Quinoa Buddha Bowl, Fall

By seamline

From Brenda Strausz
This recipe has all the flavors of autumn in a bowl. This recipe is entirely plant-based, nut-free and gluten-free making it a great meal for anyone. This recipe is written as if you are preparing all four bowls at once, but you can easily prepare one bowl at a time and save the leftover ingredients for another day.
Author: Elaine Gordon

Ingredients

• 2 cups butternut squash, diced
• 1 cup Sweet & Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
• 4 cups of cooked quinoa (see my post on How to Make Perfectly Cooked Quinoa)
• 1 green apple (such as Ginger Gold or Golden Delicious), chopped
• 1 red apple (such as Honeycrisp, Fuji or Gala), chopped
• 1/2 red onion, small dice
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 4 green onions, diced
• Dressing
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Details

Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 60mins

Preparation

Step 1

1. Prepare the roasted butternut squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Toss the diced butternut squash with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle liberally with fine salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet making sure the chunks are not touching. 2. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow squash to cool while you prepare the other ingredients. Or if preparing this ahead of time, allow to cool and place in an airtight container in the refrigerator for use later. If it has been in the refrigerator I recommend heating the butternut squash up a bit (about 25 seconds in the microwave before using).
3. Prepare the Sweet & Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (see link for directions - so easy, just three ingredients and ten minutes in the oven)
Assemble your Buddha Bowl: Set out four large bowls. Place 1 cup of room temperature cooked quinoa in the center of each bowl. Place ½ cup roasted butternut squash in each of the four bowls. Try and group each ingredients you add for presentation purposes (see pictures). Place ¼ of the chopped red apple and ¼ of the chopped green apple in each bowl. Add ¼ cup diced red onion to each bowl. Add ¼ cup dried cranberries to each bowl. Sprinkle each bowl with diced green onions.
4. Prepare the dressing: Whisk together all dressing ingredients until well combined.
5. Just before serving, lightly drizzle each bowl with the dressing (2-3 tablespoons of dressing on each bowl). Serve immediately. If you are not serving right away, only chop as much apple as you need so the rest of the apple does not brown.