Healthy, Delicious Rice Bowls In 3 Easy Steps

IMG_0486Rice bowls are so easy to make and to eat; they’ve become a regular on our busy weeknight menu. No matter how hectic your day might be, if you have 3 main components of the menu, you can throw together a yummy dinner in no time!

For my rice bowls, I use the following core ingredients: 1) brown rice, 2) veggies, and 3) meat or fish.  The photo at left shows one of our favorites, and it is so easy that it is actually a bit embarrassing.  Here’s how it goes.

First, make your rice. I make my family’s favorite buttery French onion brown rice, which I have blogged about several times. If you haven’t seen my recipe, go to this previous post for the recipe and a short video tutorial of how to make it ahead of time in an Aroma rice cooker (one of my all-time favorite kitchen appliances). If you have your own favorite rice recipe, it will work also. Since this is a “rice bowl,” you just want to make sure you have good rice, and lots of it. Leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Second, make your veggies. The veggies I used, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, are super easy and pair perfectly with any meat or fish. Here’s the recipe.

Roasted Broccoli & Cauliflower

  • Broccoli & cauliflower florets–cut in uniform pieces
  • EVOO (as Ina Garten would say, “good” extra virgin olive oil)
  • sea salt & ground pepper
  • fresh lemon juice (one lemon should be plenty)
  • grated parmesan (I use already grated in the large canister from Costco)

Coat veggies liberally with evoo; season with salt and pepper. Spread florets on large jellyroll pan or cookie sheet. Bake at 400-425 for 25-30 minutes or until veggies begin to slightly “crisp” around the edges.

Remove from oven; sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and freshly grated Parmesan.

Third, make your meat or fish. The rice bowl pictured above is the easiest one you can imagine, as it uses an oven-ready shrimp scampi that cooks in less than 15 minutes. I had purchased a box of Sea Pak shrimp scampi several weeks ago that keep staring at me every time I opened the freezer door. I decided to use it for these bowls, and it was FABULOUS! The buttery, garlicky sauce made the bowls unbelievably flavorful. The shrimp cooked in the oven in less than 15 minutes, and I only used half of the box–so more bowls to come.

The way I served this meal was buffet style. I put all 3 parts of the meal out for everyone to make their own bowl. I must say, it couldn’t have been easier, and everyone loved it. We had leftovers that my hubs took to work the next day for lunch.

Let me know if you try this or if you have a favorite version of a rice bowl. The combinations are endless, so your family could eat these several nights a week and never get bored:-)

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