I haven’t written in a long time. I keep wanting to, but I have a strange inertia when it comes to writing/blogging. It is almost a feeling of anxiety. I feel I am not a good writer and I wouldn’t have interesting things to say. A lot of food bloggers have continually encouraged me to write and I am giving it another try. Hopefully, if I do it for a while it might not seem so daunting and come to me easier. I am hoping I can write one new blog post every week. But we will see how that goes

Recently I have been cooking up a storm with the kids at home and always wanting food. It’s been hard juggling work, cooking, classes and fun activities with the kids. We have been trying to eat healthier as a family. Cutting out processed food and reducing grains in our diet. To make sure we don’t cheat I have to constantly keep the food interesting and flavorful. I have been making a lot of grain bowls with different themes. My most recent one was the morocco inspired bowl with harissa chicken, chickpeas, mushrooms, cauliflower rice, tzatziki, lemony cucumbers, sunflower seeds. The kids gobbled it up and asked me to make it again. That was a big win. I have realized if I add enough texture color and different flavors any bowl can taste good.

My Bowl fundamentals:

1. Start with the base

(bulk of the bowl- grains, cauliflower rice, quinoa, zoodles, greens)

2. Pick a theme

(moroccon, korean, thai, Greek, Indian and the list goes on)

3. Your protein should be usually as per the theme

(harissa for moroccan, some thai curry paste for thai, some spice for Indian etc.)

4. Supporting vegetables

(bulk it up with complimentary vegetables and sides, cucumbers for the moroccan bowl, kimchi and mushrooms for korean, sprouts for thai ….)

5. Add texture

(nuts, seeds, crispy munchies add texture, nutrition, flavor and healthy fats)

6. Round it up with a sauce if needed or a garnish

(if you think it needs more flavor or heat you can add a drizzle of hot sauce or some oil or vinegar or a dressing)

This is just the way I think of a bowl, but I am sure there are many ways of doing it but it’s nice to have a process. Here are some of the bowls I made recently. Let me know if you make any interesting bowls.