Woo hoo, we did it! It’s day 5 of the 5-Day Fall Cleanse! I am super excited to be sharing this yummy bowl of fall goodness for the final day of this challenge. I am not exactly sure why they call these delicious meals “Buddha Bowls”, but it is something I have seen quite often at restaurants, since moving out here to Southern California. They are always a little different at each place, but the gist of it is this – usually some type of grain at the bottom, brown rice, quinoa or millet (but you can certainly go without) and a great big pile of veggies on top. I’ve seen them with steamed or roasted veggies and raw, as well. Most have avocado and a drizzle of some sort of yummy sauce, over it all. I think what I love about Buddha Bowls is the fact that it’s just a great way to make a hodge podge mess of veggies into a meal and still give it a fancy refined name. A Buddha Bowl, sounds so much nicer than “a fridge cleaning pile of veggies”. It really is a great way to use up those greens before they go bad.

We got our huge CSA box delivered this week – that’s right our CSA boxes are now being delivered right to our home once a week, how amazing is Southern California? – and I decided even before it came, that I was going to be able to make all kinds of goodness for my 5-Day Cleanse. For whatever reason, I had been dreaming of creating my own Buddha Bowl before my box even arrived this week, so I couldn’t wait to see what was in there waiting for me to work with. I also had half of a butternut squash leftover from my Fall Detox Soup and I just adore the taste of roasted butternut squash, it’s so sweet and delicious. The perfect additional to a fall Buddha bowl, if you ask me. Any other squash would work too, pumpkin, kobocha or even just a sweet potato.

I served this over the smallest amount of quinoa, since I had it leftover from early in the week and I didn’t want it to go to waste, but to be totally honest, it didn’t need it at all. I ended up picking the vegetables out, eating around and not even finishing the quinoa. This would be great with some toasted nuts or seeds on top, though I realized this after I was halfway into eating it. The garlicky turmeric cashew cream is a really tasty way to top all of this, it has a nice bright flavor from the lemon and the garlic is strong, but not overpowering. The turmeric brings not only a beautiful golden color, but it’s great for detoxing. Known to be one of the most powerful healing foods on the planet, turmeric has been used in as anti-inflammatory, for detoxifying the liver, clearing the skin, purifying blood, relieving pain, improving memory and supporting lightness in the body. Used in traditional East Asian medicines and rituals it was believed to possess a spiritual power capable of cleansing negative energy from spaces, people and objects. Now that’s some serious detoxing right there!! I love when I can find fresh turmeric root at the market, it’s so wonderful for homemade teas.

What would you put in your Buddha Bowl?

[print_this]Fall Detox Buddha Bowl with Garlic Turmeric Cashew Cream
Makes 1 seriously large Buddha bowl or 2 regular sized bowls

2 teaspoons olive oil or melted coconut oil
2 cups of butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 bunch kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 cup cooked grain of your choice, if using (brown rice, millet, quinoa, etc) – optional

Garlic Turmeric Cashew Cream
1/2 cup cashews, soaked at a minimum 4 hours or overnight*
2-3 small cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/3 cup water (you may want less or more, so don’t add it in all at once)

Preheat your oven to 400ºF.

Toss the butternut squash with the oil, lightly salt and pepper and place a baking sheet and into the oven to roast. After about 15 minutes the squash should be starting to get tender, add the broccoli florets and toss them a bit to get coated with a little oil. Continue roasting for another 15 minutes, or so until the squash is tender and the broccoli is just barely tender and everything is nice and browned.

Meanwhile, prepare the kale. You can go with the kale raw if you’d like, personally I prefer it a little cooked. I just cooked mine super quickly in a pan on the stovetop over a medium-high heat with the littlest drizzle of oil, you just want to soften it a bit, but not to overcook it. Literally just a minute or two to cook it down.

Make the cashew cream sauce, drain and rinse your cashews, add the cashews and all of the other ingredients to your high speed blender and process until smooth and creamy.

Assemble your bowls. Start with a small bed of your grain (if using), layer on the kale, then add the butternut squash and broccoli, the diced avocado and drizzle the cashew cream over top.

*if I forget to soak my cashews, I will pour boiling water over the cashews and let them sit for 15-20 minutes. Bam, works just as good. [/print_this]

Today over on With Love and Food, Sherrie is dishing up this cleansing Massaged Kale, Fennel + Pomegranate Salad with a Balsamic Honey Vinaigrette. So head over to her blog now to get the recipe!

Make sure to follow along with us on our social media sites for more cleanse tips + details this week and for photos and recipes to the foods we’re eating. Hashtag {#5dayfallcleanse} if you share any photos, we’d love to see what you are eating!

TASTY YUMMIES

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