French Lentil Salad

July 16, 2014 by Mackenzie

How can it be the middle of July already? I feel like I’m just settling into life in DC and all of a sudden I only have a few weeks left! I’m not ready to go – I’m having way too much fun!

I spent today running all over DC – attending the #MakeProgress National Summit (and hearing Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kristen Gillibrand and Chris Murphy speak!), running back to the Hill to attend a coffee with our Senator and some of our constituents, and then racing back to the conference to hear Vice President Joe Biden and Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speak.

It is days like these when I truly understand why people dedicate their lives to public service. There is much to change about the political system – yes, it can be frustratingly inefficient and unnecessairly political – but there are serious issues that must be addressed and it takes dedicated, inspired individuals to make that change happen. I’m intrigued to return to this world after graduation – I have no idea where/how but as Senator Warren said today, there is a fight that needs to be fought – she jumped in and I may too!

This week, in honor of Bastille Day on Monday (sorry the post is a few days late!), I made this French Lentil Salad! I needed a recipe with simple ingredients, that was easy to prepare and pack for lunch each day, and that filled me up and was packed with nutrition. This meal definitely fits that criteria. Lentils are an inexpensive source of protein, low in calories, and packed with fiber, iron and folate. Throw in the tomatoes and herb dressing for some flavor and you’ve got yourself a nutritious and delicious meal!

I found the recipe from a blog I’m follow called Eat, Drink and Be Skinny – yes, yes, and yes please! She has tons of healthy recipes, workout ideas (I’m doing this 30 day challenge), and lifestyle advice. Check out her site – I think you’ll enjoy it!

Comment below if you try this salad! I would love to hear what you think!

(P.S. – have you liked my new Never Skip Dessert by Mackenzie facebook page yet??!)

French Lentil Salad
Recipe slightly adapted from Sharon Palmer and EatDrinkandBeSkinny
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 pound dried lentils
4 cups water
1 (extra large) cube vegetable broth base
4 celery stalks, diced
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 medium shallots, finely diced
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (or some mix of dried herbs)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 cup croutons
Pinch of sea salt
1 bag of fresh arugula, to serve with

Directions:

1. In a medium pot, add the lentils, water and broth base. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are tender but firm.

2. When the lentils are done, drain the liquid and transfer to a large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes then cover and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the celery, tomatoes, shallots, and parsley and set aside. In a small dish, whisk together the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, herbes de Provence, black pepper and garlic. When the lentils have chilled for 30 minutes or so, mix in the vegetable mixture. Next, pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Add the croutons and season with sea salt if desired. Chill until ready to serve – it’s best when it is nice and cold and even better the second day when the flavors have melded!

4. Serve over arugula, if desired.

Turkey and Sweet Onion Pitas with Orange-Cucumber Salad

March 16, 2014 by Mackenzie

There’s so many things I love about this dish – the sweet taste of the ground turkey, with the cinnamon, is so unique but it pairs excellently with the citrusy tang of the orange-cucumber salad. It’s healthy, with all the ingredients (except the pita) complying to the “real foods” challenge that I did last summer. One day this week I just mixed the salad into the meat and ate it without a pita – I also thought about making it into an omelete… Once it’s prepared it’s so versatile!

It’s also fast and easy to prepare and keeps well if you want to have an easily prepared meal on hand all week. I put the turkey/onion mixture in one tupperware and the salad in another and then just toasted a pita and warmed up the meat everytime I was ready to have it again. I also threw the salad on top of some spinach and served it with some sweet potatoes (next post!) for another meal. That was excellent as well – all in all, I know I will be making this often!

Comment below if you try it! I would love to hear what you think!

Turkey and Sweet Onion Pitas with Orange-Cucumber Salad
Recipe adapted from Cook Fresh Winter 2014 Magazine
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4-inch thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large oranges
1 small cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped mint
4 pita pockets, halved and lightly toasted (if you have big pita pockets than you’ll just need 2)
Plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add three quarters of the onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the onion to a small bowl and set aside.

2. Add the turkey, cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the skillet, and cook, breaking up the meat and stirring occasionally. Cook for 5-7 minutes, until cooked through. Drain well. Add the onions back in, tossing to combine.

3. Meanwhile, finely chop the remaining raw onion and transfer to a large bowl. Peel the oranges and cut the slices into bite-sized chunks, making sure to catch the juice. Add the oranges, orange juice, cucumber, vinegar, mint, and remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the large bowl; toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Fill the pitas with the turkey/onion mixture and add some of the orange-cucumber salad. Finish it off with a dollop of Greek yogurt and serve with the remaining salad on the side.

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole

August 20, 2013 by Mackenzie

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole - amazingly delicious, full of "real foods" so it is healthy, and easy to prepare! Spencer and I are enroute to St. Louis! We are driving all the way there – 33 hours in the car with my bro 🙂 While he was driving today, I thought I would be productive with my passenger seat time and write up a recipe! Now that we’ve got wi-fi in the hotel – I can post it!

At the beginning of this trip, this Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole was divided into about 10 tupperwares in the cooler in the back of my car. Now there’s only about half left! It’s one of the super-easy, on the go meals that I made up before we left so that I could stick to my Clean Eating lifestyle and also have quick yummy meals on the road!

I’ve now made this dish twice in the last two weeks – it’s so good and very easy to take with you on the go because it is just as good cold as it is warm. Everything in it is “real” – nothing processed or genetically modified. I think you’ll love it!

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole

Serves 10, fills one 9×13 dish
Recipe adapted from MJ and Hungryman

Ingredients:

2 organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces
1 cup organic frozen corn, thawed
1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed (squeeze out as much water as possible)
1 (15 oz) can black beans
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup organic chicken broth
1 cup of your favorite salsa (I love the emerald valley brand at Whole Foods)
1 cup shredded cheddar

Directions:

1. Prepare chicken: heat coconut oil in a medium-sized skillet. Cut the chicken breasts into smaller pieces (doesn’t matter how big because you will shred them later) and add to skillet. Cook, turning often, until cooked through. Allow to cool and when cool enough to handle, shred the chicken.

2. Cook quinoa: pour quinoa into a saucepan and add 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Bring liquid to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil and sauté onion until softened, about five minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the bell pepper, corn and frozen spinach and combine well. Add tomato paste, cumin and salt and pepper and mix. Then add the shredded chicken, quinoa and black beans. Mix well. (If this gets too big for your skillet, you can transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add everything in that).

4. In a medium saucepan (I just used the same one I had made the quinoa in), add the chicken broth and salsa. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add to chicken mixture and combine well.

5. Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Top with avocado and salsa.

Lemon Couscous Salad with Asparagus and Tomatoes

May 15, 2013 by Mackenzie

I made this salad to go along with the caprese grilled chicken on Saturday night from my last post. My family and I love asparagus so this was a fun, new way to serve it. The lemon juice made it light and summery and the fresh asparagus and tomatoes helped cap off this healthy side dish.

Ingredients:
6 oz whole wheat pearl couscous
3/4 lb thin asparagus spears, tough ends snapped off
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1 large lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Boil a large pot of salted water. Add asparagus and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes. Using tongs, remove the asparagus from the water and in a strainer, run cold water over them to stop them from cooking.

2. Cook couscous according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water when finished cooking.

3. While couscous is cooking, chop the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. Add the tomatoes. Add the cooked couscous, red onion, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley and salt and pepper. Mix it up and then refrigerate for 15 minutes or until chilled. You can serve it room temperature, but I liked it best chilled.

Winter Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Pomegranate Seeds, Goat Cheese and more!

December 6, 2012 by Mackenzie

Libby and I made this salad for dinner last night and it was oh so good!! Libby made it up so I’m giving her all the credit 🙂 It’s awesome and will definitely be made again soon!

Winter Salad

Serves 2

1. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch chunks. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake until tender, about 25 minutes.

2. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together: 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp of brown sugar, 1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil and salt and pepper. We eyeballed these ingredients and did our best just now to think of how much we used… so definitely taste and see if it needs more of anything.

3. In a large bowl, add mixed greens, walnuts, goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, dates, sweet potatoes and vinaigrette! Serve with a piece of toast with honey butter.

photo-16

Chocolate, Raspberry, Walnut Breakfast Quinoa

October 31, 2012 by Mackenzie

Libby bought an induction stove for our suite this weekend 😀 It is so great! We can make so many things now – including basically every kind of meal! Now that we have a world of opportunities… I returned to some of the pinterest recipes that I had thought I’d need to “save for later” (when I had access to a stove). This was the first thing I decided to try! I had made a similar dish this summer, except with strawberries and almonds I think but this one looked great too! And it turned out really great!!!

Photo Curtesy of Once Upon a Cutting Board – This is made with cherries and almonds.

Chocolate, Raspberry, Walnut Breakfast Quinoa
Serves 1 (easily doubled)
Recipe adapted from Once Upon A Cutting Board

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (or unsweetened milk + sweetener of choice)
1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/2 cup raspberries
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon chocolate chips

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa, cover, reduce to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown and fragrant – should only take a few minutes.

Remove quinoa from heat, keep covered, and let sit for 5 minutes, until milk is absorbed. If using unsweetened milk, you may wish to add a bit of sweetener at this point (to taste, you could use honey, agave nectar or brown sugar), then recover and let sit 5 minutes.

Add raspberries, almonds, and chocoalte chips to the quinoa, stir and serve warm!

Substitutions:
The original recipe called for cherries instead of raspberries and almonds instead of walnuts. I used raspberries and walnuts because I had them and they sounded good 🙂 Any fruit or nut would work great in this!

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