Salad Season II

Grilled Japanese eggplant on a bed of gingered black lentils. Dressed with thyme, lemon juice, walnut oil and chopped walnuts    

Black & Blue, Broiled Steak Salad 

Filet mignon, avocado, marinated red onion and mushroom, steamed purple potatoes, carrots, 

black lentils, blue cheese crumbles on a bed of mixed greens. 

Lightly dressed with a fresh herb (thyme, rosemary) and red wine vinaigrette 

Make Ahead Beans, Peas and Lentils

Pink lentils,  shown above, cook in only 10 minutes, and are beautiful summer salad when gently tossed with nastursiams, marigolds and rose petals, and lightly dressed with a drizzle of hazelnut or almond oil and lemon juice

Lentils are an excellent source of protein, ultra easy to cook, 

and are delicious warmed up and dressed with fresh herbs or curry, 

or as a simple but perfect compliment to cooked whole grains such as brown rice...

..for the more carnivorous appetite serve lentils with grilled salmon or a broiled lamb kabob

Lentils come in a variety of colors and sizes,
they have an affinity for rice partly
due to the similar cooking times.
Shown here is a green unpeeled lentil available at
your local market with a cooking time of 30 minutes.


Herbs and spices to play up your lentils include, but are not limited to:
bay leaf, black pepper, black or green cardamom, cilantro, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry pwder, fresh ginger, mint, parsley, oregano, thyme, and turmeric

 Turtle beans, aka black beans are ultra easy, cooking in just 2-3 hours they are the perfect bean for Mexican inspired meals. Cook with one or two carrots, a little chopped onion and during the last hour of cooking add generous dash of cumin and sea salt. Serve hot with fresh salsa and a cooked whole grain (shown with brown Basmati rice ), and/or fresh hot corn tortillas with shredded cheese........black beans pair well with beef, pork or chicken

Herbs and spices for black beans: assorted frsh/dried or ground chile peppers, bay leaf, cilantro, coriander, cumin, epazote, garlic, ginger, oregano, parsley, savory, thyme

The mighty mung bean may not be pretty, but it's amazingly yummy and gentle to even the most

sensitive tummys.  

Shown here are split mung beans cooked with curry.  

Also available whole, these require a longer cooking time, 

and the whole mung (or moong) bean 

can also be sprouted  for your next stir fry calling for bean sprouts. 

Mung beans luv ginger, cumin, cilantro, and whole or ground coriander

btw: Mung beans are really a pea 

Dried black eyed peas cook in 90 minutes with nothing more than a little sea salt.

Black eyed peas luv the following herbs and spices: bay leaf, cayenne, chile peppers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, ginger, and turmeric.

Cooked black eyed peas are delicious straight from the fridge 
topped with avocado and roasted tomato, as shown, or warm up the peas and serve with any whole grain. For the more carnivorous appetite, serve the peas as a side to meat, black eyed peas pair especially well with pork.  


Why cook your own beans? Variety, flavor, choice of organic,  much less sodium, and for some the number one reason,  the dreaded 'gas'...home cooked beans are not nearly as gassy as store bought canned. 

 Cooked beans, peas and lentils can be stored 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

Storage containers shown are heavy glass by Pyrex. Glass containers are superior to the various plastic containers available as you have no worries about chemicals from the plastic leaching into the food. Pyrex glass containers are also very convenient, going from refrigerator to the oven or microwave with equal ease. 

Sea Scallops on bed of Lentils and Spinach

Quick and easy one saute pan/ one saucepan meal!

half a cup lentils, two cups of water, garlic, half a spanish onion, simmer 30 minutes, or until tender.  Avoid boiling to retain lentils shape.

Cook 2 strips of tofu, pork or beef bacon (depending on your desired level of enlightenment ;0) until crisp, set aside.

Using same saute pan, sear one pound of scallops (in two batches-never crowd a pan!) in a teaspoon of butter...allow scallops to cook for one minute over medium to high heat, turn (only once to allow browning/carmelizing)) and cook additional one minute, remove from pan.

Toss a generous handfull of clean and dry baby spinach in to hot sautee pan, spinach will cook very rapidly, under one minute, remove spinach as soon as it wilts,

add one tablespoon apple cider vinagar to hot sautee pan, deglaze aprox one minute..

.place lentils and spinach on serving plate,  sprinkle with chopped crisp bacon, top with seared scallops and drizzle with apple cider reduction....serve with lemon, and a nice salad

Miso Glazed Dofu, Pink Lentils,

Miso, cranberry, dried cherry glazed doufu, steamed kale, and cumin spiced pink lentils.

Marinate and broil extra tofu for a fab  addition to soup or salad, or the star in an excellent sandwich tomorrow or the following day.

Om Carrot, Pink Lentil, and Pistachio, Mint Salad

Pink lentils have a delicate flavor, and cook in 5-7 minutes, as opposed to the stronger flavored, longer cooking (40ish minutes) green lentils.  Do not boil pink lentils, a medium simmer, and not overcooking preserves the shape.  While the lentils cook shred carrots, Eastern purple, and yellow carrot mixed with the the traditional, Western orange carrots are fab in this salad, chop plenty of fresh mint, or basil as shown, or combine cilantro and mint,allow lentils to cool, add pistachios, chopped mint, combine with carrots, and toss with vinaigrette...enjoy!

this is also the beginning of an excellent veggie burger

Citrus vinaigrette: equal parts citrus juice, orange in particular, Extra virgin olive oil, and fresh mint, or basil, minced fresh ginger.

Carrots of many colors 

Curried Potato Stuffed Baby Bellas on Bed of Pink Lentils

Curried Potato Stuffed Baby Bella's on Bed of Gingered Pink Lentils