Bowls, Bowls, All Kinds of Bowls

Do you ever have one of those days that's just a straight-up amazing food day? At the end of the day, you look back and think "Damn, I killed it at meal time ALL DAY LONG." Tuesday was one of those days. I had a bowl (of sorts) for every meal, and each one left me wanting to start over and eat the same thing again and again.

My day started with a Toasted Quinoa Breakfast Bowl. 

I was planning to have I Heart Keenwah Toasted Quinoa Cereal with almond butter that morning, but while I was at the gym pounding out some goblet squats, I started dreaming of a savory bowl with Vegan Egg and sausage.

When I got home, I got to work. I cooked the toasted quinoa cereal according to package directions and stirred in some thawed, frozen spinach, pink salt, and a tablespoon of nooch. While the cereal was cooking, I fried up a Hilary's Eat Well Apple-Maple Sausage patty and I scrambled some Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg. Then I piled it all into a bowl. SO GOOD. And very filling. Hot sauce on top, of course!

And then came lunch. I'd eaten a BBQ Burger Bowl at Nashville's Sunflower Cafe over the weekend, and it was so yummy that I'd been thinking of how I could recreate it at home.

Well, I had one Spicy Black Bean & Beet Burger patty left from when I made these last week (from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook). So I served it atop some I Heart Keenwah toasted quinoa (the only kind I eat these days!) and sauteed zucchini and corn. I topped the burger with Trader Joe's Sriracha Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce and pickled onions. And then I whipped up a quick garlic aioli using low-fat Vegenaise and garlic powder. Simple, quick, and delicious. I did all this in my hour-long lunch break from work and still had plenty of time to eat and enjoy it.

Dinner was equally awesome. I'd purchased some fresh butter beans from the Memphis Farmers Market a couple weeks back and put them in the freezer until I was ready to cook them. I simmered these (about 2 cups of beans) with about 4 cups of veggie broth and one chopped onion. While they cooked, I threw together the Jalapeno Cornbread recipe from my cookbook, Cookin' Crunk. And the best ever bowl of Beans & Cornbread was on the table!

Some folks like to crumble their cornbread over their beans, but I prefer to chunk the whole slice right on top. Southern summer perfection. On the side, I made a Summer Tomato Salad (another Southern delicacy) from Cookin' Crunk — chopped, local heirloom tomatoes, local cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, rice vinegar, avocado oil, sugar, and salt.

Such a good day! I wish I could go back and do it all over again!