Cold Lentil Tabbouleh Salad

Wednesday morning I went searching for a salad to make for lunch. It had to have protein, use veggies, and I had to have all the ingredients in the house. I found 2 recipes that sounded great and adapted both of them to create one fantastic lentil tabbouleh!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat
• 2 TB olive oil
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 TB red wine vinegar
• 1/2 TB honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped (I used a mix of curly and italian)
• 1 carrot, chopped small
• 1/2 small onion chopped (or 1/4 red onion)
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 TB pine nuts (toasted if you have time)
• handful of spinach, roughly chopped
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place lentils in medium pot, fully covered in water. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 30 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
2. Place bulgur wheat in small pot with 1 cup water. Heat until simmering, then turn off heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and drain any excess water.
3. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, honey, garlic and vinegar. Set aside
4. In a medium bowl combine cooked lentils, bulgur, parsley, onion, carrot, cucumber, spinach. Drizzle oil mixture over salad and toss well. Season with salt and pepper (and some Spike seasoning if you have it). Garnish with pine nuts.
5. Chill, covered at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

This recipe could be adapted according to what veggies you have on hand. Add in diced or cherry tomatoes or diced green pepper if you have them.