My very colorful lunch.

Today for lunch, I wanted to recreate one of my very favorite meals: the famous veggie bowl from Joe's Naturals. (I'm not really sure how famous it is, but it's famous to me! I think about it all the time.)

I got most of these ingredients from Trader Joe's, and they're easy to find during the summer.
Even better would be getting them from a local farmer's market.
And even better would be growing them on your own.
But with our garden, we only have jalapeño, squash, zucchini, and basil that's ready to pick so it didn't quite work out this time.

Anyway, it's super easy to put together and so colorful! (And it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan.)
I started by cooking about a cup of quinoa, and chopped my vegetables for the 15 minutes or so that the quinoa needed to cook.
I chopped up sugar snap peas.

Then chopped some tiny tomatoes into halves and quarters.

Then chopped some yellow bell pepper.

And finally, added some shredded carrots.

I also made a quick balsamic vinaigrette by simply blending olive oil and balsamic vinegar:


Once the quinoa fluffed up, I added a scoop of it to the plate, then tossed the veggies on top. On top of that, I added a dollop of roasted pine nut hummus that I had, some chopped avocado, and finally a drizzle of the balsamic vinaigrette.

So healthy and so delicious (I even made another plate for dinner)! :) I hope you try it!