SWEET POTATO BUDDHA BOWL WITH MAPLE TAHINI DRESSING

Now this week I'm fortunate enough to be going on a Vegan Cooking Retreat with my lovely friend and neighbour Jan, to the wilds of Wales for 4 days of fresh air, meditation, yoga and loads of delicious plant based vegan food, run by my Twitter buddy Lee Watson, of Peace & Parsnips fame and the awesome BeachHouseKitchen blog!  Its just what I need to recuperate from my few weeks of less than perfect health! I hope to return rejuvenated and with loads of inspiration and new ideas for the blog.

So in the meantime I'm sharing this rather trendy Buddha Bowl recipe, full of plant based goodness. I like to think of myself as keeping up to date with recent food trends and this one which is popular among foodies, is one of my favourites! 

A Buddha bowl isn't really anything to do with spirituality, its simply a bowl so full of delicious plant based food, it resembles the rounded belly of a Buddha, apparently!
There are so many combinations to this but the idea is you start off with some greens or a grain ( brown rice, quinoa, couscous), add some delicious oven roasted veggies, in this case sweet potato, red onions and broccoli, add some flavour and texture with some spiced, roasted chickpeas and top it all off with a super delicious creamy dressing and you have a meal fit for a Buddha!!
This is such a great idea for a last minute meal and literally takes 30 minutes to prepare and cook.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of times people will ask if eating veggies isn't really boring!
Hell no, unless you are eating plain veggies, which to be honest I rarely do. There is a whole world of nutrition and flavour to be explored with delicious dressings, using tahini, maple syrup, lemon, garlic, turmeric, spices, herbs, good quality oils, balsamic vinegar, tamari and all sorts of other fantastic ingredients.
Another weird thing is that lots of people only use dressings on salads, wheras I use them on steamed veggies, grains and oven roast veggies. Its such an easy way to add goodness and flavour to your meal and support pretty much every body system at the same time.

Anyway so back to this delicious meal in a bowl, its also pretty versatile and you can serve it with a portion of cooked grains or on a big bed of steamed greens or salad greens to add even more plant based goodness. Sliced avocado and pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds add another layer of creaminess, good fats, minerals and antioxidants.
A sprinkling of seaweed flakes would up the benefits further, adding more minerals, vitamins and antioxidants! So before you know it you have eaten 4 different types of veggies, a wholegrain, loads of good fats, fibre, protein, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and supported every system in your body, not to mention giving your gut bacteria a good feed with all the fibre. Now that's a meal worth having.....!
Have a good week everyone and I shall return with many fine recipes to share!
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SWEET POTATO BUDDHA BOWL WITH MAPLE TAHINI DRESSING

Ingredients
1 sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces
1 red onion, cut into quarters
1 cup of brocolli florets
a handful of salad greens, spinach or steamed kale
1 tablespoon coconut or rapeseed oil

I tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon coconut or rapeseed oil

1/4 cup tahini
1 tablespoon maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon ( about 2 tablespoons)
2 to 4 tablespoons hot water to desired consistency

Method
1. Scrub and chop sweet potato into bite sized pieces or half moon shapes
2. Peel and quarter the red onion
3. Place sweet potato and red onion on a baking tray and drizzle with some rapeseed oil and a light sprinkling of sea salt
4. Bake in a hot oven at 200C for around 15 minutes.
5. Add the brocolli florets and a wee drizzle of rapeseed oil to the tray and turn the other ingredients, bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the veggies are cooked
6. Mix all the spices together and coat the chickpeas with the mixture. Heat a tablespoon of coconut or rapeseed oil in a pan and cook the chickpeas for 10 minutes on medium heat, turning frequently to prevent burning.
7. Add the tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup and hot water to a small bowl or a glass jar and whisk together with a fork or put the lid on the jar and give it a good shake. Add more water if required to get a pouring consistency.
8. Arrange the oven roast veggies over a portion of grains or greens, drizzle over some dressing and garnish with the spiced chickpeas!

......your health in your hands.....