FARGO – After Kaitlin Wright completes her eight-plus-mile morning runs, she fuels her body with a bowl of quinoa, eggs, kale and tomatoes.
“Even though it’s not a salad-based thing, it’s still a power bowl because it’s high in fat, high in protein. It’s what I need after a really strenuous workout,” says Wright, a web content specialist at Swanson Health in Fargo who runs half-marathons.
Power bowls, or one-bowl meals loaded with nutritionally dense whole foods, are popular on health blogs, and chain-bakery Panera Bread has helped popularize the term with their special menu of power bowls.
One combination on Panera’s menu includes chicken, spinach, tomatoes, red onions and hummus finished with lemon juice and cilantro.
The overall idea, Wright says, is to load the bowl with power foods, also called super foods, like kale, spinach, pomegranate and goji berries, and use a simple dressing like olive oil and lemon juice or no dressing at all.
One of her favorite combinations is roasted chickpeas with shredded Brussels sprouts, baby spinach, grilled chicken breast and tomatoes with a dressing of garlic, lemon, olive oil and sometimes pure maple syrup.
The bowls can be modified to fit any meal and specific diets but they should always be made with whole, unprocessed foods.
“Whether it’s paleo, Mediterranean, primal or vegan (diets), the underlying factor is real. Just eat real food,” Wright says. “It’s better than sitting down with a bag of chips.”
Vicki Andvik, a licensed registered dietician at Essentia in Fargo, says power bowls are a way to encourage people to eat more fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains.
“It if gets people to eat healthier foods, whatever method that is, that’s a good thing to me,” she says.
When people ask Andvik what qualifies as a power food, she says they’re usually colorful fruits and vegetables.
“The more variety of colors you can have, the more vitamins and minerals and antioxidants that you’re going to consume,” she says.
In addition to fruits and vegetables, salmon, chia seeds, eggs, almonds, beans and lentils are often considered power foods.
While vegetables and grains can be a source of protein, Andvik recommends combining them so they’re a complete protein, meaning all nine amino acids are present. An example is a power bowl with a base of beans and kale or quinoa and spinach.
If the bowl’s protein source is meat, Andvik says to stick with a lean option like chicken, and to avoid processed protein like deli meat.
Vegetable chopping and other prep work for the bowls can be done ahead of time, making it easier to compile the nutritious meals during busy weeks.
“Time is always a big factor. I don’t sugar-coat it and tell (my patients) eating healthy is easy,” Andvik says. “It takes planning and thought, but if we can make it a little easier by doing some of the prep work on the weekends when you have a little more time, you can throw things together quickly after work or in the morning to bring with you so you can make healthier choices.”
Wright enjoys power bowls for their variety and satisfying combinations of whole foods and stresses she isn’t a perfectly healthy eater all the time, but power bowls make it easy to eat well.
Wright encourages people to try the concept even though whole foods, like an avocado, might not be as low-calorie as processed foods. Sometimes, she says, that scares people away from trying new foods, however nutritious they might be.
“For so long, the FDA was preaching a low-calorie, low-fat diet but now we’re preaching these high (healthy) fats, high nutrient-dense foods, less processed foods,” she says. “Healthy living and healthy eating aren’t restrictive anymore and that’s the great thing.”
Chickpea-Chicken Power Bowl
Serves 4
Ingredients
15-ounce can chickpeas/garbanzo beans
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 chicken breasts pounded to an even thickness (omit if making a vegetarian bowl)
salt and pepper
4 eggs
9 ounces baby spinach (or baby kale, shredded Brussels sprouts, or other nutritious green)
½ cup shelled pistachios
½ cup dried cranberries
4 ounces goat cheese (omit for a dairy-free bowl)
Other vegetables to suit taste, like sliced red bell peppers, cucumber, etc.
Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette
Juice of two lemons
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain garbanzo beans, then rinse and pat dry with a towel. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and add extra virgin olive oil and toss with your hands to coat.
2. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring halfway through, or until caramel in color (beans will continue crisping as they cool). Sprinkle with salt then set aside to cool completely.
3. Place eggs in a saucepan then cover with cold water one inch above the tops. Bring to a boil, place a lid on top, and remove pan from heat and let sit for 12 minutes.
4. Drain then plunge the eggs into ice water or run under cold water for a few minutes. Peel eggs when cool enough to handle then slice.
5. Brush chicken breasts on both sides with extra virgin olive oil then season with salt and pepper. Sauté in a skillet over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes a side, or until no longer pink in the center. Cool for 10 minutes, and then thinly slice.
6. Divide spinach between four bowls then top each bowl with ¼ cup crispy baked chickpeas/garbanzo beans, one-fourth of the cooked chicken, one sliced hard-boiled egg, 2 tablespoons each pistachios and dried cranberries and 1 ounce crumbled goat cheese.
7. To make the Lemon-Honey Vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a jar or bowl then shake or whisk to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Pour over salads and serve.
Note: Chicken breasts, hard-boiled eggs and roasted chickpeas can be made ahead of time.
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