Blog Takeover: Mediterranean Buddha Bowl with Toasted Chickpeas and Hallouimi

Summer is in full swing, and the hot temperatures have me craving quick and healthy meals that don’t require turning on the oven. I love a good salad, loaded with vibrant greens and fresh seasonal produce. The cuisine of the Mediterranean, which focuses on fresh vegetables, bright herbs, tomatoes, olives, and feta, are perfect for summer meals. Salads are always front and center on our table during the warm months. A great way to turn a salad into a meal is to make a Buddha bowl, and with Taylor Farms Mediterranean Crunch Organic Salad Kit, it is so easy to do!

Taylor Farms’ dedication to healthy, fresh, and wholesome food means that I can feel good serving their products to my family. Taylor Farms is committed to sustainable farming and uses only the freshest ingredients. This means that every bag is filled with wholesome and healthy ingredients that are picked at the peak of freshness. Their Mediterranean Crunch Organic Chopped Salad kit is loaded with a blend of organic romaine, chicory, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, and carrots that are all washed, chopped, and ready to serve! They have taken care of all the prep work, which means, that their salads are ready to go straight to the table from the bag. This kit also comes with crispy flat bread strips, which give a nice crunch of texture, creamy bits of feta cheese, and a delicious sweet and tangy basil vinaigrette that with one taste will immediately make you think of summer. This salad is so amazing by itself, as a side dish, and with a few extra ingredients, you can transform this kit into a complete meal!

So, let’s go back to this delicious Mediterranean summer-inspired recipe!  Buddha bowls are a great way to make a complete and nutritional meal in one bowl. To make a Buddha bowl, you need fresh greens, grain, protein, crunchy toppings, and a dressing. This salad kit has your Buddha bowl basics all covered as it has a wide selection of greens, crunchy flatbread topping, and dressing! So easy! All you need to do is add grains and a protein I added rainbow quinoa for my grains, toasted chickpeas seasoned with cumin and smoked paprika for my protein. I added even more Mediterranean flavors with briny Kalamata olives, crisp cool cucumbers, slivers of red onions, juicy ripe summer tomatoes, a creamy avocado, and slices of golden pan fried Halloumi cheese! This is so incredibly delicious and flavorful! My Mediterranean Buddha bowl is bright and fresh from all the fresh vegetables and greens, hearty from the quinoa, a touch spicy from the toasted chickpeas, sweet and tangy from the dressing, with loads of crisp texture from the flatbread toppings and cucumbers, and so creamy from the avocado. It’s everything you could want from one bowl of food.  I made mine vegetarian, but you could swap out the chickpeas for salmon, shrimp, or even flank steak. The possibilities and flavor combinations you can make with Taylor Farms Chopped Salad Kits are endless. I hope you try my Mediterranean summer-inspired recipe!

Mediterranean Crunch Buddha Bowl with Toasted Chickpeas and Halloumi

Ingredients: 

4 cups Taylor Farms Mediterranean Crunch Organic Chopped Salad Kit

2 cups cooked tri-colored Quinoa (1 cup raw and cooked according to package directions)

1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced

1 pint cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 avocado, pitted, halved, and sliced

7 ounces Halloumi, cut and sliced into six 1/4 inch thick pieces

1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted

1 15.5 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and dried

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

Olive oil

Fresh basil and lemon slices to serve

Directions:

1. Prepare Quinoa according to package directions and set aside.
2. Place rinsed and drained chickpeas over paper towels and dry thoroughly. While quinoa cooks, heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add drained chickpeas, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes (until chickpeas begin to crisp on all sides). In the last couple minutes of cooking, add smoked paprika, ground cumin, and salt, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Remove from stove and sprinkle over chopped flat leaf parsley.
3. Slice Halloumi into six equal pieces. Heat frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Carefully place cheese in pan and cook 2-3 minutes per side or until golden in color. Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Assemble bowls, arranging ingredients in its own section of the bowl (like slices of a pie). a circle! Set out two very large, shallow bowls. To each bowl add 2 cups Taylor Farms Mediterranean Crunch Chopped Salad greens, 1 cup cooked quinoa,, three slices of the fried Halloumi, half of the sliced cucumbers, half the cut tomatoes, half cup olives, 1 cup toasted chickpeas, 1/2 avocado, 1/4 cup sliced red onions. Using half the Salad kit toppings packets, top your Buddha Bowl with Taylor Farms feta, crispy flatbread strips, and drizzle over one packet of the basil vinaigrette. Garnish with a few fresh basil leaves and squeeze over a slice or two of lemon juice.
5. Enjoy! Note this recipe uses half of the large family size 19. 02 oz Mediterranean Crunch Organic Chopped Salad Kit and makes two very large servings. The kit will make four large servings; just double all the add-ins above.