Detox Day 3 (Wednesday Recap)

Today's recipe is a simple quinoa and lentil salad. This is a great salad to keep on hand for easy lunches, snacks or dinners. I also mixed up a quick dressing to place on it. You can use any dressing you like, however, the downside of pre-made dressings is that they usually contain added preservatives and extras that aren't great. Newman's Own does make a great oil and vinegar dressing that tastes great and only contains oil, vinegar, onion and spices with no unnecessary additions. The only drawback is that even this very clean dressing still contains vegetable oils. The benefit of making your own is that you can use only heart healthy olive oil. Straight olive oil and lemon can work well with this salad as well and helps keep it very simple!

Quinoa and Lentil Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

1 cup dry quinoa prepared as directed (check the package to be sure but general preparation instructions are mixing 1 part quinoa with 2 parts water/stock, bring to a boil and simmer for about 15min until all the liquid is absorbed, let sit for a few minutes, fluff with a fork).

1 cup dried lentils prepared as directed (again, check package, general rule is the same as the quinoa: 1 part lentil to 2 parts water/stock, bring stock to a boil, add quinoa, simmer for about 30 min until liquid is absorbed. However, the lentils I used required a 1:3 ratio of lentil to liquid, so again, check the individual directions!)

Chopped Vegetables: use whatever veggies you'd like- tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, asparagus, onion, cucumber, cauliflower, asparagus, etc.

Herb Vinaigrette (from The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook)

1 small lemon, juiced

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp chopped fresh basil

2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1/2 tsp salt

The grocery store didn't have any fresh oregano so I substituted some dried oregano. This is a very versatile dressing recipe however, so if you love another herb/spice, give it a try!

This dinner turned out great, both my husband and daughter devoured it, with my husband stating we need to eat it more often!

 

Disclaimer: Naturopathic Doctors strive to provide individualized health care. The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. This information shouldn’t take the place of seeing an ND for individualized health recommendations. 

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