Roasted Veggie Quinoa Bake

I have been sort of MIA lately over here and if I am being honest, I am taking a good look at where I want this blog to go. I will get more into this once I figure it out, but I am realizing that trying to create recipes just doesn’t fit my schedule right now, and I am ok with that!

I am lucky enough to work somewhere that I eat all three meals, plus having some to take home for Cameron for dinner. We feed our athletes multiple times per day, and truth be told, my meals aren’t fancy and are eaten off of a disposable plates with disposable silverware (I know, the eco friendliness of feeding a ton of athletes definitely needs improvement). My thought process was that these things aren’t “post-worthy” because they aren’t set up gorgeously with perfect lighting. But that is the reality of my work, and I love it.

So, I am working on figuring out how to shift this blog into more of the area that I actually started it for–to give real, evidenced-based nutrition advice that is also anti-diet and promotes a healthy relationship with food. I am still growing as a professional right now in trying to master how to educate athletes on performance nutrition that also supports intuitive eating. Hopefully I will figure this all out sooner rather than later 🙂

Now, onto this quinoa bake! I basically said to myself, “I don’t feel like cooking, but I am craving some veggies… what can I make?”. Next step was roast the vegetables I had, cook up some quinoa, and then throw some white beans in because heck, I was out of chickpeas for once but I wanted some more protein in this meal. And thus was born a delicious and functional and nutrient dense meal that I had to put minimal effort into.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/3 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 head broccoli, chopped
• 1 T cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 can canelli beans
• 1-2 cups spinach
• half of a small tub of feta cheese (or as much as your heart desires)
• 3 T lime juice
• additional cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and pep to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. In an 8×8 baking dish, drizzle a little olive oil. Add peppers, onions, and broccoli and toss with the oil, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, and salt and pepper. Roast ~25-30 minutes.
2. Cook quinoa according to instructions. Once vegetables are done, combine quinoa and vegetables in a bowl and add the spinach, feta, lime juice, and extra seasonings if desired. Mix together and put back into the 8×8 baking dish.
3. Bake for ~20 minutes.