Winter Nourish Bowl

If I haven't yet convinced you that salads don't have to be boring, I'll continue to try and prove you wrong.

First step? Name it something else. Why is it that the simple mindset shift of swapping salad to grain bowl makes me want to eat it 10x more?

I personally am all about the grain bowl trend, mostly because they're everything a salad should be - well-rounded.

If you've checked out my Meal Prep Guide, you know the "Basic Meal Breakdown" I swear by. This a super effective tool for building balanced, nourishing, and satisfying meals, and it can and should be used for salads as well.

In this delicious recipe, I used farro and roasted sweet potatoes, both of which are the perfect base for any grain bowl or salad. Farro is one of my all-time favorite ingredients, as you can tell from its use in these other tasty recipes:

• Farro, Apple & Arugula Salad
• Winter Kale Salad
• Homemade Flower Child Mother Earth Bowl

Next, the other base of this bowl is arugula, one of the best greens there is, in my opinion. It has the best, subtly spicy flavor and is packed full of nutrients.

Likewise, we'll throw in some super tasty toppings like mandarin oranges, sliced dates, feta cheese, and pistachios. It's the BEST combination of flavors and textures you're sure to love.

Toss it all up with my classic Lemon Tahini Dressing, and you're in business. I personally love and recommend serving this with a protein of some sort to make a more complete meal. I love whipping up my fool proof air fryer chicken breasts or grilled steak.

Let me know if you give this a try this week!

Yields - 2-3 full sized salads, 4-6 side portions

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked farro (from about 1 cup uncooked)
• 2 generous handfuls arugula
• 1 medium/large sweet potato, cubed
• 1/2 cup pistachos
• 3/4 cup dates, chopped
• 2 oranges, peeled and cut into hunks
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp avocado oil

Lemon Tahini Dressing

• ¼ cup runny tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons water, more to thin if needed
• 1 small garlic clove, pressed or grated (or sub for 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover cut sweet potatoes with avocado oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet. Roast for ~20 minutes, until golden.
2. Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking all of the ingredients together. Adjust seasonings to taste.
3. Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl, and toss in tahini dressing.
4. Serve, and enjoy!