Oh look! Something healthy-ish! Between all these holiday goodies and the most amazingly delicious buttery rum cake I’m planning to share with you all next week I better pack some nutrition into this post… with goat cheese, *winky face. This lentil salad is so super simple and can be easily adapted to accommodate the ingredients you have in your fridge. The crazy holiday time is upon us, super simple lentil salads are your friends! So the formula (which is really similar to these yummy bowls) goes something like this: lentils + roasted veg + fruit + nut/seed + optional cheese & fresh herb. All dressed up with a basic, but always delicious dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Too easy right? Let me give you some more examples: lentils with roasted cauliflower, clementines, almond slivers and feta. Should I keep going? Ok! Lentils, roasted brussels sprouts, apples, pistachios and parmesan. One more? Lentils, roasted beets, walnuts and goat cheese. Now I have the 12-days-of-lentil-salad christmas carol playing in my head! Hope this holiday season is treating you well my friends! Peace!
Ingredients for the Lentil Salad
1 cup lentils, green or black
1 medium sized butternut squash
1/2 a red onion
seeds from 1 small pomegranate
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
2 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
fresh parsley for garnish
Ingredients for the Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper
Directions
While the lentils are cooking, roast the squash. Cube squash and toss with olive oil, spices, s&p and thinly sliced red onion. Roast on 400F for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain lentils after they are done cooking, they taste best al dente in a salad so don’t let them get mushy! In a large bowl toss together the rest of the ingredients. For the dressing simply shake up equal parts olive oil and red wine vinegar and pour over salad. Taste for salt and pepper.