Quinoa Bowl with Bell Peppers, Chickpeas, dried Oyster mushrooms. vegan glutenfree recipe

I wish some day food photography will come to me intuitively enough, that I will be able to take the perfect shot within just a few. Hopefully some day. Life would be so much simpler if I did not take 60 shots of the same bowl:)

So on our grocery shopping trips(usually at whole foods), hubbs will wander off, and pick up some random thing that catches his eye. Most days he knows the name of the thing, like its star fruit, some unpronounceable greens, colorful carrots, or something and he will either eat as is or ask me to make something out of it. Yes, some days I do look at him like.. really, I am too busy with making regular food to experiment right now and he will look back at me like oh come on you are a food blogger, you can experiment any time. (rolls eyes)

Some days though like one this week, I discovered a brown bag with funny looking dried things in the refrigerator. I asked him about it and he did not remember what it was. I figured they were some kind of dried mushrooms and proceeded to look up similar pictures on the interwebz and find out what to do with it. After a few minutes I knew they were oyster shrooms and I decided to use them in a brothy veggie concoction. This is one simple bowl of goodness. High protein and delicious. Me thinks, I should take pictures of more of our quick one pot meals and post about them. More Pastas, soup bowls here.

This event also tells you about how hubbs shops. He picks up anything without looking at the cost.:) For eg, If there are 2 similar tomatoes and one of them is on sale, the information that anything is lower priced is irrelevant. I dont know how we women always catch all these nuances while shopping. I think there should be more women in the budget/finance etc areas of the government ;)

Steps:

In a pan, add oil, bell peppers, jalapenos, cook for a bit.

Add chickpeas

Add parsley and thyme. Mix and cook for a minute.

Look at the mystery ingredient and decide to toss the whole thing in.

Add water or broth. I used water to keep the mushroom flavor the highlight of the bowl. Cook covered for 10 minutes and then uncovered till the sauce is reduced.

Add to cooked quinoa.

Lots of green already, so for the pictures I garnished it with red bell pepper.

Quinoa Protein bowl with Chickpeas, veggies, mushrooms

Gluten, dairy, egg, soy, nut free. Oil free option

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon organic canola oil or extra virgin olive oil

1/2 jalapeno chopped(optional, to taste)

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

1/2 cup cooked/canned/Sprouted Chickpeas

2-3 Tablespoons herbs of choice( I used fresh Parsley and a teaspoon of thyme)

a few dried oyster mushrooms

1/3 teaspoon salt or to taste

1.5-2 cups cooked quinoa

Additions: Add almond slivers,sunflower seeds, hemp seeds for an even more protein/nutritious punch

Method:

In a medium pan, add oil and heat on medium.

Add the bell pepper and Jalapeno and cook for 2-3 minutes, uncovered, until slightly golden on the edges.

Add chickpeas, herbs and mix for a few seconds. You can add some greens at this point and mix in.

Add dried mushrooms, water, salt just enough to cover most of the veggies. (You can use vegetable broth instead of water for a thicker sauce)

Cover and cook on low-medium for 10 minutes.

The mushrooms will be soft by now, Break the mushrooms a bit and cook on low, uncovered, until the sauce simmers down to a few Tablespoons. (10-15 minutes). Taste and adjust salt and spice. Add black pepper if needed.

Add the veggies and sauce to the quinoa bowl.

Top with fresh parsley, optionally with seeds and nuts and serve.

Oil-free: Add everything except quinoa to a pan and add water to almost cover the veggies. Simmer on low-medium ,covered, for 15 minutes and then uncovered for 10-15 minutes till it simmers down to a few Tablespoons. Add to Quinoa

Fresh mushrooms: Add the mushrooms to the pan with the bell peppers and jalapeno and cook for 5-7 minutes, uncovered, on medium heat. until golden. Stir every 1-2 minutes.

Add a few Tablespoons of water or broth, herbs, chickpeas and bring to a boil, uncovered. Simmer if needed to reduce.

Add to quinoa. and serve.

This quinoa bowl is being shared at Ricki's wellness weekend, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Slightly indulgent Tuesdays, Hearth and soul blog hop