By Erin Brighton, campbrighton.com
We made grain bowls for dinner recently, and they were so easy and pretty amazing! These bowls were a perfect last minute meal … I used salmon I picked up at Reid’s and frozen quinoa and frozen brown rice. Kind of cheating but also totally smart.
The crispy chickpeas took the longest amount of time to make but they were totally worth it!
Make The Grain Bowl Base
For our grain bowls, we went with brown rice and quinoa. I always keep bags of frozen rice and quinoa in the freezer. Game changer. For these bowls, I used half a bag of frozen brown rice and half a bag of frozen quinoa and mixed both together in a large glass bowl and covered it with plastic wrap and pulled back a corner to release some steam. I cooked the grains together for four minutes and let it sit until everything else was ready. To add a little flavor, I added some garlic salt and stirred it into the rice and quinoa.
Prepare The Toppings
For our grain bowl toppings, we had pre-cooked salmon so all I needed to do was make the crispy chickpeas and soft boiled eggs and chop up some veggies.
How To Make Crispy Chickpeas
To make the crispy chickpeas, I rinsed the chickpeas and patted them dry with a towel, gently rubbing the towel over the chickpeas to release the skins. Don’t worry about getting all of the skins off.
Toss the chickpeas with one tablespoon of olive oil, smoked paprika, and salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 375. Check every 15 minutes. Move them around a little and taste test until they are crispy enough for you. We cooked them for a little over 30 minutes.
How To Make Soft Boiled Eggs
To make soft boiled eggs, heat about an inch of water in a small saucepan – enough water to cover your eggs. Heat to boiling. Pierce each egg and place in the boiling water. Cook for six minutes – don’t undercook. Remove from the boiling water and rinse under cold water so you can remove the peel. Remove peel, and gently cut in half lengthwise.
Additional Toppings
Salmon … I cheated and bought cooked salmon at Reid’s and didn’t even heat it back up. You can, of course, cook your own salmon!! Or skip this ingredient altogether – or substitute it for tofu or chicken.
For the veggies … I chopped up cucumbers, scallions, red onions, and sliced avocados for toppings. You can really use anything you have on hand.
If you have a few extra minutes, quick pickled red onions are an amazing grain bowl topper and super easy to make yourself.
My kids love anything DIY so they loved making their own bowls. No leftovers!!
