Lunch can get super boring.  For years I would have a large salad with either tuna or chicken on top and the same veggies and balsamic dressing- BORING!

In order to control what goes onto your plate you have to get in the kitchen a bit, I am not saying you have to spend an entire Sunday meal prepping. I am saying however, you have to do a bit of planning a head in order eat a healthy balanced diet. Now that I am more creative in with meal preparation I am able to throw together delicious lunches in less than 20 minutes. Heres one of my favourite lunch ideas: The Veggie Bowl

1) Start with a grain or root veggie. At the beginning of the week I would roast sweet potatoes or other root vegetables (squash, turnip etc.) and cook a batch of grains (quinoa, brown rice, millet, rice noodles etc.) and set aside to use for meals for the rest of the week.

2) Vegetables should make up the majority of your bowl. You can include sautéed or steamed greens, shredded cabbage, carrots. You can mix raw and cooked veggies (I like to top my bowls with fresh sprouts like alfalfa, pea shoots etc).

3) Include protein. This could be cooked beans, lentils, chickpeas, or tempeh.

4) Include a dressing. It is best to make 2-3 dressings at the beginning of the week so that you aren’t scrambling to whip up a dressing in a hurry. (See recipes below.)

Here are two of my favourite veggie bowl recipes:

*Note: The great thing about veggie bowls is that you don’t have to have these specific ingredients, you can throw in whatever you have available to you.

SWEET POTATO CHICKPEA BOWL

• ½ cup baked sweet potato
• ½ cup cooked chickpeas
• 1 cup steamed kale
• shredded carrots (or any other raw veg you want to add)
• with creamy hemp dressing (see recipes below)

CAULIFLOWER TAHINI BOWL

• ½ cup cooked millet
• ¼ cup cooked green lentils
• ½ cup baked cauliflower (see recipes)
• 1 cup sautéed spinach with shallots
• topped with sprouts
• with lemon tahini dressing (see below recipes)

DRESSINGS

*Note I recommended doubling or tripling dressing recipes and keep them in the fridge to use throughout the week

Lemon Tahini Dressing  

• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ cup tahini
• ½ cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. water
• ¼ tsp. sea salt

In a large food processor, pulse garlic until it is minced. Add the tahini, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, oil, water and salt. Process until smooth (if too thick you can add more water)

Creamy Hemp Dressing

• 1 glove garlic
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and pepper

In a small food processor, process garlic clove until minced. Add the remaining ingredients and process until creamy.