Power Up!

Brown rice, Quinoa, Black beans and Chickpeas

Well, I'm sure you've heard of power bowls, but what are they really? They are usually a mixture of greens, veggies, grains, beans, and a lean protein. I started eating power bowls when I started my weight loss journey, mainly because I wanted to eat right and reduce my red meat intake.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my InstaPot that hubby got me last year. I use that thing almost every week! I cook my brown rice, wild rice, black beans, red beans, lima beans, lentils and chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in there. I do different things each week, but usually have 3-4 items I can mix or match for lunches and dinners. Tonight I'm have all veggies for dinner, so I skipped out on the veggies on this bowl for lunch.

I'll give a review of my InstaPot soon. It will save you a TON of time and energy. The only thing I don't cook in it is Quinoa. I use the Success brand, you put your bag of quinoa in a pot of water, boil it for 10 minutes and done! Light and fluffy. I really like it that way. It's WAYYY easier, those little bits of quinoa really seem to get everywhere. So quinoa is cooked on top of the stove, per instructions.

I've decided that I like my chickpeas to be soaked overnight. They absorb a lot of water and are almost creamier when you cook them the next day.

The rest of my beans, if I soak and then cook them, they almost ALWAYS split their skins. I don't use salt in my cooking, so maybe it has something to do with that? I'm not sure. So I rinse them and add water and set my InstaPot for 40 min. Done! Boom!

Today for lunch all I had to do was take out whichever bowls of yummies I wanted to put in my bowl. I added some onion and warmed it in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes. Finally, I added a scoop of hummus to the top and stirred it. Delicious!

Tomorrow I will serve it over a field of baby spinach and some low sodium dressing.

Have you tied a Power bowl yet? What do you put in it?

I had to add a little onion!

All stirred up with a scoop of hummus!