Spring Veggie Bowls with Lemon Tahini Dressing

I’ve eaten my fair share of sweets lately.

I just can’t help it — my sweet tooth is absolutely raging! I’m trying to satisfy it by eating lots of fruit but there’s still that nightly ice cream sandwich I just can’t kick. And for any Charleston friends out there — benne seed wafers? omg. My best friend who got married last weekend put tiny bags of them in all the guest’s hotel rooms at check-in. I hadn’t had a benne seed wafer in five years and went absolutely insane over them. Like…I was up at 1am ordering a pound to be delivered to our home in California. I’m not kidding. {for those of you that have no idea what I’m talking about, refer to this post…then, if you dare, order a pound for yourself here like I did. But don’t say I didn’t warn you first – these things are ADDICTING.}

But…I digress…the point of that little tangent was to tell you that to counter all the sweets I have been enjoying, I made some big ol’ veggie bowls for lunch.

I developed this recipe for the Barre3 blog {check it out if you haven’t yet!} and it was the perfect springtime meal. Light, but also satisfying and tasty. A good “detox” lunch after too many ice cream sandwiches, if you will.

I basically took all the veggies from my CSA box, roasted them up and combined them with brown rice and a tangy, delicious lemon tahini dressing. Simple and yummy.

I used beets, carrots and asparagus here but feel free to use whatever veggies you love! Don’t forget the beet greens though. I always just tossed these before realizing how absolutely delicious they are! They taste just like swiss chard and are great simply sauteed up like you would kale or any other leafy green. Packed with vitamins and minerals, too.

After I snapped these photos, I did add some cooked kidney beans on top for some extra protein. Chickpeas would be great, too. Or grilled chicken or shrimp. Really, this is hardly a recipe as it is a “suggestion” or a “method”. It’s a great way to enjoy your veggies though!

Spring Veggie Bowls with Lemon Tahini Dressing

serves 4

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice {or quinoa}

3 cups water {or, if using quinoa use 2 cups water instead}

6 carrots, peeled and sliced into 2″ pieces

6 small beets, sliced + greens

20 asparagus, sliced into 2″ pieces

2 cups kidney beans or chickpeas, optional

2 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, about 1 large lemon

1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup warm water

2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

Combine the brown rice and water in a medium pot. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 45 minutes, or until rice has absorbed all water. If using quinoa, simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes before fluffing with a fork.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Drizzle the olive oil over the carrots, beets and asparagus. Roughly chop the beet greens and set aside for the time being.

Place the beets and carrots on one sheet tray and the asparagus on the other tray. Place both trays in the oven. Roast the beets and carrots for 20 minutes and the asparagus for 15 minutes – until tender.

While the veggies are in the oven, whisk together the dressing. Combine the lemon juice, tahini, warm water and garlic in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. The dressing should be slightly runny.

Heat up a small splash of olive oil over medium high heat. When hot, add the beet greens with a tiny pinch of salt and saute until tender and wilted – about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble the bowls, place brown rice or quinoa on the bottom then top with veggies, beet greens and beans, if using. Drizzle with dressing. Enjoy!

Time:

~40 minutes