Beef & Sweet Potato Bowls will be your 4 p.m. go-to recipe for a quick, healthy, and totally yummy weeknight dinner.
DINNER ON THE TABLE IN UNDER 30 MINUTES
How many of you get to 4 0’Clock in the evening and realize that you have nothing planned for dinner? Occasionally this happens in our home in spite of my intentions of keeping a Menu Board. But, when this occurs, I always turn to my go-to bowls for a quick, healthy, and flavorful meal on the table in under thirty minutes. Whether it be a plant-forward Burrito Bowl with black beans, cilantro rice, and homemade “Beckamole”, Spicy Vegetables & Coconut Rice, Spicy Shrimp bowls, or these Beef & Sweet Potato bowls, I know I am giving my family a healthy and fun dinner that is on the table in no time.
From Leftovers to Over-the-Top
Not only are Beef & Sweet Potato Bowls the perfect quick, healthy, and totally yummy weeknight dinner, but they are great for cleaning out the refrigerator for leftover night. What do I mean by that? Beef & Sweet Potato bowls comprise several parts: ground beef, bone broth rice, garlicky lemon broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes, diced avocado, fresh cilantro, and hot sauce. Many of these things are components of other meals. When you are in a pinch for dinner, rice, protein, leftover veggies, avocado, fresh herbs, and hot sauce will take leftovers to over-the-top.
Meal Prep Sundays
On Sundays, we do meal prep. I prepare the bone broth for soup, roasted sweet potatoes for a quick and healthy breakfast, and several pounds of ground beef sautéed with garlic, onion, and my favorite Everything Seasoning. By prepping my ground beef ahead of time, I am ready for at least the foundation for quick dinners like chili, tacos, or spaghetti sauce. Ultimately food prep days are so helpful for preparing bulk items I will use often during the week. Having them already prepared makes weekday meal prep and cleanup a breeze.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOWLS
Do you remember when you were a kid, and you read those Choose Your Own Adventure Books? The ones that say, “If you want this to happen in the story…turn to page 45. If this, turn to page 82.” I loved being the master of the story and going where my imagination was directing. That’s the same way I feel about dinner bowls. Similar to an all-you-can-eat salad or potato bar, everyone gets to build their own bowls.
First, you start with a foundation of bone-broth enriched rice or quinoa. Next, you add protein, vegetables of your choosing, fresh herbs, and of course, you finish with the hot sauce. For these Beef & Sweet Potato bowls, I make sure and find sustainably sourced ground beef, as I purchase from Butcher Box meat delivery. Because I prepare my own bone broth from scratch every week, I always have it available in the freezer ready to prepare soup or add extra minerals, protein, and flavor to the rice or other whole grains.
The Players for Beef & Sweet Potato Bowls
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
To make the perfect roasted sweet potatoes, line a cookie sheet with a parchment paper baking sheet and set the oven to preheat to 400°. Dice up about three large sweet potatoes or however many you can fit, without crowding, on your cookie sheet. I love to use my Mueller Vegetable Chopper because it makes chopping a breeze. If you are using organic sweet potatoes, there is no need to peel them; just scrub them well. Drizzle olive oil over your potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Additionally, you could sprinkle fresh thyme to add a pop of flavor and an antioxidant boost. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes until they are golden and soft. These are also truly amazing for breakfast with a fried or poached egg and sliced avocado. What a way to start your day! So, make extra for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Seasoned Ground Beef
To prepare the seasoned ground beef, defrost 1-2 pounds of grass-fed ground beef (depending on the size of your family). Heat 1 tsp. avocado or olive oil in a large cast iron skillet. Chop 1/2-1 whole small onion **(see Kitchen tip below) and sauté in oil until fragrant. Add a heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic *(see Kitchen tip below). Additionally, spoon in a teaspoon or more to your tasting of Everything Seasoning. If you don’t have Everything Seasoning, just use salt and pepper to taste.
BONE BROTH RICE
Substituting bone broth for the water in your rice increases minerals, protein, as well as flavor. I also like to add the addition of saffron threads and cardamom for that extra boost of special. In 1 T avocado oil, sauté 2 cups of rinsed Jasmine Rice until slightly golden over medium heat. Add 4 cups of bone broth or chicken broth, 1 tsp sea salt, a pinch of saffron threads, and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cover. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes, covered. Fluff with a fork and serve as the base for your bowls.
ADDITIONAL TOPPINGS
- Garlicky Lemon Broccoli
- Avocado, cubed
- Fresh Cilantro
- Fermented Jalapeños adds some probiotics, digestive enzymes, and SPICY HOT awesomeness
- Cholula Hot Sauce
- Trader Joe’s brand Salsa Verde
Preparing the Bowls
Scoop out some bone broth rice in a bowl. Spoon about 1/2 cup of ground beef on one side. Rotate the bowl and add broccoli. Continue adding your toppings in a rotated fashion, and then top it all off with fresh chopped cilantro, Cholula Hot Sauce, Salsa Verde, and some Fermented Jalapeños —just because you love life! EnJOY, and I promise not to tell you, “I told you so,” when you end up adding this to your weekly dinner rotation.
KITCHEN TIPS
*Just a tip, but I buy a large bag of peeled garlic from Costco and chop it in my food processor. I fill a quart-sized jar with the chopped garlic and then pour olive oil until just below the top allowing it time to seep down to the bottom, topping it off until it is full. It stores nicely in the refrigerator for about 2 months so long as the oil continues to cover the garlic. Top it off as needed. I place any extra peeled garlic from the Costco bag in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer to be added to my bone broth preparation.
**For easy meal prep, I am totally infatuated with my newest kitchen gadget, the Mueller Vegetable Chopper. Oh my goodness, it makes chopping a quick, easy-peasy breeze, and everything is cut the same size for even cooking. One of my daughters, who will remain nameless, dislikes cooking. Gasp! I know. She recently started a health reset and needed a meal prep day that included a week’s worth of rice, soup, salad, and fruit. Most of these things required ample chopping, which she would rather poke out her right eye. I offered her my new kitchen chopper, and she actually had fun and looked around for something else to chop. See, cooking can be fun. There is hope yet.
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Parchment paper baking sheets, 200 ct
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In everything you do -eat, play, and, love- may it always be Seasoned with Joy!
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