Weekly Lunch: Quinoa with Black Bean Hummus

Are you familiar with jicama? I have enjoyed this vegetable in restaurant salads for a few years now, but have never purchased one or cooked one myself. Actually, I don't know if anyone ever cooks them, or if they are only eaten raw.

Jicamas are kind of gnarly looking on the outside, but the flesh is crunchy, mild and slightly sweet - kind of like a cross between an apple and a potato. Jicama is a great addition to veggie trays, too, it is a sturdy vegetable and will stand up to a variety of different kinds of dips.

On Sunday I cooked up some plain quinoa, and I made a batch of black bean hummus (slightly spicy, with cilantro and lime). So, packing my lunch this week was a snap - couple handfuls of baby spinach, pile of quinoa, big scoop of black bean hummus, and some crunchy jicama and bell peppers (which I sliced ahead of time) on top. When I remembered, I drizzled some extra lime juice on top right before serving. Very refreshing.

I had extra black bean hummus, so I added it to some breakfast burritos I made for dinner one night, with scrambled eggs, bacon and leftover roasted potatoes. I love multitasking meals like this!

Black Bean Hummus
Makes about 2 cups

1 15-ounce can of cooked black beans, drained but not rinsed

Big handful of cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons tahini paste
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Juice of one lime
3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions: Put all ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor or blender. Process/blend for about 10 seconds, then pour in the olive oil and continue processing until smooth.

***********

Weekly Lunch: Lemon-Tahini Lentil Salad

I learned something about myself this week: I do not like roasted turnips. Admitting I don't like a certain food, especially a healthy vegetable, is not something I do very often, but I just don't see any way around it.

Poor turnips, object of so many childrens' hatred, and now mine too. At least the full-grown turnips. Baby turnips, on the other hand, can be quite tasty. I've made this recipe for Orechiette with Baby Turnips and their Greens (from In Praise of Sardines) several times, and it is a wonderful combination of the earthy (yet mild!) baby turnips, the slightly bitter greens, a touch of salt from some pecorino cheese, and heat from red chili flakes.

So, if you ever see baby turnips (about 1" in diameter), I do recommend them. Full-sized turnips, however, well, I'll have to try them again sometime. But not for a while.

Before I knew my true feelings for (full-sized) turnips, my big plan for this week's salad was to roast some turnips and carrots, and mix them with some lentils that I tossed with a simple lemon-tahini dressing. I used a base of baby spinach and topped the salad with a few salted pistachio nuts and a hard boiled egg. But the turnips were so gross (sorry to offend anyone who likes turnips - maybe you could share a recipe you like?) that after Monday's lunch I knew I had to come up with something else.

The roasted turnips looked so promising...

Even the carrots were contaminated with the taste of turnips. I felt bad, but I had to throw them out. Fortunately the lentils were good, so for the next few days' lunches, I added more spinach, more pistachios, and I chopped up a few dried apricots. The extra pistachios and the sweetness from the apricots really helped balance the earthy lentils, and I definitely wasn't missing the turnips.

This version was definitely tastier.

So there we have it. A gross lunch turned into a tasty one. And please, if you like turnips, I would love to hear how you cook them!


Lemon-Tahini Lentil Salad
Makes 4 main-dish servings

Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/3 cups dried lentils, picked though and rinsed (I used French green lentils, but regular brown ones will work)
4 hard-boiled eggs
4-6 ounces baby spinach, washed and dried
Several dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup salted pistachio nuts

Juice of one lemon, about 3 tablespoons
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tahini paste
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt, freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
Simmer the lentils in lightly salted water until tender, drain any excess water and set aside to cool.

Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Toss half of the dressing with the lentils and save the rest in a small container.

Assembly:
In the morning (or the night before), place a few handfuls of baby spinach in your lunch container. Add 1/4 of the lentils. Top with pistachios, diced apricots, and a sliced hard boiled egg. Drizzle with a bit of extra dressing right before serving.

*****************

Weekly Lunch: Black Rice Salad with Watercress Pesto

This combination was a bit of a gamble. The watercress was an impulse purchase at the neighborhood farmer's market, which opened for the season last week. I didn't have enough of it to do much except make pesto, so that is what I did. I pulled off the leaves and smaller stems, discarding the thicker, woodier stems. Combined with garlic, toasted walnuts, lemon zest, salt, and olive oil, it became a fresh and lively addition to this salad.

For the roasted carrots and kale, I used the same method that I used a few weeks ago - it worked very well. No fennel this time, and I used curly green kale instead of lacinato  - I'm glad to know this cooking method works with both types equally well. Just be sure to massage the olive oil into all of the curly edges of the kale, and it will roast much more evenly.

Delicious pesto

I decided to add a lemony harissa dressing to the roasted veggies on a whim (are you sensing a theme here?). Lemon zest, lemon juice, harissa paste, and a touch of smoked paprika gave a wonderful brightness to the veggies, contrasting with the nutty and comforting beans and rice.

And a sprinkle of feta for good measure. I love it when impulse veggie purchases turn out to be a success.

Black Rice Salad with Watercress Pesto and Harissa Roasted Veggies

Makes 4 main dish servings

Ingredients:

1 cup black japonica rice (wild rice would also be delicious here)

2 cups cooked cannellini beans

1 large bunch kale (curly or lacinato)

4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped in 1” pieces

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Zest of half a lemon

Juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons harissa paste

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

2-3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

¼ cup watercress pesto (directions below)

Directions:

Cook the rice according to package directions. Drain any extra water and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Toss the chopped carrots with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes until almost tender. In the meantime, cut the kale leaves from the stems and slice into thin strips. Place the kale in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, using your hands to massage the oil into all of the curly parts. When the carrots are almost tender, pour the kale on top of the carrots and return to the oven for 3-5 minutes until the kale is wilted but not crispy. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl or jar, combine the lemon zest and juice with the harissa paste and smoked paprika. Set aside.

Lunch assembly: in the morning (or the night before), combine 1/4 of the cooked rice with 1/2 cup beans and a spoonful of pesto in your favorite lunch container. Add 1/4 of the roasted veggies and drizzle with 1/4 of the lemon-harissa dressing. Top with a sprinkle of feta.

Watercress Pesto

Makes about ¾ cup

1 bunch watercress

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted

Zest of half a lemon

¼ teaspoon salt

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Cut the leaves and smaller stems of the watercress any larger stems. In a food processor or blender, combine the garlic and walnuts, then add the watercress, lemon zest and salt and pulse/blend. Drizzle in the olive oil while processing/blending until it turns into a smooth, bright green paste.

Extra pesto is delicious on roasted potatoes, tofu, eggs, pasta, or toast.

************

Weekly Lunch: Spring Millet Salad

Were you a picky eater as a kid? I was pretty open-minded, but definitely had my quirks, and there were more than a few foods I just wouldn't touch. Radishes were one of them - I don't know why, they seem so mild and harmless now, but there was something I didn't like about them. As I've gotten older, I've enjoyed seeing how my taste buds change and learning to like some of those foods I avoided as a kid.

I have learned to like thinly sliced radishes in salads, and to go with them, I wanted to take advantage of more colorful spring veggies this week, including half a head of red cabbage left over from last week's lunch (one more reason to love red cabbage - it lasts for such a long time!).

To go with the veggies I cooked some millet and some yellow split peas, and toasted some pumpkin seeds for a crunchy topping. I crumbled some goat cheese, made a lemony dressing to keep at work and use throughout the week, and was all set.

Spring Millet Salad
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup millet
1 1/4 cup yellow split peas
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
Radishes, as desired, thinly sliced
Sugar snap peas, as desired, cut in half
2-3 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1 small shallot, minced
Juice of one lemon
White wine vinegar
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
Cook the millet: in a medium saucepan, bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt, then stir in the millet. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain any excess water and set aside.

Cook the yellow split peas: bring a pot of water to a boil, then add a spoonful of salt and the peas. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until just tender, then drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Toast the pepitas in a small saucepan over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and toasty smelling.

Make the dressing: juice the lemon, and add white wine vinegar to make a total of 1/4 cup. Stir in the minced shallot and yogurt, add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in the olive oil.

Put it together: pour about half of the dressing over the millet and stir together. Layer the millet, split peas, and veggies, then top with the toasted pepitas and some goat cheese. Drizzle some of the remaining salad dressing just before serving.

********

Weekly Lunch: Apple Crunch Salad with Smoked Cheddar

This week's salad is all about texture. Combining foods with different textures helps keep this meal fun and interesting even after eating it for a few days in a row. Here's what I used:

Crunchy: romaine lettuce, thinly sliced red cabbage, fuji apple
Chewy: wheat berries
Smooth: chickpeas and applewood-smoked cheddar

All tied together with a simple vinaigrette of white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This is also the kind of salad that is very easy to store in the refrigerator all week. On Sunday I:

• Cooked the wheat berries in lightly salted water, then stored them in the refrigerator. 
• Chopped the lettuce and cabbage and stored it in a large bowl in the refrigerator. 
• Opened a can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, and stored that as well. 
• Chopped one apple at a time and used half per salad, so I did have to chop an additional apple mid-week.
• Chopped some smoked cheddar into small chunks.
• Made the dressing, which I stored in the shared refrigerator in my office.

Yay for easy lunches!

Weekly Lunch: Moroccan-ish Chickpea Soup

My quest for new lunch ideas continues! It's still too early for spring veggies, so I'm making do with sweet potatoes and cauliflower, but with a different flavor base. This week's soup is inspired by a Moroccan chickpea tagine, with a spicy tomato-based broth and hearty winter vegetables. Rather than serving over the traditional couscous, I added some millet to the pot. Millet is similar enough in size to couscous, and is a whole grain to boot.

I am impressed that the millet has stayed chewy, even after a few days (unlike pasta, which keeps absorbing broth and becomes soggy overnight). I'll definitely put millet in soup again!

Moroccan-ish Chickpea Stew
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons harissa paste (I used a storebought one, but I would love to make it sometime!)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1 bay leaf
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped in 1/2" pieces

1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted

4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (I used a 15 oz. can)
1/2 cup uncooked millet
1/4 cup raisins (or dried apricots or currants)
optional toppings: toasted slivered almonds and/or fresh cilantro

Directions:

In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook the onion, carrots and celery in the olive oil for 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add the harissa paste, cumin and coriander and cook for another minute.

Add the sweet potato, bay leaf, tomatoes and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cauliflower, garbanzo beans and millet, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the veggies are tender and the millet is fully cooked. Adjust with salt and pepper to taste.

Weekly Lunch: Beet and Wheatberry Salad

This salad is really nothing special. Beets were on sale, I have a bunch of wheatberries in the cupboard, you know the story.

Red-stained beet hands are always fun.

More exciting is the salad dressing I made this week. I sprinkled some thyme on the beets while they were roasting, so I put thyme in the dressing to enhance the flavor of the beets and tie together the other ingredients. In addition to the wheatberries and beets, this salad contains chickpeas, baby spinach and toasted walnuts (I put the beet greens to use elsewhere). Some fresh goat cheese would be a most excellent addition.

Garlic-Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette

Juice of 1 lemon, about 3-4 tablespoons
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Sprinkle a little salt on the minced garlic and smash it with the side of your knife a few times, to make a paste. Mix the garlic-salt paste with the lemon juice, thyme, mustard, remaining salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Weekly Lunch: Yellow Split Peas with Cilantro Pesto

Is anyone else ready for winter to be over? I am getting pretty tired of root vegetables and squashes, and find myself wanting more fresh and lively meals to brighten my days.

Enter cilantro pesto. One of the many beautiful salads on Heidi Swanson's site is this pepita salad. I made the recipe exactly as she posted it, so I won't repost here. Suffice it to say that this cilantro pesto is totally awesome. Fresh, spicy, nutty, garlicky.

I made a slightly smaller batch of this salad (enough for 3 hearty lunch servings), but made the entire batch of the cilantro-pepita pesto. We made burgers earlier this week and topped them with the extra pesto for another summery meal.

This was my first time cooking with yellow split peas! I'm looking forward to using them in more recipes.

I can't leave well enough alone, so I added a hard boiled egg and a couple of sliced radishes to each serving of salad. I loved having toasted pepitas in both the pesto and sprinkled on top for extra crunch.

And, just for fun, here's my afternoon snack this week (along with an unpictured tangerine). I found LauraJayne's favorite flavor of Laughing Cow and I am so glad she recommended it. I love the hint of smoky spice. 

 What summery foods are you looking forward to?

Weekly Lunch: Easy Pumpkin Red Lentil Soup

I opened a giant can of pumpkin puree in order to make my savory pumpkin curry granola bars, so I wanted to incorporate pumpkin into my lunch this week.

Here's a quick and easy soup for those times when you want a hot lunch without a lot of work. The pumpkin doesn't really stand out in this soup, but adds a small amount of sweetness and lots of vitamin A. The tahini makes the soup very creamy - a tasty, vegan, high-protein alternative to actual cream.

Easy Pumpkin Red Lentil Soup
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Toasted pumpkin seeds (for topping)

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium pot and cook the onion, carrot and celery for 8-10 minutes until well softened. Add the garlic and spices and cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Rinse the lentils and add to the pot along with the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 20-25 minutes until lentils are very tender.
3. Add the pumpkin puree and the tahini and heat through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve soup with pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.

**********
Question: What is your favorite thing to make with pumpkin puree?

Weekly Lunch: Tuna and White Bean Salad

I don't eat seafood very often. My SO is allergic and I've never been a huge fan, so I will occasionally choose a seafood option in restaurants and that's about it. But every once in a while I get a craving for tuna salad, whether the mayo-laden sandwich of my youth or a refined nicoise.

For this tuna salad I mixed:

• Albacore tuna
• A can of white beans (drained and rinsed),
• Diced carrot and celery,
• A tiny bit of minced onion (this does get eaten at work after all)
• Toasted slivered almonds
• Some dried thyme and dijon mustard
• White wine vinegar and olive oil

This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.
I'm enjoying it with arugula with some blanched green beans. Simple and tasty (and sugar-free).

Speaking of sugar, well, I'm doing better avoiding wheat than sugar. I definitely had a couple mugs of hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) this weekend, but when I was offered a soda I chose water instead, and when I went out to breakfast I ordered a savory dish with lots of veggies. We'll see how this goes over the next couple of weeks!

Any other favorite tuna salads I should know about?

Weekly Lunch: Broccoli Pesto Quinoa

Time for a shock: I used a recipe for this week's lunch! An honest-to-goodness recipe!

Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks is a big source of inspiration for both recipes and photography. When I first saw her recipe for Double Broccoli Quinoa I was skeptical - broccoli pesto? Really? But I've been eating a lot of broccoli these days, and I'm starting to get sick of it. So I decided to give this recipe a try, and I'm glad I did - it's really garlicky and nutty with this great freshness from the broccoli and lemon juice.

Also, I don't use slivered almonds enough. Something about the size is just perfect in salads.

 

I love the color of this pesto. So bright and refreshing in January! In addition to the broccoli, it contains toasted almonds, grated parmesan, garlic, and lemon juice.

Mix pesto with quinoa and you get greenoa!

I bulked up the dish with some chickpeas (of course), a hard boiled egg, and some sesame seeds. I promise the quinoa is underneath all of the deliciousness!

 

I used the leftover broccoli pesto to make chicken tenders! First, I spiked the pesto with a little sriracha, then I mixed about a cup of panko breadcrumbs with some smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Then I spread the pesto all over the chicken tenders, dredged them in the breadcrumbs, and placed on a metal rack on a baking sheet. Sprayed with an oil sprayer, then baked for about 15-20 minutes (you could pan-fry too) and they turned out really well. The chicken stayed moist, and the pesto turned it into something different and a little special!

I want to use more actual recipes this year. I have some great cookbooks but rarely use them!

Weekly Lunch: Delicata Squash and Barley Salad

Salad on a plate looks so much nicer than salad in a plastic container, don't you think? 

This is another salad with a lot of possibilities for variations. Based on this Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad from 101 Cookbooks, I swapped hazelnuts for walnuts, delicata for butternut squash, hulled barley for farro, feta for goat cheese, added some chickpeas and baby greens and left out the fresh thyme. Yum!


Evidence of my love for this salad: here's another version I made last month.

Weekly Lunch: Sweet Potato Salad with Orca Beans

I have been making variations on this salad for a few years now, but the basic components have been constant: sweet potato chunks, beans, greens, and a chili-lime vinaigrette. I usually use black beans, and sometimes I use sauteed swiss chard and eat the salad warm. This time I used orca beans again, raw spinach, both white and orange sweet potatoes, and a mixture of corn kernels cooked with red bell pepper and poblano pepper. It's super colorful and you get a great variety of flavors and textures - sweet, fresh, crunchy, spicy, creamy.

Sweet Potato Salad with Orca Beans
Makes 4 servings


Ingredients:
1 cup dried black or orca beans
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (I used a 1 lb white sweet potato and 1/2 lb orange one)
2 ears sweet corn
1 large poblano pepper
1 red bell pepper
Baby spinach or other salad greens
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Salt and pepper


Directions:

1. Pick through the beans and remove any small stones or detritus. Place in a medium bowl and cover with 3-4 inches of cold water. Soak at least 8 hours or overnight. 
2. Drain the beans and add to a pot, cover with 1-2 inches of cold water along with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until beans are tender but still hold their shape (could take 40-90 minutes depending on your beans).
3. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 3/4" chunks. Place in a steamer basket over 1 inch of simmering water and steam for 15-20 minutes until fork-tender. Set aside to cool.
4. Cut corn kernels from the cobs and chop peppers into 1/4" pieces. Add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to a pan over medium heat, and cook corn and peppers for about 5 minutes until tender but still crunchy. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste, and set aside to cool.
5. Pack your lunch containers: layer the corn mixture on the bottom, then the beans, then the sweet potatoes. In the morning or the night before, add a few handfuls of your spinach/salad greens.
6. Make the dressing in a small container: juice of one lime (about 3-4 tablespoons), another 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, the chili powder, and more salt and pepper (amounts depending on whether your chili powder contains salt). Add dressing to salad right at lunchtime.

Weekly Lunch: Orca Bean and Delicata Squash Soup

Have you ever tried to take a picture of a bowl of soup? I clearly need some practice. I'm looking at photos from people like Heidi Swanson and trying to learn what I can. Here are some things I've noticed:

• Pile the soup components above the broth if possible - broth is not photogenic
• Garnish is your friend (especially for monochrome soups)
• Don't take pictures in your cubicle with overhead fluorescent lighting (!)

Despite the picture, I promise that this is really tasty and warming for this very autumnal week we are having.

I found these cute orca beans and couldn't resist buying a bag. I cook dried beans only sporadically, but I eat beans so often I should really use dried ones more frequently. Please note that these were "fresh" dried beans and did not need to cook for too long, so I just cooked them with the rest of the soup ingredients. If your beans are older, you may want to cook them separately and add the fully cooked beans to your soup.

Orca Bean and Delicata Squash Soup
Makes 5 hearty servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dried orca beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1" piece of ginger root, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 small delicata squash, about 1 pound
1/4 of a kabocha squash, about 1/2 pound
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
Several handfuls baby spinach, torn
3/4 cup cooked wheat berries (I had some left over, feel free to use barley or even quinoa)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse the beans and pick out any small stones or misshapen beans. Place in a bowl and cover with 3-4 inches of cold water and let sit at room temperature 8 hours or overnight.

Drain the beans and set aside. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes until the onions are soft and the edges are browned. Add the garlic and ginger, cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the cumin and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the drained beans and the stock. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Check on the beans every 20 minutes or so. Peel, seed and chop the squashes into 3/4" chunks. When the beans are close but not quite tender, add the squash chunks and the tomatoes. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes until the squash is tender. Add the cooked wheat berries and the spinach. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Weekly Lunch: Barley with Roasted Summer Vegetables

I had to make one last summer squash recipe before they're all gone! This week's lunch also features one of my favorite grains for salads, hulled barley. It has a great chewy texture and mild nutty flavor.

So bright and colorful!

Awaiting the oven

Sweet and savory

The finished product

I also thought I'd share an actual recipe for my lunch this week. Fun!

Hulled Barley with Roasted Summer Vegetables
Makes 5 hearty servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups hulled barley
Three medium summer squash, any variety (I used 2 yellow squash and 1 zucchini)
1 large or 2 small sweet bell peppers, any color
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, about 1 1/2 cups (apparently I can't go more than a week without eating chickpeas for lunch)
5 hard boiled eggs (see below)
5-10 ounces baby spinach (depending on how much you like spinach), washed and dried
Juice of one lemon
3-4 tablespoons total olive oil, divided
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Rinse the barley with cold water (use a fine-mesh sieve so you don't lose them down the sink!)
2. Combine 3 cups water, 1 tsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add barley and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook barley for 40-50 minutes until tender but still chewy. Drain any excess water and set aside to cool.
3. Preheat oven to about 400F (my oven is wonky, you may need to go up to 425F)
4. Chop the squash and pepper into 3/4-inch cubes. Toss with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, thyme and about 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Arrange on a foil-lined baking sheet.Roast your veggies for 20-30 minutes, turning once. 
5.  For the hard boiled eggs, place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat, then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain and place eggs in a bowl of cold water.
6. Assembly time! I layer the barley on the bottom of my plastic containers, then the chickpeas (open the can, drain and rinse), then the veggies, then one peeled and quartered hard boiled egg. Spinach can be kept separately, so it stays dry, and handfuls can be added to each container in the morning or the night before. 
7. The dressing this week is equal parts lemon juice and olive oil with salt and pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon of each. I mix it in a small plastic container and keep it in the break room refrigerator at work, so every day I can just shake it up and pour a little on my salad right at lunchtime. 

Weekly Lunch: Chickpeas and Quinoa (again) with Delicata Squash

You may be able to detect a formula with my weekly lunches by now: some kind of whole grain, some kind of legume, a couple of veggies, and one or two "extras" like cheese or nuts. Add in a simple vinaigrette and you have lunch!

Luckily, it's a formula that allows for a lot of variety, so I don't get bored with it. The star of this week's show was a lovely delicata squash - one of my favorites. Here is what I did with it:

1. Peel your squash with a vegetable peeler. Unless of course you have a thick-skinned squash, in which case you will need to use a sharp knife. Delicata tend to have a thinner skin so a veg peeler works well, which is one of the reasons I like them so much.
2. Cut the peeled squash in half, lengthwise, and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. If you are not lazy, you can free the seeds from the squash innards, parboil them in salted water, and roast them! But this was a small squash (with a small number of seeds) so I decided it wasn't worth the effort.
3. Cut the squash halves into slices, then cut the slices into 1/2" chunks. 
4. Toss the squash chunks with equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar (I used about 1 tbs. each for my small squash) and a bit of salt and pepper. 
5. Spread squash chunks on a foil-lined baking sheet (again, laziness requires easy cleaning) and place in a preheated 375F oven for about 20 minutes. I usually check on them halfway through and turn them over to encourage even browning. 
6. Try not to eat them all in one sitting!

And here is the finished product: baby greens, quinoa, canned chickpeas, toasted hazelnuts, a sprinkle of feta, the lovely squash chunks, and my favorite balsamic-mustard vinaigrette. Yum!!

Weekly Lunch: Sprouted Lentils and Fancy Veggies

The bag of sprouted lentils has been calling my name. What else to do with them? I couldn't decide, so I just cooked them, as well as some wheatberries, and figured they would just come together somehow.

Then I remembered a fancy vegetable recipe I had seen a while back. I'll give you a hint - it involves these:

I'll post the original recipe soon - it was a great, late-summer dish and I really enjoyed the leftovers, mixed with those lentils and wheatberries, and a sprinkle of feta.

Weekly Lunch: Chickpea Salad #2 (with Quinoa)

This salad is all about late-summer abundance. Roasted cherry tomatoes, purple (!) bell peppers, cucumber, and parsley join up with some feta cheese, chickpeas and quinoa, dressed simply with a drizzle of walnut oil and lemon juice.

For the roasted tomatoes, I took a pint of yellow and orange grape tomatoes, cut them in half, tossed with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and placed them in a baking dish with the cut sides facing up. Into a 375F oven for 30-40 minutes until the tomato skins look partially caramelized. This is a matter of preference. Sometimes I prefer to use a lower heat for a longer period of time to allow the tomatoes to dry out more and become almost chewy.

Weekly Lunch: Sprouted Lentils and Beets

It's Weekly Lunch time again :) I know you love seeing my beautiful plastic container and my all-in-one spoon-fork-knife.

I picked up a bag of sprouted lentils a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to decide what to do with them. Not wanting to hide them in a soup, I thought instead to showcase them in a salad with roasted chioggia beets, hard boiled egg, toasted hazelnuts, mixed greens, and my old standby, balsamic-mustard vinaigette. I added some blanched yellow wax beans one day as well.



Here's a "recipe" for the vinaigrette:

Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette

• 1 tbs. dijon mustard
• 1 tbs. balsamic vinegar - you don't need anything fancy for this
• 2 tbs. olive or grapeseed oil
• pinch of salt, few grinds of pepper

And that's it. Super easy, goes with everything. I like to mix the ingredients in a small plastic squeeze tube that I can take to work and keep in the break room refrigerator all week.

Weekly Lunch: Chickpea Salad #1

I enjoy lunch. I like to make a big batch of salad or soup to last through the week, so that I don't have to think about what to have for lunch each day, and so that I can avoid the not-so-spectacular lunch options near my office.

I cooked up a batch of chickpeas over the weekend, made a batch of hummus, and decided to use the rest in a salad. At the farmer's market I picked up some eggs with the prettiest blue and green shells, hazelnuts, green beans, and carrots, mixed them all together with a simple balsamic-dijon mustard vinaigrette, and added a few chunks of fresh goat cheese. Good combo.



Weekly Lunch will be a regular feature here on Olalliberry, so stay tuned.