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 :).

Red Lentil Thai Chili: Unexpected Combo

While I realize this meal seems, on the surface, very similar to the Rustic Winter Stew in my last post, I am a fan of all things Thai and decided I must try Post Punk Kitchen's Red Lentil Thai Chili. The author of the post said it was delicious and "blessedly easy", so why not?

Most ingredients in the recipe are common enough; however, those of you readers without an Asian market nearby may have trouble finding the Thai red curry paste and possibly the coconut milk. I actually had Thai green curry paste and coconut cream left over from a foray into Thai cooking after my trip to Southeast Asia in 2006. I substituted the green curry paste for the red and cut the coconut cream with water to make coconut milk.

In addition to these small changes, I also cut the vegetable both in half and used 2 cups of water to reduce the dish's sodium content (you'll find this to be a habit of mine).

Well, the unexpected combination of both curry and chili lived up to one of PPK's descriptions: delicious! The curry/chili is the perfect combination of both spicy and sweet--if you don't do well with spice, you might want to reduce the curry paste and/or increase the coconut milk. Pair the dish with some brown rice and a salad for a well-rounded, nutritious meal.

That said, the curry/chili was not exactly "blessedly easy". Fairly easy? Yes. However, preparation through cleanup lasted about an hour, with the vegetable chopping and dish washing as the most time-consuming. Preparing the rice and salad added another 10 to 15 minutes.

As stated on PPK's blog, this recipe prepare quite of bit of food...but I would certainly not say it's enough for 10 to 12 servings. As a main dish for hearty eaters, this dish would serve 4 at most.

Overall, I'd rate this the Red Lentil Thai Chili recipe as an 8.

Stay tuned for my next review of Hippy Gourmet's Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms.

PPK's Rustic Winter Stew (Over Polenta?)

As the snow raged in New Hampshire today, nothing sounded mor  e appetizing for dinner than Post  Punk Kitchen's Rustic Winter Stew Over Polenta. My husband Ryan and I thoroughly enjoyed the hearty, warm dish, with a few changes from the original recipe.

While Ryan was gracious enough to brave the blizzard to do our food run, he could not find the polenta and did not buy the celery seed (he seems to think I have too many spices--impossible!). This necessitated a few small changes to the recipe: we ate our stew over brown rice and  omitted the celery seed. In addition, while the recipe calls for 2 bay leaves, it never says when to add them; I therefore forgot to add them at all. Finally, I cut the vegetable stock in half and added 2 cups of water instead to cut down on the sodium.

The result? Ryan and I both happily ate the well-rounded, whole meal. It was slightly bland, which I attribute to cutting out the celery seed, some of the veggie stock, and the seasoned polenta. Perhaps adding a bit more thyme, salt and pepper, as well as a hint of spice (red pepper flakes? cayenne pepper?) would fill out the flavor.

As for servings, this recipe fed us both well (we have big appetites) with a 2-cup serving left over for lunch tomorrow.

Overall, I'd rate my version of this recipe at 6 out of 10. Healthy, well-rounded, filling, fairly inexpensive...but needing a little more pop.