Kitchen Adventures || Cold Weather Power Bowl

T-Minus 6 days to Christmas! If your month has been anything like mine, you’ve been going a million miles a minute, hitting all kinds of holiday parties and gatherings, trying to squeeze in Christmas shopping, keep up with work, and generally not lose your mind a little bit. This is a wildly busy time of year for most and between not having a lot of time to cook and having lots of holiday parties to binge at, it’s also a difficult time of year to eat well.

I found myself this past weekend CRAVING veggies and healthy food like none other. After our 10 year party (thanks to everyone who made it out!) we had lots of food left over. If you had any of that brisket you know we couldn’t let it go to waste. I made brisket chili (which I should share that recipe soon because it was BOMB). I made brisket breakfast hash. I used the chicken and pinto beans to make stuffed bell peppers. I even had a breakfast taco party for the coaches! As much as I love BBQ, I was definitely ready for something lighter and…. greener… by the end of the week.

I also wanted something that was still full of flavor and warm and cozy for this winter weather. Thus was born the cold weather power bowl. You’ll find that this is similar to some of the buddha bowl style recipes I posted back in the summer, but this one is made to be a cozy bowl of healthy, delicious, and filling goodies. It’s super easy to put together and tastes great. As always, customize as you like, but below is

my version.

Eat well while you can because we’re in for another full dessert table in less than a week! 😉

P.S…. stay tuned for a post addressing how to not totally lose control over the holiday 🙂

 

Ingredients

VEGETABLES

2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium red onion (sliced in wedges)
3 large sweet potatoes – (Roughly sliced on the diagonal)
2 bundles broccolini (large stems removed – chopped)
3-4 big handfuls kale (larger stems removed)
1/4 tsp each salt + pepper

CHICKPEAS

2 15-ounce chickpeas (drain, rinse, and pat dry)
1.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp each salt + pepper
1 tsp oregano (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric (optional

CHICKEN

2 Lbs chicken breast (or meat of your choice!) This would also be great with steak, pork tenderloin, or Italian sausage…OR you could even go without and make it a vegetarian meals for the week.

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle both with a bit of oil, making sure the flesh of the sweet potatoes are well coated and placed skin side down on the sheet.

You can do your chicken at the same time as the vegetables. Rinse and pat the chicken breasts dry. Coat evenly with olive oil and place on another baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Season with salt, pepper, garlic power, and paprika (or any seasoning you like)! The chicken will bake for appx. 18-20 minutes or until no longer pink. You should see a nice golden color coming up on the top.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven flip sweet potatoes and add broccolini. Drizzle broccolini with a bit of oil and season with a pinch each salt and pepper.

Bake for another 8-10 minutes, then remove from oven and add kale. Drizzle kale with a touch more oil and season with a pinch each salt and pepper. Bake for another 4-5 minutes then set aside.

While vegetables are roasting, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add chickpeas to a mixing bowl and toss with seasonings.

Once hot, add 1 Tbsp oil and seasoned chickpeas and sauté, stirring frequently. If they’re browning too quickly, turn down heat. If there isn’t much browning going on, increase heat. For me, about 10 minutes total at just over medium heat worked well.

When chicken is finished baking, remove it and let cool for a few minutes before slicing into bitesize chunks,

Once the chickpeas are browned and fragrant, remove from heat and set aside.

To serve: Divide your veggies, chicken, and chickpeas evenly among 4 large bowls. I chose to add a little bit of a grain mix that I had leftover from another recipe to each bowl as well (quinoa, brown rice, bulgar, and farro)
That’s it guys! Eat it right away or pack it up for lunches later where you can heat and enjoy.
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