Jewel toned Antioxidant Quinoa Bowl

This dinner entrée is super delish, loaded with great-for-your-body ingredients, easy to make, and pretty to boot.  Will you look at those vibrant jewel tones?  Love it.

So, what makes this dish so dang good for you?

Its loaded with the following items…

Kale– one of THE best vegetables for your body, period.

Onions– Another top contender for mucho health benefits offered whenever eating this pungent vegetable.  Anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, helping to combat and lessen incidence of all manner of diseases.

Scallions-With many of the same benefits of onions.

Cranberries– loaded with antioxidants, helps lower risk of urinary tract infections, also anti-cancerous, they improve immune functioning, and decrease blood pressure.  (Side note: be careful though when choosing dried cranberries.  Often, these are LOADED with added sugar.  Best to try and get some with little to no added sugar).

Quinoa-gluten free, its not a grain but a seed.  Eaten for thousands of years in South America, only now is it garnering loads of hype here in the US.  Its loaded with 11 essential nutrients, is high in fiber, has a low glycemic index which is great for blood sugar control, and high in antioxidants.  You can read more about Quinoa here.

Pesto– it just tastes awesome 😀

Optional though surely delicious additional add-ons to this Quinoa bowl: baked salmon or chicken, shrimp, avocado, sliced bell pepper, broccoli, potentially black beans or kidney beans.

With all of that said, here is how to make this ultra healthy, super tasty entrée:

Ingredients needed

—2 cups of Quinoa, cooked according to instructions on package (this takes about 20 minutes).

—Kale, (maybe a couple handfuls) washed and ripped into smaller, bite size ish pieces.  I recommend leaving this raw, or nearly raw (if choosing the latter, meaning cook on low heat for maybe 2 minutes in a bit of oil in a frying pan.  That should be about it though. To get the most nutritional bang for your buck though?  Eat it raw).

—Red onion, roughly half of one, sliced up.  Really, depends on how much onion you like.  You can have these raw, or cook them in a frying pan for a few minutes if you like.

—Scallions, same deal.  Slice up as much or as little as you like.  Keep these raw, both for best and most crisp taste as well as highest incidence of nutritional benefits.

—Dried Cranberries– just a small sprinkling.  Maybe 1/4 a cup.

—Pesto- a few spoonful’s.  Again, really more depending on how much or little you like.  I heap it on, as I love it.  But just 2-3 small spoonful’s will be perfect.

-Then, any of the additional add on ingredients you liked and selected.

1. Spoon the quinoa (completely cooked and ready to go) into a bowl, about 1 cup.
2. Add in the kale, scallions, red onion, and cranberries.  Using a spoon, gently stir the quinoa bowl in order to evenly distribute (roughly) all the ingredients.
3. Top with pesto.  Mix again.  Add in any other ingredients you like.

Enjoy warm!

This dish serves about 2 people.

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2, maybe 3 days.