Simple yet Satisfying: Lentil and Quinoa Salad

Time: 40 minutes 
Servings: About 2 for Dinner
Overall Rating: 6.5...but lots of potential!

On my way home from work today (Boston to southern New Hampshire-yuck!), I was despairing a bit about the lack of food in the fridge for dinner. I thought about stopping to pick up a Cedar's Black Bean Salad and some brown rice, but I really didn't want to go to the supermarket. So I took my chances and went home to rummage through the pantry.

I was lucky enough to find some lentils, quinoa and various veggies (mostly thanks to my brother, Jimmy, who is staying with us for a few months). The resulting salad, served over baby spinach, was nothing outstanding, but it was certainly healthy, satisfying and pretty yummy.

In addition to great nutritional value, the beauty of this salad is its flexibility. Choose a base grain (such as quinoa, brown rice or wild rice), choose a protein (such as lentils, black beans or chickpeas), add veggies (such as peppers, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, etc.), oil (such as olive or sesame), vinegar (such as balsamic, white wine or rice wine) and seasoning. As you can see, there are many options to make a hearty grain/protein salad.

Tonight's version is as follows:

Ingredients

This is what I found through my rummaging efforts.

• 1 Cup Uncooked Quinoa
• 1 Cup Uncooked Lentils (your choice of color; I used brown)
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper
• 1/2 Red Onion
• 1/2 Jalapeno
• Handful Cauliflower
• 1 Large Tomato
• 1.5 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 1.5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper to Taste

Cook the rinse both the quinoa and lentils and cook according to directions. I mixed 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water, covered it and brought it to a boil, reduced the heat to low and simmered about 10 minutes--cook just until the water is gone. For the lentils, I also used about 2 cups of water for 1 cup of lentils, but I had to add another cup toward the end because the existing water was almost gone and the lentils were still a little hard. They took about 22-23 minutes to cook.

While the quinoa and lentils are cooking, finely dice your veggies, or, to make things so much easier, throw them in the food processor for a few pulses.

Mix the cooked quinoa and lentils with the chopped veggies. Add the oil, vinegar and seasoning. Voila! Serve over baby spinach or other greens for some extra nutritional value.

Check out these other grain/protein recipes for some more inspiration. You'll notice that most of them are a variation of the grain, protein, oil, vinegar, seasonings guideline.

Black Bean and Quinoa Salad
Cherry Quinoa Salad 

Let me know what combinations you come up with in the comments :).