The Lentil Salad of lentil salads

Lentils have been a staple of Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine for thousands of years. In fact, records show people have been eating them for over 6,000, maybe even 13,000 years!

They come in all sorts of colors: black, yellow, brown, green and red!

And they are incredibly healthy. Their benefits include being alkalizing (whereas meat is acidic), they contain lots of fiber, encourage heart health, lower cholesterol, improve digestive health, contain a good amount of minerals, help us maintain blood sugar balance, can help us with weight loss, and improve our immunity.

And, they’re really inexpensive!

They are also quite versatile. You must cook them, but you can eat them warm or allow them to cool and make them into salads, or puree them into dips for veggies, either of which I do during warmer months. In the cooler months, I turn them into soups.

So the other day, I was contemplating what to make and decided to make a lentil salad with lots of veggies and some feta cheese for some additional protein. While lentils are usually the one legume that they say doesn’t require soaking, I’ve seen recipes that have you do it anyway, and I do it every time, to help my digestion. Plus it helps cook them a bit faster. This shouldn’t take you much more than half an hour to prepare.

Lentil Salad

Ingredients:
Green lentils
Bacon fat or butter
1/2-1 chopped Onion (sweet, like a Vidalia)
1 Carrot
1 stalk Celery
a couple cloves Garlic
1/4 cup Red wine
1 Bay leaf
Dried basil and oregano, 1/2 tsp each
Extra virgin olive oil and acid of your choice (see below)

Toppings (as much as you want):
Feta cheese crumbles
Roasted red peppers in a jar
Walnuts
Avocado
Tomatoes, preferably cherry or grape, cut in half

Directions:
Soak 1 to 1-1/2 cups of lentils in the morning in some warm water. Let them sit out while you go to work.

In the evening, warm up some bacon fat or butter in a deep, cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. Saute chopped onions for a few minutes while you chop the celery and carrots into a nice dice. Add the carrots and celery to the onions and cook for about 8 minutes more. A little browning is good - it adds flavor. Towards the end, add 2 cloves chopped fresh garlic - don’t burn it!

Drain lentils and rinse. Add to the pot along with enough water to cover. Add a bay leaf and the dried herbs. Cook 20-25 minutes uncovered, depending on preferred level of doneness. For easier digestion cook them longer. (Frankly, al dente lentils aren’t very nice, but it’s also important not to overcook them till their mushy).

Add a little (1/4 cup) red wine towards the end. Trust me, this makes a big difference in taste. Especially good to add if you need a little more liquid.

Taste the lentils at 20 minutes and see how they are. If done to your liking, remove from heat. If not, keep cooking another 5 minutes or so. By then, hopefully most of the liquid has evaporated. If not, remove your lentils/veggies from the pan with a slotted spoon and cool in a bowl. When nearly room temperature add olive oil and either apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar or (my favorite) lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. Then add your toppings: crumbled feta, chopped roasted red pepper from a jar, chopped walnuts, diced avocado and a freshly chopped tomato.

This salad is so loaded with nutrients, it’s crazy! Toss, and enjoy!

NOTE: If you can’t eat it all and need to store the leftovers, make sure to eat at least all of the avocado, else it turns yucky brown. Everything else will store with the lentils just fine for a few days.

Lemon Artichoke Spinach Pasta

I’ve been enjoying lemons for months now, thanks to my husband’s co-worker who’s willing to share. He must have a gigantic tree in his backyard because I get 30-40 lemons at a time from him and this year alone I’ve received at least 5-6 bags from him (love you, Rick!). His tree seems to put out an endless supply.

I realize my last post was also about lemons but it seems I’m still not done talking about them.

So my story is this: my work organized a luncheon for us last week and one of the things on the menu was a pasta with chicken and mushrooms drowning in some goopy sauce. It was “meh” and didn’t finish it. But it got me in the mood for something like it that I knew I could make much tastier. So on the way home that day, I went to Trader Joe’s and purchased everything I needed for this dish I wanted to put together. I envisioned lemons and artichokes, chicken and spinach in a light sauce, all coming together in a lovely marriage of flavors.

What I bought at Trader Joe's:
Lemon Pepper Pappardelle (see photo below but get GF pasta instead if you’re gluten-free)
Crimini mushrooms
A bag of pre-washed spinach
A jar of the artichoke antipasto shown here on the right --->
A can of artichokes in water (or get the marinated kind if you prefer)
Parmesan cheese, grated
Chicken breasts *
1 lemon
Fresh thyme

You should already have these at home:
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 garlic cloves or garlic powder
Butter, about 2 tsp.

I used about 1/2 of each of the items I bought, which makes about 2-3 servings.


Directions:
Start 1 pot of water to cook the pasta and another pot where you’re going to poach a chicken breast (if you didn’t buy their Lemon Chicken). While those pots of water are coming to a boil, wash and slice the mushrooms and chop the garlic. Add these to some butter you’ve melted in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the mushrooms and garlic are nearly cooked, add a few handfuls of spinach to wilt. Turn off the sauce pan and remove from the heat.

When the pots of water are boiling, add the pasta to the 1 (cook per the directions) and add the chicken to the other (it’ll cook a bit faster if you cut the chicken breast in half). Add a pinch of salt to each pot. To the chicken, I also added 1/2 lemon. I squeezed the juice into the pot and then threw in the actual lemon to the pot as well. I also added a sprig of thyme and a garlic clove to the chicken. When the water comes back to a boil, turn down the heat to simmer and poach for about 10 minutes. When cooked, remove from poaching liquid and slice the chicken.

Browning the artichokes would add another
dimension of flavor. Mmmhh...next time!

Turn the sauce pan with the ’shrooms, garlic and spinach back on. Add the pasta and chicken. Give it all a good stir until it’s good and warm. Add the artichoke hearts and a few tablespoons of the antipasto and continue stirring until just heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Unload onto a plate, squeeze some lemon juice over the whole thing, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and OMG! Enjoy!

*You can either cook some raw chicken yourself or get their pre-cooked Lemon Chicken if you’re short on time. You can poach the chicken, like I did, or grill it, or just bake it. But know that that will all take a little longer than poaching it.

When life hands you lemons.....

My parents were born in Germany, where vinegar was commonly used to make salad dressings, so when they came to California in the 1950’s it was vinaigrette they were used to.

Ironically it was a German couple, a distant relative of my father’s, that introduced our family to the lemon. Living only a block from the beach, we visited the Wilhelm’s in Oceanside throughout the year, making what seemed to me as a young child like a long trek from Los Angeles to Orange County. But mostly we celebrated holidays and special occasions at their house. Being about their parents’ age, the Wilhelm’s were likely surrogate parents to my mom and dad in those early years after arriving in California.

At the Wilhelm’s in Oceanside. They are on either end
and the older couple in the middle are my
grandparents, visiting from Germany.

I’m certain that Mrs. Wilhelm cooked traditional German foods at those celebrations but I know she also took on some American traditions, as old photos recently unearthed revealed pictures of Thanksgiving turkey. Mr. Wilhelm was a cake decorator, having learned that trade in Germany. What both my dad and I remember vividly is Mrs. Wilhelm’s liberal use of lemons. He recalls finding her salads so refreshing that he became a huge fan. And strangely, there must be a genetic component to this because I, somehow, took to them, too and have loved lemons for what seems like all my life.

As most southern Californians know, this part of the world has been home to the citrus industry for a long while, perhaps even since before 1804, I’ve discovered. Lemons, oranges and grapefruit have been grown, packaged, and shipped from southern California all over the country for over 200 years!

We enjoyed our share of this bounty, as well as so many other “treats” my parents had probably never known, growing up in Germany in the 30’s and 40’s. I have no idea what it’s like having to grow up with the lack of fresh food like produce. Once in this country, I can only imagine how they must have enjoyed having access to citrus and other fruits, dates, avocados and nuts. But the thing I will always associate my dad with is lemons! We put the juice on so many things, using it mostly with olive oil to make salad dressings. This is something I have blogged about before: my recommendation that you  make your own. Bottled dressings contain a lot of questionable ingredients. Poor quality oil chiefly among them. Making dressing is so easy! After following a few recipes to get the hang of it (2-3 parts oil to 1 part acid), dust off your blender and get creative. You’ll be doing your health and your wallet a big favor.

Lemons have a surprising number of health benefits, such as:

• Improving heart health
• Blood sugar regulation
• Fighting kidney stones
• It contains Vitamin C for cold prevention and an immune system boost
• Protection against anemia
• Aids in digestion
• Flushes out the system

How to use the juice:

• In your daily water. Add a few squirts of liquid stevia and some ice to make a no calorie, no sugar lemonade. I do this almost every day.
• Squeeze some lemon into iced tea
• Drizzle garlic butter with lemon over steamed veggies or fish
• Perk up dishes that need a little “something”. Sometimes just a little lemon adds an element that finishes the dish.
• To acidulate cut veggies and fruits to keep them from oxidizing (browning)
• To lighten blond hair! We used to do this when I was a kid. We’d wash my hair, then rinse some lemon juice through it, then I’d go sit in the sun to let my hair dry. Today, I’d need a LOT of lemon to take on the gray!

Me, at 3. Just got a record player for my
birthday, so I’m rockin' out!