I’ve said this before but I love big bowls of food. It’s just so great to have a whole meal in one bowl. Today’s recipe is just that, so it was right up my alley!

I’m not exactly sure where the name for this recipe came from, but this is the Hippie Dippie Salad Bowl from Thug Kitchen 101 cookbook. This has a base of any grain (rice, bulgur, quinoa, orzo) and then a variety of fresh veggies and a bright dressing on top. I chose to use couscous as my base so it was almost like a pasta salad once I mixed everything together.

The toppings here are cabbage, romaine lettuce, beets (supposed to be raw, but I used cooked), carrots and cucumber. Based on that list, you know there was a lot of textures and colours. There was also a good amount of sweetness coming through too, namely from the carrot and beets.

The dressing was a nice mix of nutritional yeast, shallot, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice, maple syrup and olive oil. It was well balanced and had some creaminess. I loved the little bite of shallot and garlic that you get but it was not overpowering at all. I also added a little salt and pepper to the dressing – the recipe says to add those at the end, just as a sprinkle over everything, but adding it to the dressing ensured that it was well-incorporated.

This was such a good lunch. If I were to serve this for dinner, I would add some protein, maybe a hard boiled egg, cooked chicken, canned tuna or even some cold tofu. There are lots of options for everyone’s dietary needs.