Naked Burrito Bowls (vegan, parve*, low-cal)

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When we used to go out to eat frequently, I was a huge fan of Qdoba’s naked burrito bowls.

I love rice—so filling and wholesome, especially brown rice. I love the chewiness, and the flavor. I get some black beans, some veggies, pico de gallo, corn salsa, fiery habenero (bring on the salsa!), guacamole…no, I didn’t even mind it was extra.

Since we don’t go out so much these days, I’ve been trying to recapture the flavors of some of my favorite foods at home, and “upgrade” them. The mix make great lunches, great filling for tacos, freezer burritos, and great topping for nachos with a little Daiya “cheese” sprinkled on top. The cool thing is that if I make it at home, I can add my own “sour supreme” instead of sour cream, and customize it however I want. Plus I don’t have to pay extra for the guac!

The other great thing about making this dish at home is bulking things up with veggies. Sweet potatoes, roasted zucchini, mushrooms, even broccoli or cauliflower are great additions.

I like my dishes spicy and with this one I find that Cholula the preferred pick, but there are no rules—mix it up! Try Sriracha, Frank’s, or whatever floats your boat.

Naked Burrito Bowls

*Check your ingredients if you have dietary restrictions—some processed foods may need to be subbed for my gluten-free and Kosher-keeping friends.

Sweet Potato Chunks

I like to do my chopping first. Since we’re not quite to fresh zucchini season yet, I just had a sweet potato and onion this time. Feel free to add whatever vegetables you wish.

Caramelizing deliciousness

Start the onions with about a tablespoon of olive oil, add the sweet potatoes and veggies to get a little color going on them!

Cute little tofu press

I like a little extra protein in my rice bowl, so I added crumbled firm tofu. This is the easiest tofu recipe—all you do is drain it and press it (I use my cute little tofu press but you can use plates, or something heavy and press it for 10-20 minutes). Once it’s pressed, I just crumbled it into my mix. It adds a little body to the dish, and makes it filling.

Lots of yumminess in that pot!

I added drained black beans (1 can), crushed tomatoes (1 can), Frozen corn (2 cups), and 1 cup of vegetable broth. I also added spices—1 tbsp cumin for smokiness, 1 tbsp chili powder, ½ tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt, and pepper to taste.

There’s that brown rice again

Time to Indulge

Yes, that IS the same brown rice from my curry post. So as it turns out, this is another weekend dish. As I said, I do all of my cooking on Sundays for the week ahead. It makes things so much easier, guys, for real. So I make a big pot of rice, and then I throw it in a couple dishes. In this case, I put half of it in the curry and half of it in my veggie bowl.

That’s it. I let it simmer for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are soft, and everything comes together flavor-wise. Then it’s ready to fill a tortilla, to pile on chips or to just eat straight from the bowl with lots of hot sauce.