In my quest to eat cleaner, I am constantly searching for recipes that’ll inspire me – and make my family happy. I was watching a Martha Stewart show that I recorded and thought this recipe looked beautiful, and tasty.  I was not in the mood to travel to the grocery store or market, so I used what was available in my fridge and freezer….what resulted (although not the most attractive photo) I thought was pretty darn good!

Lentils and Roasted Vegetables Salad

Click here for Martha’s recipe, Roasted Fall Vegetables with Lentils.

Here’s what I did:

Lentils and Roasted Veggie Salad

Serves 6

1 cup lentils, cleaned, rinsed and picked of stones

2 fennel bulbs, cut in half and then quartered

1 bag (10 oz) frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted

1 large or two small yellow onions, cut in half then quartered

2-3 carrots, halved lengthwise

2 cups fresh arugula

Dressing:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1-2 tsp dijon mustard, to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1.  Set oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  Fill a saucepan with about 2 cups water and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add the lentils and stir.  Bring the lentils back to a boil.  Cover the pot, turn the heat down, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are tender to taste (you do not want mushy lentils so don’t put too much water in there!).  If any liquid is left in saucepan, drain the lentils and set aside in a bowl to cool.

3.  While lentils are cooking, cut off stalk and fronds of fennel bulb.  Set the bulb on its flat bottom and cut in half.  Cut out hard bulb center and quarter each half (you’ll have 8 large chunks per fennel bulb).  Prepare onions and carrots.

4.  You’ll need two baking sheets.  Line with aluminum foil (makes for easier cleanup) and spray with cooking spray.  Spread all veggies – fennel, artichokes, carrots and onions – in a single layer on baking sheets and drizzle with olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Using your hands, mix oil and salt/pepper into veggies and then again lay them single layer on baking sheet.  Place in oven and roast for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender and a bit browned.

5.  As veggies are roasting make the dressing: in a small bowl whisk oil, vinegar and Dijon and season with salt and pepper.  Pour this over the lentils and stir.

6.  Clean and prep arugula and place on four to six dinner plates.

7. Top arugula with lentils (about 1/2 cup per person) and then a mixture of the roasted vegetables.  Do nothing else but savor the flavors of a totally nutritious salad – ENJOY!

**I find that I have leftover lentils and enjoy them on additional salads the next day – or alone warmed up and topped with some nonfat plain Greek yogurt – YUM.

Nutrition breakdown (per 6 servings):

Calories 270, Total fat 14 g, Sat fat 2 g, Trans fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Sodium 210 mg, Carbohydrate 32 g, Dietary fiber 10 g, Protein 9 g

Gorgeous fennel bulbs

Coring the fennel bulb

Quartering the bulbs

Yummy veggies roasting

Frozen artichoke hearts from Trader Joes