Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Vegetables and Lemon Tahini Dressing

AI Prompt

AI Prompt -> Give me a recipe for a quinoa bowl with roasted vegetables and lemon tahini dressing

                               Quinoa Bowl with Vegetables

Recipe

Ingredients

Quinoa Bowl

• 1 cup cooked quinoa

• 1 zucchini, chopped

• 1 bell pepper, chopped

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

Lemon Tahini Sauce

• 1 tbsp tahini

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 tbsp water (to thin dressing if needed)

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C)

2. Toss chopped zucchini, bell pepper, and carrot with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes until tender

3. Cook quinoa according to package instructions

4. In a small bowl, mix tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, and water. Stir until smooth

5. In a bowl, combine quinoa and roasted vegetables, then drizzle with lemon tahini dressing

Discussion

Before this recipe, I had never heard of quinoa before. I had no idea what it was and I had a hard time locating it in the store. When I found the package, I thought it was similar to a seed of some sort. After cooking it, I was surprised to find it tasted like pasta. However, it looked really weird if I had to say something about it. What surprised me the most of this ingredient was how much it expanded. 1 cup of dry quinoa made 3 cups cooked! I’ll have to remember that next time I use it as an ingredient.

Overall, I found this meal boring. It didn’t have a lot of flavor to it, in my opinion. That said, I would probably eat it again if given the opportunity, but I would definitely find some ways to spice it up.

Calorie-wise, it was a bit high, but not bad for a meal. A little less than 350 calories for the bowl. I did change some of the ingredients though. For instance, I didn’t have tahini, but Greek yogurt can be used as a substitute (thank you AI for that bit of knowledge). I also used a frozen blend of peppers and onions since I didn’t have time to chop all the ingredients. That said, 1 cup of cooked quinoa was about 225 calories, 2 tbsp Greek yogurt is about 12 calories, 1 1/3 cup of frozen pepper/onions is about 40 calories, and 1/2 tbsp olive oil was 60 calories.