Recipe: Mexican Quinoa Bowl

This has been a really busy summer for me, as I'm sure it has for other people. Between traveling, marathon training, two kickball leagues, enjoying summer weather, and obviously my full-time job, I haven't had much time to focus on nutrition. My goal of eating mostly raw after Karyn's Raw detox has been on the back-burner. And because I've been too busy to prepare food in advance to pack for my entire day, I've had to eat out a lot. Now, it's not like I'm eating super unhealthy fast food (more like Potbelly and Chipotle), but I need to pack more of my own food for lunch and dinner. So instead of making raw recipes that I'm unfamiliar with, I'm going back to the basics and making things that I know how to make well. They're not as healthy as raw foods, but still quite healthy. For me, this means quinoa salads, sandwiches with Ezekiel 4:9 bread, and vegan pizzas.

Quinoa is one of my favorite staple foods because it is a complete plant-based protein, easy to cook, and goes with just about anything (including as a replacement for rice). I have some quinoa recipes on my recipe page but this one it new! I love Chipotle burrito bowls so I tried to mimic one with quinoa. I don't have an exact recipe...it's really up to you on the proportions of each ingredient.

Ingredients
cooked quinoa
chopped romaine
black beans
fresh pico de gallo salsa
Mexican hot sauce
fresh lime juice
chopped avocado or guacamole
salt and pepper

Directions
Assemble all ingredients in a large bowl and mix it up! I made a bunch of individual bowls to bring to lunch this week. But I added the avocado right before eating so it doesn't brown. I bought pre-made fresh pico de gallo from the store. You can make your own but I think the store-made stuff is just as healthy and fresh (and much more convenient).

What's your favorite quinoa recipe?