FRUITS AND VEGGIES MONDAY - lentils-quinoa summer salad

Are you looking for a recipe idea for these hot days? Should it be something healthy, light, fresh and tasty? Don't you want to spend all day in kitchen?

Yes?

Then keep reading!

My lentils- quinoa salad is perfect for you! It is an ideal meal for summer days that has everything what your body and soul need. It is ready within 1 hour (including roasting) with very simple and quick preparation.

Let's start cooking!

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Ingredients - up to 4 servings:

1 cup cooked lentils
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup zucchini
1 cup sweet potatoes
1 cup orange/red bell pepper
1/2 cup asparagus
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 medium sized onions
1/2 unpitted black olives
2 handful of arugula
1 bulb of garlic
Bunch of parsley
Bunch of basil
1 handful of pine nuts
1 handful of sesame seeds
3 tbsp olive oil
Splash of lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

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Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Cook quinoa and lentils as per instructions on the package. I used blonde lentils and quinoa of three colors but you can use any type of your choice.

Prepare veggies for roasting. First cut garlic into half and place it on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

A perfectly roasted bulb of garlic should be soft, with a little browning on the outside. The cloves inside should spread like soft butter on toast. Roasted garlic will change its taste to sweet and it will lose its sharpness. One bulb looks like a lot of garlic, but trust me you will love it!

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Cut zucchini, sweet potato, onion and bell pepper in equal sized pieces. Place cherry tomatoes between two lids and then slice through them to cut all of them at once.

Place all veggies on the baking sheet. Add olive oil on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix it up well together so that all pieces are covered with oil.

Look at the colors! It already looks delicious!

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Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

In the meantime cut asparagus in 1 cm long pieces and bake it in a small pan with a splash of olive oil on medium heat for 3 minutes. I don't roast asparagus with other veggies in the oven as it would become too soft. Other veggies need much more time to roast so if I bake it separately it keeps green color and remains crunchy.

Cut cucumber and olives in equal sized pieces and roughly chop basil and parsley.

Roast sesame seeds and pine nuts on the medium heat until they are lightly brown, for about 2-3 minutes.

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Take the baking sheet out of the oven. Set aside to cool down for 15 minutes.

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So yummy!

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Place veggies on a plate and take garlic cloves out of the skin. You can easily do it by pressing on the bottom of a clove to push the soft deliciousness out. We like big chunks of roasted garlic, but you can cut them in smaller pieces if you wish.

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Place cooked lentils and quinoa in a big mixing bowl and prepare roasted veggies, cucumber, herbs, olives, sesame seeds, pine nuts, baked asparagus, roasted garlic and arugula for mixing.

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Add all ingredients in the bowl and mix everything well together. Add some salt and pepper if necessary.

How good does it look?

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The combination of roasted veggies and crunchy cucumber with herbs and nuts is irresistible!

Serve and enjoy the taste explosion in every bite!

I would recommend to serve it with a glass of rose if you are having this meal for dinner 😊

ISO 100 1/200 sec. f/3.5 18 mm

All pictures are taken by Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II. I use Lightroom to edit my pictures.

This is my entry to #fruitsandveggiesmonday hosted by lovely @lenasveganliving.

I hope you like my recipe. If you recreate it, please tag me in your post so that I can see it.

If you like my articles, feel free to upvote/resteem or follow me.

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,

M.