This rainbow vegetable bowl is sorta a blueprint that you can make with whatever combination of veggie and fruit and whole grain and nuts and seeds you want. Healthy never tasted so darn good!
This rainbow vegetable bowl is all about making healthy taste like exactly what you want. Think of it sorta like a choose-your-own veggie and fruit adventure. (You know, just like those choose-your-own-adventure books?) No kale if you don’t like it. Extra mango if you want. Because maintaining a healthy lifestyle is as much about being satisfied with your choices as it is about cramming something good for you down your throat. And because we’re so serious about indulging your whims, we’re not even including a dressing recipe. We’d rather you drizzle the salad with your favorite vinaigrette or simply dribble it with some lovely extra-virgin olive oil and a splash of vinegar or whatever you prefer, just because. Originally published June 28, 2017.–Angie Zoobkoff
Rainbow Vegetable Bowl
Ingredients
- Bunch of colorful raw vegetables (such as rainbow or regular carrots, radishes, chioggia beets, and different colors heirloom tomatoes), cut into 1-inch (25-mm) pieces or sliced
- Olive oil
- 1 cup raw hulled buckwheat or other whole grains such as brown rice or a blend of whole grains
- Handful of cauliflower and broccoli florets (10 oz)
- Bunch of baby or regular spinach (2 oz)
- 1 mango (5 oz), halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
- 3 handfuls shredded purple cabbage (3 oz)
- 2 handfuls of nuts and seeds (3 1/2 oz), such as almonds, pumpkin seeds, or whatever
- Sprouts of some sort (3 1/2 oz)
- Handful of strawberries or other berries (5 oz)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Your favorite vinaigrette
Directions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2. Toss any vegetables suitable for roasting, such as carrots, radishes, and tomatoes with just enough olive oil to coat and scatter them on the baking sheet. Season lightly with salt. Roast until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Thinly slice anything that you choose to leave raw, such as chioggia beets and the purple cabbage.
- 3. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, warm a drizzle of olive oil and cook the buckwheat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add enough water to cover by about an inch and add a pinch of salt, then bring to a boil. Let the buckwheat simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and spread it out on a clean dishtowel to dry for 10 minutes.
- 4. Steam or boil the cauliflower and broccoli until just tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water, drain, and set aside.
- 5. Divide the buckwheat among 4 serving bowls and top with the rest of the ingredients, either in groups by color or mixed together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with your favorite vinaigrette or dressing and serve immediately.
Recipe Testers Reviews
This rainbow vegetable bowl is the prettiest salad I have ever made! Since we all eat with our eyes first, my 7- and 8-year-olds were very excited to eat it as well. I whipped up a honey vinaigrette at the last minute. I also make a mango vinaigrette that I think would be very tasty on top of this grain bowl. I used shredded carrots and baby spinach rather than regular spinach as well as honey mango (the best type of mango, in my opinion) and purple cauliflower to add more brightness and color along with sliced almonds and sunflower seeds. The strawberries and mango really made this rainbow bowl more colorful and tastier. I bought pre-shredded purple cabbage to save time. Radish sprouts were a zippy addition.
Something like this rainbow vegetable bowl is a perfect summer weeknight meal since it's easy to put together and easy to keep the components handy in separate containers to make for easy setup and break down. We've all be running on conflicting schedules lately and being able to let everyone put together his or her own bowl of goodness (and clean up quickly afterwards for the next person) has been a godsend. The fact that everything in here is so gosh darn good for you is just icing on the cake. It's also easily customizable—there's nothing in here that can't easily be swapped out for other, similar ingredients that may give the bowl a different flavor or feel.
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Amy Wilschut
Healthy is as healthy does—my body felt brighter and lighter after eating this easy-to-prepare rainbow vegetable bowl fully loaded with good stuff. I love a meal that allows each person to customize to their personal tastes—adding every element to make a beautiful display or eating only a select few elements separately on the plate (as my younger housemates prefer to do!). The recipe is easy to follow and simple to prepare with endless combinations. The buckwheat was tasty and fun for my rice-loving 10-year-old to expand his horizons although any grain could be used in this recipe with similar results. I have noticed a few restaurants in the Minneapolis area offering similar bowl-style meals—such as smoothie bowls and protein bowls—and I plan to replicate this style of meal often at home this summer. A perfect meal option for hot summer days! I used colorful raw veggies—1 cup each of rainbow carrots and radishes, both sliced into 1-inch pieces. I also used purple cabbage, baby spinach, mango, sunflower seeds and almonds, and strawberries.