Lentil Salad with Roasted Carrots

Here is my beef with salads. I can't handle mass amounts of raw veggies.  It just makes me feel like a gross bloated cow.  Except cows have like 7 stomachs to deal with the digestion part.  I prefer my veggies roasted.  Smooth, sweet and rich.  Something that feels like a meal and less like a starving person feasting on grass and bark.

Yesterday I packed a few of these lentil salads for Fly Guy.  The lentils give it some 'meat' the carrots add depth, the dressing is sweet and the arugula fresh and peppery.  For a more savory version cut down on the honey and add in some onion.

Lentil Salad With Roasted Carrots
Fills two pint jars when layered as directed

2/3 cups brown lentils picked through and rinsed
3 large peeled carrots
2 tsp honey
3 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil  plus extra for drizzling carrots
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground pepper
a few handfuls of fresh aruguala

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Cut carrots in thin sticks or rounds of fairly even size.  Toss with a few teaspoons olive oil and a little salt.  Spread carrots evenly on a baking sheet and roast for approximately 8-15 minutes or until they start to caramelize a bit.

Meanwhile add the lentils to rapidly boiling pot of salted water or broth.  Cook 18-20 minutes or until soft yet still holding their shape.  Drain.

Whisk the honey, mustard, oil, and vinegar together and pour over cooked and drained lentils.Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If transporting for a lunch or picnic layer the lentils, then carrots followed by arugula on top in a pint size mason jar.  Serve room temperature or cold.

Three Bean Kale Salad

 

I've always been a fan of three bean salad but wanted to make it more of a... salad.  Unlike traditional salad greens, kale holds up very well to the moisture of dressing.  In fact, raw kale is tastier once it's been marinated in dressing and softens up a bit.  I had this in my fridge for three days and there was no slime factor going on.   This makes it a prime pick for travel.  Just toss together and transport it in a mason jar.

I've used baby kale for this recipe.  I suspect that regular dinosaur kale (aka Lainato or Tuscan) would work well also but I recommend destemming slicing it in thin ribbons first.


 

Three Bean Kale Salad

Ingredients

1 can kidney beans
1 can white beans
1-2 cups green beans steamed tender crisp and cut in bite size pieces*
2.5 oz torn baby kale greens**
3 TB Dijon mustard
3 TB red wine vinegar
3 TB extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

* I used frozen green beans from Trader Joes and steamed just enough to thaw but not make soggy. 
** 2.5 ounces doesn't sound like much but it was half of the pictured kale package.  I'd say about 3 large handfuls.

Directions

Whisk the vinegar, mustard, and olive oil in a bowl.  Drain and rinse the canned beans then add all the remaining ingredients.  Toss together and refrigerate giving the flavors time to mingle.

Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowl with Ginger Granola

Ever cook with turmeric?  You should.  You really really should. 

The Huffington Post states that turmeric "has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities."

So your like "Whaa? How do I get some of THAT"  At least that's what I said.

My favorite current recipes with turmeric are

Cashew Corn Chowder by My New Roots
Spinach and Mung Bean Soup by K. Orahsoi
Chickpea Spinach Turmeric Curry by Fugal Cook
Calming Creamy Turmeric Tea by Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Dr. Gupta's tea is also known as Golden Milk and can be found on various food blogs that extoll it's healing properties and remissness about their mothers giving it to them when they had colds.

I love golden milk in the same way I love hot cocoa.  A late night way to top off the sleepiness and send you into dreamland.  Yet it does have a little grittiness.  The spices never quite meld with the milk.  Not to mention it's hard to pack in a lunch.

So I present Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowls!  Which include all the other things I seek out when I don't feel good.  Coconut oil, ginger,cinnamon,  honey...  The sweet ingredients balance out the slight bitterness of the turmeric.  This would be good with fruit also.  Berries maybe?

 

Healing Turmeric Yogurt Bowl

Ingredients
(per person)

2/3 cup full fat unsweetened yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric*
honey for drizzling
ginger granola for sprinkling (recipe below)

* try 1/4 tsp if you are unsure of this new flavor and work your way up.

Stir the spices and honey into the yogurt in a circular pattern and pack the granola separate until time to serve.

Ginger Granola
makes 1 1/4 cups

1 cup regular rolled oats
2 TB ground flax seed
1 TB unsweetened applesauce
1 TB honey
1 TB molasses
1 TB coconut oil, melted
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Granola Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix all ingredient with a fork or hands.  Bake in the oven, stirring occasionally, for around 20 minutes or until it's starting to brown and crisp. It will continue to crisp as it cools.  Let cool completely then store in an airtight container.

No Bake Nuggets

Because you can't bring a jar of peanut butter on an airplane.

No Bake Nuggets
Makes 15-20 one inch balls

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/6 cup honey
1/6 cup molasses*
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
1 cup regular rolled oats
1 cup crushed peanuts

*I pour both the molasses and honey together in a 1/3 measuring cup.  It doesn't have to be super exact.

Directions

Mix the peanut butter, sweeteners, cocoa, and vanilla in a bowl until well incorporated.  Add in the oats and stir well.  The mixture will be tough to stir but still sticky.

Form 1 inch balls and roll in crushed peanuts.  Eat at room temperature or chilled.

Fair warning.  These are sweet!  It won't take more than a couple to knock out that sweet tooth.

Lunchbox Gazpacho

 
This year I'm making an effort to eat in season.  I took one look at my local Aldi ad and knew what cold soup was in store for this week's lunches!  There are many variations but I'm sticking with a basic recipe that is to be enjoyed cold or room temperature.  Maybe with an egg salad sandwich on the side?

Make sure your ingredients are ripe and tasty as there will be no cooking to mask undesirable quality.



Lunchbox Gazpacho
Fills approximately five Half Pint Jars

Ingredients 

1.5 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped*
1 red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 TB red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 slice bread, crust removed
salt and pepper to taste

*The easiest way to peel the tomatoes is to cut a small X in the skin about an inch wide.  Place them in boiling water for 10 to 20 seconds.  Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of ice water.  The skin will slip right off!  Cut them in half width wise and gently squeeze out the seeds.

Directions 

Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.  If your vegetables don't release enough moisture you can add a few tablespoons water. Garnish with cucumber, mint, cilantro, parsley, basil, or croutons.

Hot or Cold Mujaddara with Sumac

Mujaddara!  I can hardly pronounce it.  Also known as mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, or megadarra.  "Hey Fly Guy you want me to make some (insert silly babble)?"  He always knows what I mean and mocks me accordingly.  For the record it's pronounced moo-jah-d'rah.

Mujaddara is known to appear in cookbooks as far back as 1226.  Though legend places it back much further.  Possibly the dish Jacob used to buy Esau's birthright.  It's that good.  Oh come on Esau, it's like 3 ingredients.  Your birthright?    Really?

We serve this hot, room temp, or cold making it a perfect pack along meal.  I've caught Fly Guy hiding behind the fridge door piling it cold on tortilla chips more than once.  "Tortilla chips, your are desecrating my food!"  I recommend Naan.


 
 

Mujaddara with Sumac

Ingredients

3 TB coconut or olive oil and 1 TB butter*
2-3 large yellow onions thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown or white jasmine rice (I've also used plain long grain brown or white)
1 cup brown or green lentils
salt and pepper to taste
serve with condiment bowls of sumac**, plain yogurt,  and possibly mint.  If you don't have sumac try lemon wedges and paprika.  Fresh chopped parsley also works if your fresh out of everything else.

*Vegan's can leave the butter out.  It just adds a slight richness to the dish.

**I found a bag of sumac in the middle eastern section of my grocery store for less than $3.  It's leaves a nice lemony vinegar taste on your tongue and is a nice alternative to a salt shaker on the table.  I think I will fill an old tic tac container with it next time I send this dish in Fly Guy's lunch.

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions.

While rice is cooking warm oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

Toss in the sliced onions and a tsp salt.  While it looks like a lot of onion it cooks way down and gets quite sweet.

Cook onions for 20-30 minutes until they start to turn golden and sweet.  If they begin to burn turn down the heat.  My stove doesn't get very hot...

Meanwhile cook lentils in a separate pan according to package directions.

When onions are finished add the drained cooked lentils and cooked rice to the pan.  Salt, pepper, and incorporate.

Keep your birthright, you earned it.

Homemade Apple Dippers

Apples in a lunchbox never seemed practical to me.  They turn brown cut up and are no fun to eat whole.  While it sounds really lazy... ok, it is really lazy... I hate to use and wash my apple cutter if I'm only cutting one apple.

Recently I've started soaking the slices in a mixture of water and lemon juice and it's changed my whole outlook.  I buy a 2 pound bag of apples.  I spray them with a mixture of 1/2 white vinegar and half water kept in a spray bottle at my sink, rub them around a bit and then rinse.  Then I cut the whole batch with an apple cutter.  Next I soak them for about 10 minutes in a bowl filled with 1 TB lemon juice per one cup ice cold water.  After a quick drain I place them in a gallon ziploc bag, press all the air out, and leave them in the fridge up to 5 days!


  

If I also make a dip the apples don't last near five days in the fridge before disappearing. 

Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

1/2 cup whole milk unsweetened yogurt
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp honey

Mix all the ingredients and serve cold with apples, celery or pretzels.  My kids dip carrots in it too, but I think that's taking it one step too far.  Eww.

 

Black Bean Cumin Lime Salad

I discovered I didn't have any bread Sunday night and was not about to go to the store before school on Monday. Fortunately I have a tried and true lunch staple that takes about 5 minutes to pull together.

There was a time when my kids came undone over green items in their lunch but we are slowly breaking them in.  Fresh spinach is a great starter green because it's virtually tasteless. 

On non picnic days I'm a big fan of Naturally Ella's 5 ingredient Black Beans and Rice.  Almost the same ingredients and just as easy to pull together.

I'm not sure if it compliments the beans but I also packed this raw Summer Corn Salad.  It's just what worked from my pantry at the moment. The Organic Tortilla Chips came from Target.  My new favorite.

Black Bean Cumin Lime Salad
Adapted from The Kitchn
Serves two small or one big appetite.

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh spinach
Juice of half lime
drizzle of oil, I use olive
1 tsp cumin powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it.  That's it.

Optional additions:  Fly Guy takes an avocado in his bag and dices it right before eating..  Red pepper flakes are another of his favorites.  The boys love to put a huge dollop of plain whole yogurt on top.  Now that I think of it I could have put yogurt mixed with salsa in place of the corn in their containers.

Mason Jar Salad with Moonshine Dressing

Fly guy is way better about eating raw veggies than I am.  For his first few flight trips he packed bags and jars of cut up raw veggies.  I got a stomach ache just looking at them.  After eating carrot sticks and loads of bells peppers for four days his stomach joined me.  What a love story right?  Two stomachs become one....

Well you have to add some protein silly!  Maybe some jazzy dressing, peppery arugula, and cheese if you must.

Fast forward to a week later and he's sitting in the pilot lounge scarfing his jazzy salad thinking jazzy thoughts about his jazzy wife.  Jazzy:  Bright, colorful, showy.  Ok, maybe I'm a little showy. Another pilot (probably enviously) laid eyes on his salad.

"Whatcha eatin there boy?  Mighty colorful"

'Uhh... salad'

"And that some moonshine dressing to go with it?"

Thank you Mr. Smart Aleck Pilot.  The name has stuck and now my children will be telling strangers that their mama makes moonshine for their daddy to fly with.



Moonshine Dressing aka Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 TB red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove minced or finely grated
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a small jar with lid tightly screwed on and give it a good shake.

Mason Jar Salad

These are straight forward but there is a method that will keep everything fresh longer.  These jars should last refrigerated for several days.

• Dressing goes on bottom. We use 2 TB.
• Then choose some firm veggies you don't mind soaking in dressing.  This is a great place to tame your raw onions.
• Then a layer of grains or protein.  Beans, meat, eggs, quinoa, ect.
• Last comes the greens.  It is important these are dry or your salad will break down quickly.

Store upright and then give a few good shakes before digging in.

White Bean Tuna Salad

I was getting the kids off to school this morning when Fly Guy got a call for a day trip to Chicago. I had just torn out a recipe from Better Homes and Garden magazine the day before. In part because it was easy but mostly because we rarely eat meat so I expect my kids to throw a party in my honor once they find tuna in the fridge.

Here is the original White Bean Tuna Salad recipe.  But I will have you know I cut the tuna down to one can then added some grape tomatoes to protect the arugula from the vinaigrette soaked beans.

Fruit in the Bottom Yogurt Cup

In the fight against sugar I have outlawed pre-sweetened yogurt in our house.  Nothing against sweet, I just want more control over it.  So this week I made up some fruity yogurt cups that are so good they just became my new dessert.

For the Fruit

It's summer and fruit is dirt cheap in the stores right now.  Make up this sauce and put the extra in the freezer for later.

2 cups berries
Juice and zest from one half lemon
A few squirts of honey

Puree half your berries in a blender and roughly chop the other half with a knife (if using large berries).  Toss all the ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat then simmer for 5 minutes.  If the sauce is to runny just keep simmering until it thickens.  Add a few spoonfuls of water or juice if it's too thick.  The honey and lemon are really adjustable to taste.  Just depends on the ripeness of berry.  This sauce is also divine over pancakes...

Yogurt

I'm picky.  Currently Trader Joe's Organic Full Fat PlainYogurt is my obsession of choice.  Worth all 299 pennies it costs me.

Topping

One more karate chop to sugar!  I'm trading out granola for toasted oats.  Just pack them separately and sprinkle on right before eating.  How to Toast Oats.