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!
Rainbow Vegetable Bowl
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
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.
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.
Steam or boil the cauliflower and broccoli until just tender, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water, drain, and set aside.
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 been 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.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
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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.