Beluga Lentils with Fresh Garden Vegetables

Hmm, what to do with all this goodness?  Let's create something.

Some of the first vegetables to come out of the summer garden are squash, bell pepper, and new red onions.  Adding in some cauliflower and cabbage that needs to be used up, let's make a salad!

Lentils are a great base for all things added to it.  They provide an excellent source of fiber as well as trace minerals, protein, and B vitamins.  Add in the nutrition from the vegetables and you have a nutrition-packed side dish.

Serves: 8
Cook and prep time:  about 40 minutes

2 cups dried Beluga or black lentils, picked through and rinsed
Olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons
Fresh garlic, 1-2 cloves, minced
Your choice of vegetables.  We used the above combination of cabbage, orange cauliflower, crookneck squash, green pepper, and new red onion.  Cut them into a uniform size.

Cook the lentils according to package directions.

While the lentils are cooking, prep the vegetables.  Thinly slice the cabbage, cut the cauliflower into small florets, dice the crookneck squash and green pepper, and thinly slice the red onion.

I love the colors.

In a suitable pan, heat a couple tablespoons olive oil with garlic for 30 seconds. Add prepped veggies to pan and cook until wilted and fragrant.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

These are ready to be added to the lentils.

When the lentils are just tender, drain them and add in the cooked vegetables.

This dish was really easy to prepare.  Left-overs are delicious.

Nutritional analysis for 1/8 of the recipe:  about 300 calories, 12 g fiber, almost 9 g protein, 16 g fat with the majority being monounsaturated and polyunsaturated (only 6% saturated), 32 g carbohydrates, over half your daily allowance for iron, almost half your requirements for vitamin C, plus lots of other vitamins and minerals.

- Kim Fielding

Radish, Pea and Red Onion Salad

Radish, snow or snap peas, and red onion offer a
crisp and refreshing salad for any hot-day meal.

This colorful salad comes together quickly and can be served over meats or (in the above case) fish, or as a base salad with chicken, beef, or pork on top.  If you prefer this as a salsa or dressing, dice the vegetables rather than slice them.  I found this recipe on the internet but can't for the life of me remember where.  Possibly foodnetwork or epicurious.  I apologize in advance for not giving credit where credit is due but will look for the source.  In the meantime, enjoy.

Serves:  6                    Prep time: 15 minutes

1 small red onion, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 bunch radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 pound snow peas, thinly sliced (you can use snap peas too)

4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola or other light vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Thinly slice 1 red onion and 1 bunch radishes. Soak in ice water, 5 minutes; drain and pat dry. Whisk 4 teaspoons rice vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon each Dijon mustard and sugar in a bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add 8 ounces thinly sliced snow peas, the onion and radishes. Season and serve.

Calories per serving is approximately 65 with a good dose of vitamin C and iron.  Fiber and protein is about 2 grams per serving.

- Kim Fielding