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.
This is definitely the kind of meal I’m looking for right now. Such a yummy salad!
Thank you so much Katrina!
I give two thumbs up for this one! Yes, it’s healthy but deceptively so because I know it’s darn tasty too. I’m always making lentil soups of some variety or another but I need to make more lentil salads and this one is definitely my type of salad. Enjoy the holidays, Grace!
Thank you Katie! And yes, deceptively healthy dishes are the best! Happy holidays to you too!
Simple healthy meals are exactly what I’m looking for right now as work becomes even busier than usual, and Christmas is coming at warp speed. I love this! I also love when recipes are posted that include all the ingredients I have at home – it’s serendipitous 😉
Thanks Christine! And yay for having all the ingredients at home! Hope you have a wonderful holiday!
This looks divine. What a healthy, tasty start to the new year. Can’t wait to try it. Love your photos too.
Cooked it twice and now the salad is in my recipe book. LOVE IT! The only question I have is what would be an approximate calorie value and nutrition facts? Thanks!
Just roasted some squash this morning and I have lentils and a pomegranate in my fridge! Definitely making this tomorrow to balance out all of the festive treats I’ve been eating. Thanks!