rice bowl

After returning home from Hawaii last week, I have a new found appreciation for tuna. We ate tuna (ahi) at least once a day in the form of poke at least once a day. It was fantastic. I wanted to come home and make my very own version of poke, but oddly I can’t find super fresh ahi tuna anywhere around Charlotte. North Carolina (not a hint of sarcasm). So the next best thing was some fresh yellowfin tuna I found at my local Whole Foods.

Since I couldn’t confirm that it was “sushi grade”, and thus acceptable for eating raw, I decided to do something a little different with my tuna. I crusted it in some sesame seeds and then seared it very quickly to just barely cook the outside, leaving the inside completely rare. Trust me, it’s delicious!

First find yourself a good tuna steak! I recommend talking to the fish monger and asking how fresh the tuna is. You don’t want something that is anything over a couple days. Then you won’t be able to cook it and keep it rare.

Then marinate the tuna in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger. Not long. Just long enough to get a little sticky so that the sesame seeds can adhere to it.

Speaking of which, pour out a bunch of sesame seeds onto a plate then press your lightly marinated tuna into the seeds so that you have a nice even layer on both sides.

Now it’s time to sear this bad boy. I didn’t take any pictures of this process because it happened so quickly! Literally, we popped it into a searing hot pan for about 30 seconds on each side. It was just long enough for the outside to cook, the sesame seeds to char a bit, but the inside stays nice and pink.

For the rest of this bowl, I kept it simple. I served the gorgeous tuna over a bowl of sushi rice, with a bit of avocado, and some mango-pineapple salsa. It definitely took me back to being in Hawaii!

Man it was good.

If you want to feel like you are eating lunch in a tropical paradise, make yourself this tuna bowl, turn on a sound machine (crashing waves), and close your eyes. You will basically be there with your toes in the sand.

Now I know fresh tuna isn’t always easy to come by, and it’s not all that cheap, but I promise it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to Hawaii!

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I’ve mentioned this before, but teriyaki chicken is one of my favorite slow cooker meals.

It’s easy
It’s healthy
It makes a ton of food!

Every single time I make the recipe I have so much food left over that I am eating teriyaki chicken for days. It has forced me to be a little creative to find new ways to eat it.

This teriyaki chicken bowl is one of my latest creations heavily inspired by both Pinterest and all the food in the fridge we had to use before we went on vacation. I had the pineapple leftover from making tacos al pastor, and I always seem to have some sort of carrot in the fridge and broccoli in the freezer.

As you can tell, I clearly didn’t work too hard on this recipe. It was as easy as throwing everything into a bowl. I started with a healthy helping of brown rice, then topped that with all the other yummy ingredients. I sprinkled some extra sesame seeds on top for garnish (and to look pretty in the pictures). I also drizzled over some of the extra teriyaki sauce from the bottom of the crock pot.

I absolutely love the teriyaki chicken and pineapple combination. It may seem odd to have fruit in a rice bowl, but I promise you, the two are mads for each other. Then with all the other healthy ingredients, this is one filling meal! It makes the perfect easy dinner and leftovers are perfect for a weekday lunch!

To me there is nothing better than making one big meal and being able to stretch it out into 2 or 3. It just makes life so much easier!

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Sesame Crusted Tuna Bowl

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Bowl