my kids will and won't eat and if it's packed in nutrients but the love for cooking hasn't been a part of the meal prep for years!

Until now...

After coming across a random book search, I came across something called "grain bowls". So I printed off some recipes (which I'll share down below - they're wonderful!), and purchased a few books, two of which are my favorite so far - my passion and love for cooking, nutritionally rich food, textures, colors, and, most importantly, flavors! - has returned!

I LOVE the Word of Wisdom or, what I call, the "Bible Diet". (I have a video I'll share with everyone about that soon.) And these grain bowls work very well for those wanting to follow those guidelines.

The "foundation" of these meals are grains (and sometimes beans) - whatever grains you'd like! I like to use brown rice, quinoa or millet. I like to use 2-3 different grains, separated as the foundation and then pile other great food on top!

There are NO rules for how this needs to be done. The options are endless! AND it works SO well for pulling together leftovers! Have some red peppers? Bake them in the oven, sprinkle on a bit of salt and add it to the bowl! Have some brussel sprouts that need to be used? Coat them in maple syrup and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and add that to the dish!

I always like to add a bit of fermented food as part of the grain bowl. Did you know that Costco now sells RAW sauerkraut? (We need to get back into making our own but it's so nice to be able to buy some if you haven't made some recently).

I hope you've liked this post! And I hope you consider giving grain bowls a try!

~Claudia

Here are the recipes I have LOVED pulling ideas from:

http://kristineskitchenblog.com/quinoa-and-roasted-broccoli-lunch-bowls/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/greek-goddess-grain-bowl-with-fried-zucchini-toasted-seeds-and-fried-halloumi/

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2016/01/grain-bowls-with-maple-chipotle-brussels-and-coconut-roasted-sweet-potatoes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+howsweeteats/smSp+(How+Sweet+It+Is)

https://kristineskitchenblog.com/quinoa-and-roasted-broccoli-lunch-bowls/

http://jessicainthekitchen.com/nourish-buddha-bowl/

http://www.healthy-delicious.com/spring-vegetable-grain-bowls-pistachio-pesto/

http://honestlyyum.com/12346/vegan-quinoa-bowl/

http://themuffinmyth.com/2014/02/meze-bowl/

http://tohercore.com/bondi-breakfast-bowl/