#ilovelentils

Recipe: Lovely Lentil Salad

Lentils are a small but nutritionally mighty member of the legume family. They are an excellent source of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. Lowering your cholesterol levels reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke by keeping your arteries clean. Not only do lentils help lower cholesterol, they also keep blood-sugar levels in check. The soluble fibre found in lentils traps carbohydrates, slowing down digestion and stabilizing blood sugar levels. This can be especially helpful for those with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia. Lentils also contain insoluble fibre. Insoluble fibre helps prevent constipation and other digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. But this is far from what lentils have to offer. Lentils also provide important minerals like iron (iron transports oxygen throughout your body and is key to energy production and metabolism) and magnesium (magnesium improves the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body - keeping your heart happy) and B-vitamins like Folate or Folic-Acid. Folate found in lentils helps in the formation of red blood cells, is essential for the health of pregnant women and their babies, and plays a key role in lowering homocysteine levels (a serious risk factor for heart disease). Lentils are also a high source of protein. Did you know? 26 percent of lentil’s calories are attributed to protein, which makes them a wonderful source of protein for vegetarians and vegans.

Lovely Lentil Salad

What you’ll need:

1 cup dried French Lentils, soaked for 4hrs hours and cooked until tender

3 medium beets, peeled, trimmed and cooked until tender 

1 cup red cabbage, sliced thinly 

4 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup red onion, sliced thinly

1/4 cup goat cheese

Dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

What to do:

Cook Lentils - see instructions below

Place beets into a large pot and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender when pierced with a fork, about 1 hour. Drain and cool until beets can be easily handled. Peel beets, cut into cubes, and place in a bowl; refrigerate until chilled, about 15 minutes.

Whisk olive oil, apple-cider vinegar, salt and pepper together in a large bowl until fully combined. Add lentils, beets, cabbage and onion - toss. 

Add spinach and toss

Top with goat cheese - toss and serve. 

How to Cook Lentils

1 cup dried French Lentils (you can also use green or brown lentils for the recipe above)

2 cups water

1 bay leaf

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp sea salt

Any amount of lentils can be cooked in this manner. Just maintain the 2:1 ratio of water to lentils.

Rinse the lentils: Measure the lentils into a strainer or colander. Pick over and remove any shriveled lentils. Thoroughly rinse under running water.

Combine the lentils and water: Transfer the rinsed lentils to a saucepan and pour in the water. Add the bay leave and garlic to the saucepan and reserve the salt. 

Bring to a rapid simmer, then reduce heat to maintain a very gentle simmer. You should only see a few small bubbles and some slight movement in the lentils.

Cook, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes. 

Lentils are cooked as soon as they are tender and no longer crunchy. Strain the lentils and remove the bay leaf and garlic. 

Return the lentils to the pan and stir in 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Taste and add additional salt as needed.