roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl
Roasted fresh veggies, straight from the garden + chicken sausage, over a bed of quinoa, topped with balsamic glaze
Creator: Leslie Stokes
My garden is producing the best summer veggies and I knew I wanted use them all up for meal prep this week, so this is what I came up with!
You can use any combination of veggies you want, but I am really loving this combo of fresh tomatoes, squash, peppers, onions and eggplant. I have not had eggplant in forever and I forgot how good it is! You can also swap out the chicken sausage for whatever protein you want. I used chicken sausage because it’s easy and taste great with veggies, but shrimp or chicken would be good too!
Ingredients
The more veggies, the better- that’s my motto! I mean- can you really ever have enough veggies?!?
- yellow squash
- zucchini
- red onions
- bell pepper
- eggplant
- tomatoes
- chicken sausage- I used italian chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s. Any kind would be good though. just try to buy nitrate free!
- quinoa– quinoa is an ancient grain. It’s gluten free and loaded with protein. It is a soft fluffy texture with a little crunch.
- basil
- balsamic glaze– optional ingredient here, but adds so much flavor to this dish! I get it at Trader Joe’s, but you can find it next to the olives at the grocery store.
The Prep:
I highly sugget using the Big Sheet Baking pan for this recipe! I use this pan in all of my Meal Preps and if you really want to cut down on your time in the kitchen, you should definetly invest the $17 and get one, it’s worth it! This pan fits in MOST standard size ovens and allows you to fit a lot on one pan, which also helps your food cook evenly. Plus, it’s less dishes to wash later!
- Preheat the oven to 400°
- Chop the veggis however you desire. I like doing bigger chunks for the tomatoes and bell pepper because they cook faster
- On an extra large baking tray, drizzle about ½ tbsp of olive oil and then layer the veggies on the tray. I like to keep them seperate just in case I need to remove some of them if they are cooking too fast.
- Season the veggies with salt, pepper and garlic powder, place them in the oven for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime slice the chicken sausage and cook the quinoa.
- At the 15 minute mark, take the veggies out, add the chicken sausage to the tray- place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. I like to broil for the last 5 minutes, but up to you!
- When the veggies are golden brown take them out to cool down.
- Place ½ cup of cooked qunioa into each container
- Divide the veggies into each container along with the chicken sausage.
- Top with fresh basil and balsamic glaze.
- Store these in the refrigerator for up to 5 days!
Tips for this Meal Prep
You can use any two meals from this series and get your Meal Prep done in just about an hour!
I paired this meal with Loaded Protein Pancake Bowls. Here are a few tips to get this meal prep done in just an hour!
- start by making your pancake batter and get those into the oven.
- while the pancakes are cooking chop your veggies + chicken sausage and make your quinoa.
- once the pancakes are done, pop the veggies into the oven.
- start scrambling the eggs + cottage cheese and cook your bacon.
- As the veggies and quinoa are cooling down, make the pancake bowls
- after the pancake bowls are put away, make the quinoa bowls
That’s it!
I hope you love these recipes! I would love for you to tag me in your meal prep on social media! reach out if you have any questions!
Meal Prep in 1 Hour
You can use any two of the meals in this series to get your meal prep done in just about and hour, give or take!
Having your breakfast and lunch ready for the week helps you stay on track with your nutriton, saves you time and money! I truly beleive that meal prep does not need to be over complicated, take too much time or be boring!
I always get asked- “do you ever get tired of eating the same thing all week?” and the answer is, no! Not when the food taste good! I give plenty of variety in these preps and keep it simple!
As always, thanks for being here and remember, don’t over complicate the process! Take a deep breath, you got this!
Check out some other lunch options from this series!
Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bowl
Equipment
- Big Sheet Baking Pan (optional) linked above
- **** if you don't have an extra large pan, you might need to use two pans
Ingredients
- 2 small or 1 large yellow squash about 2 cups chopped
- 2 zucchini about 2 cups chopped
- ½ red onion about 1 cup chopped
- 1 eggplant about 2 cups chopped
- 2 large tomatoes about 2 cups chopped
- 1 bell pepper about 1 cup chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
- 2 cups cooked quinoa 1 cup uncooked
- 12 oz chicken sausage I used italian
- basil for garnish
- balsamic glaze
Let's Make It
- Preheat the oven to 400°
- Chop the veggis however you desire. I like doing bigger chunks for the tomatoes and bell pepper because they cook faster
- On an extra large baking tray (linked above) drizzle about ½ tbsp of olive oil and then layer the veggies on the tray. I like to keep them seperate just in case I need to remove some of them if they are cooking too fast.
- Season the veggies with salt, pepper and garlic powder, place them in the oven for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime slice the chicken sausage and cook the quinoa.
- At the 15 minute mark, take the veggies out, add the chicken sausage to the tray- place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. I like to broil for the last 5 minutes, but up to you!
- When the veggies are golden brown take them out to cool down.
- Place ½ cup of cooked qunioa into each container.
- Divide the veggies into each container along with the chicken sausage.
- Top with fresh basil and balsamic glaze.
- Store these in the refrigerator for up to 5 days!
