Hello again friends! It’s time for another easy recipe from yours truly. With the holidays having came and went, and all of those sweet treats devoured, it’s about time to get back into the swing of things. But don’t you worry one bit, this Grain Bowl recipe is healthy and it tastes great to boot!

Chris here: I’ll be frank, so call me frank, healthy food usually makes me gag. The alternatives to my comfort foods were few and far between until Mandy showed me this golden goose. From the very first bite it was an experience all on its own. I was honestly taken aback. When I didn’t eat nearly as much as a carb loaded plate of pasta, I thought something was up.

I was really curious why that was. Although reserved at first, I had to ask, because it was starting to get to me. Mandy then explained that when you eat healthier food, your body becomes satiated more quickly. This basically happens because you’re actually giving your body what it needs, nutrients! She compared it to why we can eat a large bag of chips and still be hungry, yet eat a well prepared salad and feel full. So I wrapped up my leftovers intent on enjoying them at work the next day.

Oh, and did we mention, this is a must for all you meal-preppers out there. If you need a mid-day snack or want a power bowl lunch without the crunch, we’ve got your back with this one! So sit back, relax, and let us tell you about Mandy’s Grain Bowl and how it came to be.

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Why Greek Inspired?

We say it’s a Greek Grain Bowl, but I’m pretty sure that you know neither of us are actually Greek. And neither is this dish. Regardless, we enjoy Greek food from authentic restaurants and bakeries. When trying to come up with something that was easy to make, bold in flavor, and good for you it took a couple tries. Albeit, each attempt was good on its own, something was definitely missing. Let’s take a look at one of our previous bowls, which is similar but with a couple key changes.

In our other grain bowl, who will go unmentioned, there was one key difference that threw things off in the slightest. BEANS! And no meat. Yes, in this other grain bowl instead of adding protein through a meat we used beans. This is perfectly acceptable if I were vegetarian, but I am not. But my real issue with using beans in addition to chick peas is that the amount of soft mooshy food goes up and that makes me sad. When it came time to revisit this dish we realized that more than half of the ingredients fall under Greek cuisine and said why not spice it up a bit?

Mandy picked up some sausage that would compliment the veggies, I got olives (black because Kalamata’s are atrocious) and we got to work. we knew that not using Kalamatas is a sin on it’s own, but there’s no way anyone could pay us to put them in.

Our Grain Bowl

The not-so-hard-work of swapping out a few ingredients paid dividends. And we were rewarded with a week’s worth of meal prep to take to work and brag about how “healthy” we’re eating.

It should be noted that while our concoction may seem a bit complex at first, we promise it’s not. About half of those ingredients get chopped up to be the same size, while the remaining get sprinkled or poured. The only ingredient that gets cooked at all is the grains, to which there’s an easy option for that as well! I would go into more detail but that’s literally it.

Greek Inspired Grain Bowl

Chris

When you need a treat but the chips don't cut it, grain bowl. A meal's too much, but a snack's not enough, grain bowl. When your coworker has judged your lunch for the last time… grain bowl!

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 29 minutes mins

Course Healthfood, Main Course, Snack

Cuisine Greek-American

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 2 packs Microwave grains or 4 cups cooked grains
• 1/4 Red onions diced
• 3 Baby sweet peppers diced
• 2 Mini cucumbers diced
• 1 Small corn cob or 1/3 cup corn kernels`
• 3-4 ` Garlic cloves minced
• 1 can Black olives sliced
• 1 can Chick peas
• 1/3 cup Pistachios chopped but not minced
• 1 block Feta cheese diced
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
• 1/2 Lemon juiced
• 2 tsp Onion powder
• 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tsp Dill weed
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• If using microwave packs of grains, be sure to break up chunks before heating. Microwave as instructed, and dump in your bowl. If making stovetop grains, follow cooking instructions and add to your bowl
• While hot, use a spoon to break any big lumps. Add in your onion powder, garlic powder, dill weed, oregano, parsley, andchili flakes. Wait for grains to fully cool before adding anything else
• Dice your peppers, red onion, and cut your corn off the cob. All of these shouldbe about the same size. Mince your garlic even smaller. Cut your cucumbers into quarters and dice to about the same size as your chickpeas. Follow the same guideline for slicing your olives and cutting up the feta
• Drizzle in the red wine vinegar, olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss in with the grains and give a good mix
• Rough chop the pistachios – the uglier the better for a satisfying crunch. Alternatively substitute with cashews or use a combination of both if you’re nutty like us
• For added protein, we prepared spinach and feta chicken sausage. Already fully cooked, it just needs a quick browning in a pan. You can use grilled chicken, ground turkey, or any protein of choice.Once browned allow for the meat to cool a little then add to the mixture. Plate and enjoy!

Notes

Adding the herbs and spices in the
beginning, as the grains are cooking, is
extremely important! By adding them to
heat you bring out the flavor of these
ingredients that then cook into the grains. In
other words, it’s a flavor party in that pot.

If you haven’t caught on, we really like to
have options. Many of the ingredients can
be swapped out, like the sausage for
chicken, or sweet peppers for spicy. You can
even change out the olives if we didn’t use
your favorite kind.

This is a really good dish if you like to prep
meals or snacks for the week. Having a
handful of containers to portion this out
really helps.

Keyword Easy, Grainbowl, Mealprep

Takeaways

This recipe is E-A-S-Y all cap. It can be enjoyed as is or modified if one so desires. Take it to work why don’t you, we’ve only said how good a meal prep dish this is about a dozen times. Overall this grain bowl is satisfying, flavorful, and most of all good for your gut. And really, who doesn’t want a happy gut?

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this scrumptious recipe. We really hope you enjoy it at least enough to share it with like maybe 5 people or so. Just saying, you’d be doing us a big favor and whoever you share this post with, will not be disappointed.

We would also like to mention that if you like our food, you might also like our games! Come check us out on YouTube as we take on killers in Dead By Daylight and search for The Lost in The Binding of Isaac. It’s a lot of fun and while we’re playing Mandy and I are more than happy to discuss the recipe’s we’ve made in the comments!

As always, if you enjoyed this recipe leave a comment saying so, if not tell us what you think could be better. As we’ve said before and will say again, we want you all, all of you…y’all to have as much fun as possible. If we don’t know what’s in your wonderful mind how will we ever become the page that you’re looking for? It’s not like we can just “git gud” amiright? Regardless, there’s more to come so stay tuned friends.