Tuesday, September 11, 2018

This Week's CSA Box: Build-a-bowl meals!


I don't know if build-a-bowl meals are really a trend or I've just been making them more lately for my family.  Whatever the case, I love the idea of starting with a base vegetable in a bowl and then piling on the toppings.  It's so easy and minimizes all the clean up.  All the recipes in this week's post are based on this concept.  Enjoy!


What we got:


1 kuri squash
1 spaghetti squash
9 medium apples
3 zucchini
2 cucumbers
3 green peppers
1 red pepper
1/2 dozen ears of corn
4 large tomatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 large sweet potatoes


My goal was to bulk cook the base items for the bowls on Monday morning.  By noon this is how the inside of my oven looked. That's a full tray of sweet potatoes on the bottom shelf of the oven with stuffed peppers, kuri squash, and spaghetti squash on the top shelf.   




 




Check out those beautiful kuri and spaghetti squash!  I roasted them for 60 minutes at 400 degrees.  Check them at 45 minutes - I remembered to check mine when the smoke detector started beeping.  I ran upstairs and threw open the oven.  Whew!  The only problem was the edge of the parchment paper got a little too brown.   The squash was perfectly cooked in just shy of 1 hour.  

Here's what's on the menu!




Sweet and spicy Red kuri squash bowl: (pictured above)

Kuri squash is a beautiful thing to behold!  The flesh is a shade or two lighter than the hubbard variety and appears like a cross between a butternut and acorn squash.  The seeds are not connected with stringy material.  I always like this trait in a squash because it makes it easier to save the seeds to toast later.After being roasted, the squash flesh literally melts in your mouth. My kids said it was "buttery".  This recipe got an enthusiastic two-thumbs up from every member of my family. The white sauce on top is tahini mixed with some fresh lime juice, a few drops of hot sauce, a splash of real maple syrup - then thinned with water to make it the perfect consistency for drizzling over the top of the rice and squash. 

  I know I mentioned keeping the seeds to roast them.  If you've not roasted squash seeds before, no worries!  I'll post a link to instructions at the end of this post. 


Nourishing Vegan Buddha Bowl:    I have made this recipe before and it is both filling and delicious!   I like it because I can chop all the ingredients and then put them all out on the table in little bowls.  Then each family can top their bowl with items which they like. 




Sweet Potato Burrito Bowls:    

Since my oven was already set to 400 degrees and was full of cut squash, rather than cooking the sweet potato in a pan, I cut the potato into cubes, coated it in the seasonings, and then roasted it in the oven on parchment paper.   The cubes cooked in about 30 minutes and I think that they will work out great for this bowl. They smelled divine while they were roasting and I'm pretty sure this will be voted as a "make again" dish! 




Mexican Zucchini Burrito Boats:   

This is where I admit to you that I haven't made zucchini boats since I was in my early 20's. They were horrible!  I truly don't know what I did wrong to them.  But, it must have scarred me, because I have never tried to make them again.  While searching for recipes for this post, I found this one.  Thirty plus years later, maybe it's time to give it a "go" again! 





Stuffed Peppers:  Yep!  It's a rerun!  This recipe is a little different than the one I posted two weeks ago.  The salsa gives it a little bit of a Mexican kick.  These peppers were just made for stuffing and I was already making brown rice for some of the other recipes.  It was just so simple to make up another pan of these lovelies!  


 


 Chili Stuffed Spaghetti Squash:   I roasted the spaghetti squash today along with all the other base ingredients for this week's build-a-bowl meals.  It's all ready to add some homemade chili.  I'll top the non-vegan squash with some cheese.  It will just take a quick heat through in the toaster oven and dinner will be served! 




If you want more inspiration check out this article filled with 14 spaghetti squash bowl recipes.  

Finally, as I promised, here is the link to how to roast squash seeds.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/54873/roasted-winter-squash-seeds/


My kids love these as a mid-afternoon snack.  We've made them flavored with garlic and onion powder and also with traditional salt and pepper seasonings.   I soak them in a bowl covered with water with some salt added.  until I am able to take all the stringy parts off of the seeds and get time to roast them.  

Enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures!

Hope

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2 comments:

  1. I've never seen a kuri squash.i have used Kabocha squash and it's delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You would love the kuri squash. It's like a cross between butternut and acorn. The texture was what amazed me. It melts in your mouth and the texture is buttery smooth. Really good!

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