If this dish doesn’t scream “Cass is jonesin’ for summer”, then I don’t know what does. When I sliced into the lime to cut these pretty little wedges to garnish the dish, I seriously sat there and huffed the thing for like five minutes because it smelled so darn summery. I closed my eyes and had all these visions of sipping gin and tonics by the pool and eating pina colada sorbet after a hot day working in the garden and drinking cucumber limeade on the front porch in rocking chairs (not that we own any rocking chairs, but still). 
I even made Babyface smell it. I literally walked over to him on the couch with a lime in my hand and said “SMELL THIS LIME, BOY.” Marriage is all about shared experiences, right? And we smelled the hell out of that lime together. High-quality lime-sniffing bonding. The family that huffs limes together stays together. Or something like that. 
While the lime helps set the flavor of the bowls off, the real flavor superstar of them are the roasted veggies. I roasted sweet potatoes (both orange and purple, because that’s what I had on hand) with garlic, jalapeno, red onion and red peppers. Before popping them in the oven, I tossed the veggies in olive oil and a spice mixture that adds an incredible amount of flavor to the final rice bowls. You’d think with a bed of plain brown rice and ho-hum unflavored black beans, that this dish might be bland, but the blank canvas of the rice and beans balances beautifully with the explosive, spicy flavors of the roasted veggies. And just like with your favorite taco or burrito, you can doctor it up to be exactly what you want. Add a touch of salsa, a dollop of sour cream, some cheese, cilantro, or avocado to really make the rice bowl your own. 
All those veggies combined with hearty whole grains and a meatless source of protein make this one crazy healthy dish. In one serving, you’ll get over half of your daily recommended allowance of dietary fiber. And my favorite part—each bowl has a whopping 17 grams of lean, plant-based protein—making this a perfect dish for Meatless Monday! You’ll also snag 112% of your daily allowance of vitamin A in just one bowl. Why is getting vitamin A important? Well, vitamin A is one of the nutrients that our body can’t create itself, so we have to get it solely through dietary sources. Vitamin A is really important to help keep your eyes, your skin, your bones and your immune system healthy. 
This dish not only made for a great lunch, but it also made for a great dinner the next day and a great lunch the day after that and as an awesome side dish the day after that. This is one of those recipes that makes a ton and you can stash that in the fridge for easy-peasy eating all week-long. Sure, I made it all look pretty in the bowl for these pictures, but for fridge-storage, I just mixed the brown rice, black beans, and roasted veggies all together in a big bowl and stuffed it in the fridge. When it’s time to eat, I just heat up the mixture, put a few of my favorite toppings on it and a fiber-packed, protein-filled, flavorful, vegetarian lunch is served. I love that it’s a one-bowl kinda meal. No need to pack veggies or crackers or anything for the side. Gosh, I love easy meals. Enjoy! [box]
Roasted Veggie and Black Bean Rice Bowls
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 8 servings
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
- 3 cups cooked brown rice (try cilantro-lime rice)
- 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- Lime wedges
- Other toppings (avocado, chopped cilantro, sour cream, cheese, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper until combined. Add sweet potatoes, onions, red peppers, and jalapeno and toss to coat. Spread out the veggies on the prepared baking sheet in one layer. Roast in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender and beginning to brown and carmelize.
- To assemble bowls, spoon rice into bowl and top with black beans, then top with roasted veggies. Spritz bowl with lime juice and then top with desired toppings.
Nutritional Info
Serving size: About 1/3 cup rice, 1/2 cup beans and 1/2 cup roasted veggies. Servings per recipe: About 8. Note: nutritional info does not include toppings. ##LAVEEM_LABEL-ID:f81d5004##
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Are you excited for summer? Have anything excited planned to look forward to?
P.S. I just found out I was nominated for the 2013 Bloggies Awards! Yay! Thank you so much to everyone who nominated me. I am really flippin’ honored to be in a category with some of the biggest names in Health blogging. If you would like to, you can vote for me by visiting the Bloggies site, going to the “Health” category, checking the box next to Wholefully and then scrolling to the bottom to submit. Make sure to check out some of the other blogs nominated, too. There are some really amazing folks in there that you should add to your reader.
MY OTHER RECIPES
This looks right up my alley! Definitely making if we get sweet potatoes from our csa
This looks awesome! I love how simple ad satisfying everything you make looks. My boyfriend and I ADORE Chipotle, but going there once a day sounds a little expensive so this would be a great at-home alternative.
Aww, thanks Lauren! And this is definitely a good substitute for Chipotle. 🙂
I may or may not have just smelled my screen for lime juice. Just kidding (kinda). Am I alone?
This looks delicious, Cassie! Putting this on my *must make* list ASAP!!
How awesome would it be if there was such a thing as scratch-and-sniff websites? I would be ALL OVER THAT. Sign me up.
Only if nothing smells like the black Mr. Sketch marker. If we can promise not to reproduce that scent, then this is brilliant.
Hahaha! I wonder if it’s an all or nothing kind of thing. Like, if you go to the landfill website if it’ll be required to smell like garbage. Maybe then I don’t want it. 😛
Holy Cow- making these TONIGHT!
Enjoy! Yum! 🙂
I love how easy this looks! And healthy!
Mmmmm! This is perfect for me right now. Been looking for just the right black bean recipe to break myself of a newly developed but intense Chipotle habit.
This looks perfect! I decided to give up beef, poultry and pork for Lent, so I have been scouring the internet for awesome meatless meals (this totally fits the bill). I will definitely be making this later this week!
I made this for supper tonight and it is AWESOME! I love that it is not only delicious, but really filling as well. I can’t wait to eat leftovers all week! 🙂
I just wanted to say that I made this on Monday (along with some cilantro lime rice) and it was so delicious, simple and filling. I’ve been eating the leftovers all week and already can’t wait to make it again! Thanks!
I came across this recipe today looking up recipes for clean eating on pinterest. I like to prep my meals and I’m always looking up new clean recipes. Let me just say that I am SO thrilled that I came across your blog! Oohh myyy goooodnessss!! I made this today and it was soo delicious! I’m a huge sweet potato lover, so this totally satisfied my taste buds. And it really is filling! I made the cilantro lime rice to go with it and that tasted great too! Thank you for sharing! I will definitely be using more of your recipes in the future! 🙂
Made this for dinner last night. It blew me away. The seasonings and sweet potatoes made the dish. I was hesitant on adding sour cream, but to my surprise, it enhanced the flavors even more for me.
It’s a rarity when I can find a new recipe and like it so much to put it on the regular rotation. Thank you!
I made this tonight for some of our friends who just became new parents! It’s a great “baby-meal” because it keeps well and it’s freakin’ delicious! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
I just made this tonight. We subbed millet for the rice (it’s not as weird as it sounds) and topped with lime juice, salsa, an avocado and sour cream. It was amazing. Made 5 large servings – so, our little family has a leftover meal for tomorrow! 🙂 The only change I made was to add a little more oil to the spice mix for the veggies so it coated them better, but left everything else as-is. Thank you for the fantastic flavor combination. This recipe went right onto our keepers/repeaters list.
What is the calorie content?
You can calculate the calories here: caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
This looks insanely delicious! Your photos are so gorgeous too 🙂
Love this healthy bowl and can’t wait to try it for lunch!
Oh wow these look amazing! Perfect healthy winter dinner!
Growing up my mother always made basic, bland dishes- which is all I know now. I’ve been trying to branch out of my cooking comfort zone and try new things, and gave this a go.
OM NOM! I made this tonight and it was so incredibly delicious! I’ve never worked with peppers, black beans, or garlic bulbs before but it was simple to prepare. Thanks for sharing this recipe, it’s one of my new favorites now.
I love roasted vegetables and could eat them every day. You addition of lime to the spices is an excellent idea – I’ll definitely try it. Though I prefer white rice to brown, I’m good with grains and beans, so maybe I’ll use farro or barley with this.
Ohh all the flavours. It was delicious and so filling. Yum, yum, yum!
This recipe is SO delicious, I have literally made it almost every week since about June when I found it! The black beans/roasted veggies are also super yummy when put on scrambled “Southwestern” breakfast!!! Thank you for this amazing recipe!!!
Curious if anyone has ever tried to freeze this dish? I’d LOVE to try it as it seems everyone is raving about it but with a hubby gone away working all week I’d have a heck of a lot of food For one person. I know I could probably cut it in half but I like cooking big and freezing single servings for busy nights that I don’t have time to cook. Thanks!
I have been making these regularly since 2011. They’re tasty and easy.
A friend of mine brought this in for lunch at work today. It looked delicious…All I ate was one diced sweet potato and the flavors were so intense I could not wait to get the recipe! Will be making this soon.