Enjoy a delicious Mediterranean-inspired bowl with lemon tahini dressing. A healthy, gluten-free lunch idea packed with flavor and nutrients!
Enjoy a Fresh and Flavorful Meal Packed with Nutrients
Reducing food waste is an essential practice, and utilizing leftover ingredients can lead to delicious and resourceful meals. A Mediterranean Inspired Bowl, complemented by a zesty Lemon Tahini Dressing, exemplifies this approach perfectly. By incorporating leftover quinoa and rice along with prepped vegetables, this recipe transforms what might otherwise be waste into a satisfying and nutritious dish. The use of ingredients already available in the fridge or pantry not only simplifies meal preparation but also supports sustainability.
The Lemon Tahini Dressing is a standout component of this grain bowl, made with simple ingredients that enhance the flavors of the dish. The dressing combines smooth tahini, fresh lemon juice, and a hint of maple syrup, creating a delightful balance of creamy and tangy notes. With the option to add toasted sesame oil for an extra layer of flavor, this dressing can easily elevate salads and other grain bowls, making it a versatile addition to any kitchen.
Bright Flavors and Wholesome Goodness: A Culinary Journey to the Mediterranean in Every Bite!
Hey there, welcome to the channel. So, it’s the end of the week and if your house is like mine, there’s some leftovers in the fridge that need to be used. So, today I thought we would take those leftovers, mainly some leftover quinoa. And for those of you that don’t like quinoa, I have some leftover rice.
Either of those would work. Combo both, whatever you have. We’re going to take those and we’re going to do a Mediterranean inspired grain bowl with it with stuff I already have in the fridge. and we’re going to make a dressing for it as well because again I have all that stuff. I’m Jamie with Savory Saver. I share gluten-free.
Recipes, tips, tricks, and resources to make your gluten-free lifestyle easier. So, please consider hitting subscribe and let’s make a gluten-free lunch. Okay, so to start off, I’m going to make a dressing for my grain bowl. So, I found a recipe online for a lemon tahini grain bowl. Tahini is a sesame seed paste. So, Terra will not be eating this.
Because sesame is one of the things she can’t have along with the gluten, but it is a gluten-free option. And what they’ve done is they’ve taken sesame seeds and made it into tahini. So, it’s basically peanut butter, but it’s sesame seeds instead. So, you want about a/4 cup. And I have my 1/4 cup measuring cup over here just to kind of give me an.
Idea of what I need. That looks like about what I need. So, I think I’m going to call that good. It does recommend using one that is pretty loose because it’ll blend better. So, this one is pretty good right now, but I’m going to add hot water to it and that should thin it out some. Okay, so basically now we’re going.
To add the rest of our ingredients and give it a really good whisk. So, I’ve got 3 tablespoon of water. And I did use hot tap water again just to thin this out a little bit. To keep the measurements going a little bit better, let’s add two more tablespoons to the water of olive oil. And I’ve got a lemon. So, I’ve.
Juiced half of that. You want 2 tbsps of lemon juice. I’m hoping I’m going to get that out of half a lemon. I did not. So, let’s juice that other half. And guys, I had this in the fridge. It needs to be used when we get to the grain bowl. There is one thing I did buy, but I have it in the house a lot of times anyway. So, I did get that.
Today on my way home from dropping off Oliver at day camp. All right, so let’s add all our liquids to the bowl. So, the recipe calls for a tablespoon of maple syrup. You could also use honey in this. I am going to opt for the maple syrup because it’s a little thinner. And since I think this is going to be a thick dressing, I.
Think this will help a little bit. So, we’re going to put a tablespoon of that in there. Part of the thing with tahini is it can be a little bit bitter because of the sesame seeds. So, this is going to add a little bit of sweetness. I mean, really, you could add a little bit of sugar if you wanted to.
Just a little bit. And all of those are going to be sweeteners. They’re just going to be a little different. The recipe also calls for a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. I’m leaving that out. And the reason I’m leaving that out is because the tahini has oil. The olive oil is oil, of course. I don’t necessarily think it’s.
Needs another teaspoon of oil. I do have sesame oil on hand, but I think I’m going to leave it out and see how it comes out. We’re going to add a/4 teaspoon of salt. So, a couple big pinches. Again, that’s going to help with getting rid of that little bit of bitterness that the tahini can have. And I did it out of order, but.
Finally, I’m going to add one small clove of garlic. And I’m going to grate mine. You could also finally mince it up. The mincing it will give it a little less garlic flavor probably because it won’t be as small. Mine will probably be more garlicky because of the grating. Let’s give everything a good whisk. And it’s probably going to look.
Broken up, which mine does until it gets whisked. Mine’s pretty thin, so I think I’m going to add just a little bit more tahini. All right. Now, to make it easier on myself later, I’m going to transfer it right on over to a jar. If yours was too thick, you could also add about another/ tablespoon of water to thin it out even a little.
More. I’m going to put a lid on it, but my lids are not leakproof. So, I’m going to put a little piece of plastic wrap over it. Let’s put the lid on. Let’s put this to the side and let the flavors blend and we’ll make our salad. It’s time to get that grain bowl built. So, again, I’m using up leftovers. So, this isn’t.
Going to be totally Mediterranean, but it is going to use up some stuff in the house, and I think it’s going to be really good. So, I’ve got my bowl here. Let’s put that to the side. Let’s start with my grains. Again, I have some cooked quinoa and I did a rice side dish last week which was rice and corn. So, you.
Know, the corn is not Mediterranean. So, use whatever grains you want. I think I’ll use a little bit of both. The quinoa, of course, is good for protein. I am going to do a little bit of rice. We’ll try to do a little less rice and quinoa. Going to put this over here.
While I do some chopping. Chickpeas would also be good in that if you had some of those open. Spinach would probably be more traditional and probably better, but I do like grains and greens together. So, I’m going to use a little bit of Roma. Make sure it’s washed if you haven’t done so.
You guys know on my channel, presentation is not necessarily my strong suit. So, we’re going to see how this looks at the end. I’ve got some red bell pepper that’s open. So, let’s use some of that. If you had roasted bell peppers in a jar in the fridge, that would be great. Let’s do one more strip of.
That. We’re going to do some cucumber. The great thing with this is that you really can make it however you want with whatever leftovers you have in the fridge. You can make as much or as little as you want depending on how hungry you are, which evidently I’m super hungry cuz this is going to be big. Got some leftover broccoli. So,.
Let’s take a few pieces of that. Might as well some tomato. Little bit of red onion. I’m going to chop up just a few colamada olives. Do you like olives or not? Terra does not. I do. I feel that olives are a very polarizing ingredient cuz you either.
Typically like them or you don’t. Rough chop. And this is where you can see when I’m making stuff like this that I get lazy cuz it’s just a quick chop and that’s it. Final ingredient, the ingredient I had to go to the store and get it was because I was already out of the house so it wasn’t really an extra trip. I got some feta cheese. I’m going.
To chop up just a little bit of it or chunk it up rather. Probably about a/2 in strip of it. So let’s get that done. All right. Some nice big chunks of that. All right, guys. There is my lunch minus the dressing. So, let me get a couple photos and we’ll give it a taste test. All right, guys. Lunch is ready. And before we take a look at this, let’s.
Actually look at our dressing. So, this is our lemon tahini dressing. It actually stayed mixed really well while it was in the fridge. And I am going to keep it in the fridge. I don’t see any reason not to. The oils will stay better in the fridge. And since it’s not solidifying, perfect place to keep.
It. Got a clean spoon here. Let’s just give it a taste. I like the burst of lemon. I like that it cuts back that tahini a little bit because again, tahini can be bitter a little bit. So, definitely helps that. I like the flavor of it a lot. The maple in it gives it some sweetness, but it doesn’t taste like maple syrup. So, I.
Like that dressing. Easy to make. Had everything on hand. Let’s try the salad. All right, guys. So, again, this is Mediterranean inspired salad because I’m sure there’s something in here that’s not really Mediterranean. A little bit of everything. My rice is actually buried. So, I’m not going to mix it all up just.
Yet, but let’s see if I can get most everything on a bite. Okay, evidently that’s not going to happen. So, let’s just try what I actually have. That’s really good. And I’ve not even gotten to all of it yet. Very good recipe, if you can call it a recipe. The only recipe I really.
Used was the tahini dressing. Everything else was what I had on hand. I will say it’s going to need some more dressing, but that’s a me thing. Full of protein, full of fiber, really good recipe. Use what you have. Don’t worry about what you do and what you don’t have. The grain is the important thing with a grain bowl. Add grains if.
You have them. Do you make grain bowls? Do you not? What do you think? What kind of grain bowls do you make if you do? Or what kind of salads do you like in general? Guys, gluten-free easy lunch idea using leftovers I already have. I want to thank you guys so much for watching. Please leave your comments below and I hope to see you in the next.
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