Summerfest 2010: Loaded Bowl of Deliciousness

Didja miss me today?  Sorry about the website issues, folks.  The server was giving me a headache, but all is right in the land now.  Onto what you *should* have seen here today…

Another gym night, another need for a quick, but healthy, dinner choice.  This weeks’ Summerfest 2010 ingredient is the wonderful tomato.  My kids adore them, with Madeline snacking on grape tomatoes like they’re candy, but for some reason, the tomatoes at the grocery store lately have seen rather pitiful – thank goodness for farmer’s markets!

When it comes to recipes with tomatoes, unless it’s in a hearty Italian dish, we tend to like our tomatoes in all their naked, unadored glory.  Rough chopped for a salad.  Thinly sliced for some crostini.  A nice even dice for a fresh salsa or bruschetta.  Raw and pure.  And tonight’s dinner was no exception.

I came up with the idea for this Loaded Bowl of Deliciousness on the fly, at nearly the eleventh hour, as I was rushing out to the gym.  I needed something quick, since we weren’t going to eat until I came home.  And something that used tomatoes, for tonight’s Summerfest.  And something that everyone would eat.  That’s a pretty tall order these days.  The Loaded Bowl was it.  Much like the Open Faced Chef Salad Sandwich I made awhile back, this is a great recipe to use as a guideline to mix and match the end result based on whose bowl it is.

Jamie doesn’t like mushrooms, so I took hers.  Nick thinks he doesn’t like spinach, so his was more disguised.  Everyone likes avocado, so extra all around.  Nick doesn’t care for onions, and neither does Madeline, so more for me and Jamie.  You get my drift.  You cook what needs to be cooked, line up the bowls and fill them according to who is digging in.  I did include a basic outline of how I made our Loaded Bowls of Deliciousness tonight below, but this is one of those things that you need to just use as a guideline and personalize to your own tastebuds … the possibilities are endless, each one more tasty than the next.  And seriously, clean eating at its best.  We were chowing down within 15 minutes of me walking in the door.

And now for more tomato goodness, do check out my fellow Summerfest food blogging participants and see what they’re dishing up (since all of us are in varying time zones, a few of the posts might not show up until tomorrow, so keep checking):

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: Heirloom Tomato Tart with Parmesan Crust

Nicole at Pinch My Salt: What to do with slow-roasted tomatoes

Alison at Food2: Heirloom tomatoes

The FN Dish: Tyler’s Ultimate Tomato Salads

Margaret at A Way to Garden: More than one way to ripen a tomato

Gilded Fork: Celebrating summer lusciousness with a tomato dossier and recipes

Diane and Todd at White on Rice Couple: Sun-dried tomatoes (actually made in the sun!)

Paige at The Sister Project: 3 substantial, healthy, vegetarian tomatoey main dishes

Liz at the Cooking Channel: Easy Tomato Tart

Kelly at Just a Taste: Tomato Jam

Alexis at Food Network UK: The seven deadly tomato sins

Michelle at Healthy Eats: Top 10 Things to Do With Tomatoes

Marilyn at Simmer Till Done: Cherry Tomato & Maytag Blue Beignets

Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Roasted Green Salsa (green zebras and tomatillos), and how late August makes her hurt for New Mexico

Tigress in a Pickle: Over 50 ways to preserve tomatoes in jars

Caron at San Diego Foodstuff: Chunky Garden Gazpacho with Flowered Corn Tortillas and Melissa Clark’s Tomato Tarte Tatin

Judy at Divina Cucina with Tomatoes the Italian Way.

Project 365
August 24, 2010, Photo #154

The design team behind this new Op sneaker have got to be the smartest people e-v-e-r. The bottom has a clear section, so even if your 2-1/2 year old can’t tell you if her new sneakers fit properly, you can easily see for yourself. How cool is that?

Loaded Bowl of Deliciousness
Recipe by Cate O’Malley

brown rice
one large onion, sliced thinly
five large white button mushrooms, sliced
fresh spinach
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large tomato, diced
1 avocado, sliced
1 cooked chicken breast, cut into bite size strips
lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

While the brown rice is cooking, saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic.  Once it has caramelized, add the spinach and cook until wilted.  When the rice is done, spoon into your bowls.  Top with the cooked mushrooms, onions, garlic and spinach.  Add the cooked chicken, tomatoes and avocado.  Drizzle with a little lemon juice, olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Dig in.

Print it!