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