‘Bowls’ have been all the rage recently. And no, I don’t just mean the crockery (I’m pretty sure they’ve been all the rage for several thousand years now), I mean bowl dinners – basically a load of stuff… in a bowl. They’re generally pretty healthy, easy to make, and often only require one pan.

There are very few rules when it comes to making bowl dinners. Here’s my general formula:

– a grain / starch: rice, quinoa, mashed potato, etc.

– a protein: chickpeas, beans, lentils, nuts, tofu, etc.

– veg: heaps and heaps of them.

– something yummy to finish: crumbled cheese, a nice sauce or dressing, etc.

This time I went for brown rice, chickpeas, kale, tomatoes, and feta cheese. Because there are so many elements, it was really hard to decide what to call the recipe! Garlicky kale and tomato chickpea brown rice bowls with feta and lemon juice sounded a bit messy… so, kale and tomato brown rice bowls it is. Just don’t forget the chickpeas and feta. And lemon. And garlic. And… you get the idea.

As a side note, may I point out that this was the first recipe I’ve made with Pip the pup at my feet. Until now, she’s either been sleeping or my husband’s entertained her while I’ve been working, but since he was at work himself today, and I didn’t feel like having another day off work (I know, it’s a hard life), I thought I’d see if she’d be okay in the kitchen with me. This was her pretty much the whole time:

She’s very quickly becoming the most well behaved puppy ever (I feel I can take a small amount of credit for this fact).

Anyway, nobody wants to think about dogs while they’re trying to think about food, so back to the brown rice bowls.

I didn’t make a sauce to go with these bowls because when the tomatoes cook down, they go nice and juicy and everything is plenty moist enough already. With the squeeze of lemon juice and crumbled feta cheese, these healthy dinner bowls are just the ticket.

Oh, by the way – if you’d rather eat this meal off a plate, you’re totally allowed to. Just don’t tell anyone.

Print Kale and tomato brown rice bowls Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 5 mins Total Time: 15 mins Servings: 2 -3 Ingredients 1 large handful of kale

1 tbsp oil

1/2 onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

3 medium tomatoes diced

400 g tin chickpeas 240g when drained, drained

280 g cooked brown rice ~1 1/2 cups

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt

Black pepper

50 g feta cheese crumbled Instructions Remove any tough stems from the kale, and roughly chop the leaves.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and add the onion, garlic and kale. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, until the kale has wilted.

Add the diced tomatoes, chickpeas and cooked rice, along with the lemon juice and seasoning. Cook for 5 more minutes over a medium heat, until everything is piping hot. Serve topped with the crumbled feta cheese. Author: Becca Heyes

Love dinner in a bowl? Try my garlicky quinoa bowls with broccoli: