Sunday, August 2, 2009

Down the Blogging path.......

i wander, from site to site and it's truly amazing how many are out there, how much information is to be had by the 'common' (not so common) folk anything from gardening, cooking, pets, life skills, you name it, whatever your interested in is out there! This morning i got drawn down the path when i was looking for a recipe for lentil salad... am feeling rather vegetarianish at the moment, so figure i should go with it.. so my pot of lentil salad is in the cooking stage, cooking in my big rice cooker, it is smelling absolutely delicious, and in my small rice cooker i have 2 types of Quinoa cooking and will make a cold Quinoa salad when they are cooked and cooled i'll add the rest of the ingredients... fast forward...... lentils and quinoa are both cooked.. the lentil salad has a minty kick to it because i used mint sauce.. my poor mint is struggling in the garden, no water and mint and no water just don't go together..

i pretty much borrowed the lentil recipe with a couple of tweaks.. i used my 'trail' mix of pecans and dried fruits and mint sauce (out of a bottle)

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Ingredients
2 c Dried lentils
(preferably small French
Kind will do) ( i used a pkg of mixed lentils)
1/4 c Extra virgin olive oil
3/4 ts Salt
1 lg Clov garlic; minced
3 tb Fresh lime juice
3 tb Balsamic vinegar
OR cider vinegar
1/4 c Very finely minced red onion
1 sm Carrot
Shredded or finely minced
1/2 sm Red bell pepper; minced
1/2 sm Yellow bell pepper; minced
A HANDFUL EACH
Finely minced fresh parsley
Finely minced fresh chives
Finely minced fresh mint ( i used mint sauce)
Instructions
i cooked the lentils, carrots, onion and garlic in the rice cooker.. mixed in the dried fruits and vinegars, mint sauce when the lentil mix was cooled.. back to the fridge to meld the flavours..


Quinoa and Bean salad

1 1/2 cups quinoa (small disk-shaped seeds)*
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed if canned
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups cooked corn (cut from about 2 large ears)
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 pickled jalapeƱo chilies, seeded and minced (wear rubber gloves)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander For dressing
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
1/3 cup olive oil


i cooked the quinoa in my small rice cooker and added the rest of the ingredients when the quinoa cooled...

yumm ... and easy :D

something about a seed head, even if it is a WEED, it is delicate and beautiful dancing in the wind, nature's ballerina...