Quinoa Bowl with Acorn Squash, Avocado and Baby Bell Pepper

Quinoa Bowl with Acorn Squash, Avocado and Baby Bell Pepper

Recently I've been loving avocados. My newfound love is pretty shocking because I'm a huge texture person, and the texture of avocados has always made me dislike them. However, I'm now officially an avocado fan. This summer I've been adding avocados to everything--quinoa, salads, sandwiches (I don't love them in sandwiches, though), rice bowls, etc.

Quinoa is, by far, my favorite companion for diced avocado because of the textural contrast. The nuttiness and slight crunch of the quinoa combats the occasionally slimy feel of the avocado, without  masking its richness. So tonight I decided to make a quinoa bowl for dinner and supplement the avocado-quinoa pairing with some roasted acorn squash and roasted baby bell peppers.

Acorn squash is a delicious type of squash that is, not surprisingly, shaped like a large acorn. The acorn squash is a winter squash, but technically belongs to the same family as summer squash (like zucchini and yellow squash). Acorn squash tastes like a cross between a pumpkin and a zucchini, with the same richness of pumpkin and the crispness of a zucchini.

Baby bell peppers are just miniature versions of bell peppers that taste slightly sweeter than their larger bell pepper siblings. The sweetness of the baby bell peppers helps cut the richness of the buttery avocado and the squash.

So, now that you know what kind of ingredients I'm working with, let's get started.


Ingredients 

(Makes 1 bowl)

1/4 cup Rainbow Quinoa
1 cup diced Baby Bell Peppers
1/2 of an Acorn Squash
1/2 of an Avocado
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 450°
2. Prepare the quinoa according to the instructions on the box. That will usually involve bringing quinoa and water to a boil over the stove, then reducing the water to a simmer and covering the pot with a lid to finish the cooking process (it takes about 20 minutes to cook quinoa).
3. Dice up your baby bell peppers and half of your acorn squash. You can keep the skin on, or take it off. Also, you can keep the seeds in the squash or pull them out to roast separately (they taste GREAT roasted--exactly like roasted pumpkin seeds).
4. Lay your vegetables out on a baking sheet and evenly coat in the olive oil, adding salt and pepper to taste.
5. Let your vegetables roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (different ovens = different cooking times). Check on them every 5 minutes, moving the vegetables around the sheet with a wooden spoon to ensure that they're not sticking.
6. Take your vegetables out of the oven when they are slightly browned and look like this:

7. After 20 minutes, taste-test your quinoa to gauge it's progress. Quinoa is one of those things that can be served al dente or more thoroughly cooked--it's all about preference.
8. Once your vegetables and quinoa are done, it's time to slice up your avocado.
9. Pour your quinoa into a bowl, place your avocado slices on top of the quinoa, then add your roasted vegetables over the quinoa and avocado.
10. Mix the ingredients to your liking. Also, you can salt again (I did).