Quick weeknight gluten-free dinner: Build-a-bowl

Rice bowls are an awesome food trend.

Actually, maybe not such a trend as one we have borrowed from other food cultures.  

Have you been to one of the healthy fast-food places and fallen in love with their bowls but felt intimidated about making them at home?  Let's fix that right now.

Here is a primer for it.  First, you need to know the basics.

Let's face it.  We all know how to put some rice, broccoli and chicken in a bowl.  Making it taste good is the hard part.  So let's start with sauce.

READY-MADE SAUCES

Now, I'll grant you that the sauce is probably the MOST important of them all.  I won't try to guilt you into making your own. You can BUY these sauces.  Sure, I'll tell you how to make your own because it saves money and is usually more nutritious.  But who doesn't love having an instant meal in the cupboard?  

• I see that a local favorite sells their sauces https://www.cafeyumm.com/dressings.  
• Annie's Naturals has good ones too.  https://www.annies.com/products/dressings/.  I especially 

  

  
  

  like their Goddess Dressing, and have made my tahini sauce to try and copy it.
• Baxter's Origionals are awesome.  Great ingredients and gluten-free.  They use great ingredients, so check them out.  Teriyaki, chili-lime (good on everything, it seems) and for those of you braver than me, the hot stuff.

  If you have a local rice bowl place, ask if you can buy your favorite dressing from them!

HOMEMADE SAUCES

1. Mexican style: Combine your favorite salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro, and/or avocado.  I always make this the day after I make a big pot of pintos for buttitos.

2. Tahini sauce.  Click on this link to find my recipe.  This is such a versatile dressing, especially with fresh herbs around.  I love tahini over eggs and spinach.

3. Hollyhock Dressing. This shelf-stable, tangy dressing I discovered when on retreat at Cloud Mountain retreat center.  I put it over everything and now make it at home.   

4. Pesto:  This is especially good with leftover salmon, broccoli and rice.  This is my recipe.

5. Thai peanut curry: Make an easy red curry peanut sauce.  You can follow the instructions on the

I use this brand

back of the curry paste tub.  It's just a few cans of coconut milk added to a tablespoon of the red curry paste, a teaspoon of sugar, some fish sauce, soy sauce and add the juice of two limes and 1/3 cup peanut butter at the end of cooking.  I'm thinking some marinated and fried tofu, red peppers, green beans and crunchy bean sprouts.  

CARB:  Your carbohydrate can come from many sources.  Rice (white or brown), quinoa (high in protein), roasted potatoes or yams or even noodles.

PROTEIN: Leftover fish, chicken, beef, beans, tofu or a fried/poached egg.  Grill some shrimp.  Use leftovers.  Or if you are new to cooking, this is something to do with a rotisserie chicken.  Or crack open a can of black beans and combine it with a fried egg.

For me, this is often leftover from dinner the day before.  Plan ahead and cook extra broccoli, cauli, chard, Brussels sprouts the night before.  Of course, you can always toss in some fresh lettuce, microgreens or spinach.  If you buy the bagged salad greens, it makes it even more convenient.

A great tip for a Mexican-style bowl is to make a quick slaw from grated cabbage (green and purple) and carrots and dress it with fresh lime juice/olive oil/salt.  It really gives your bowl some great tang and crunch.

Sprouts are a great thing to always have coming along in a jar next to the sink.  Sprouted broccoli or radish can go on anything.  Sprouted mung beans are super crunchy and are awesome with a thai peanut curry sauce.  Any of them are super high in vitamins and you can grow them yourself easily using this method.

And that, my friends.... is a Build-a Bowl!  Get cracking and post some photos and new dressing recipes on my facebook page @karenkennedynutrition.