tahini lentils and roasted veggie bowls

Iron concerns on a plant-based diet? Eat this!

This meal started with the veg. I had 2 heads of broccoli and an already chopped winter squash. And I was hungry.

As you know, I like to plan dinner by starting with the vegetables (read “What’s the vegetable” here).

And without even thinking about it I just spread them both out on a large sheet pan — they were going in the oven. The sheet pan is always an easy option.

The rest I wasn’t sure about. But I was feeling lazy and it was a Monday so I had loosely planned to make some kind of bowl (buddha bowl, grain bowl, power bowl, whatever you like to call it). (Monday is “bowl” day in our house, see the other days of the week here.)

Then I remembered a casual and delicious recipe by Ottolenghi where he cooks puy lentils with tahini and lemon (the recipe is in Ottolenghi Plenty More). A friend of mine had made it for brunch and I loved the flavor profile (lentils-tahini-lemon). It was my inspiration for this bowl

After some flavor adjustments, it was the perfect pairing for my lazy roasted veggies.

The meal comes together easily and can be jazzed up with some low-maintenance garnishes like a handful of fresh herbs, hot sauce, or razor-thin red onion.