Green Lentil Salad

Sometimes I like to eat lentils for breakfast if I have them left over from the night before. It never occurred to me to prepare them as a cold salad for the evening meal, but I recently met someone who told me that it is quite common to eat them that way in some North African countries. Hmmmm. Why not?

With about 30% of their calories from protein, lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after soybeans and hemp. They also have a lot of iron (which most of us don't get enough of in our daily diet), folate, vitamin B₁, and minerals.

Green lentils have a lot more fiber than the other varieties if you have a choice.

According to lots of the recent research, lentils pack a lot of bang for your nutritional buck so they make a perfect meal if you're packing a lunch. This salad is perfect for a picnic as it travels well and doesn't need to be re-heated.

Cold Lentil Salad

1 cup green lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup of green onions
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup of peeled and diced carrots
1 teaspoon of dried dill
2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

• Bring 3 cups of water and the lentils to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until lentils are tender (about half an hour).
• Stir the lentils, the green onions, the black beans, the carrots and the dried dill together.
• Stir in vinegar and the oil.
• Put the salad in the fridge for an hour (or overnight).

http://vegetarianonabudget.blogspot.com/2012/04/some-like-it-hotbut-not-always.html