Meatless Monday - Whole Grain Salad

Christmas was celebrated a week early this year in our house. What fun it was to have our whole family together this past Thursday morning. Our children, their spouses and the grand-babies all gathered around our living room, while all eyes were on Eliza as she was old enough this year to "get" the concept of opening gifts and playing with her new toys. Next year should be even more fun as Eliana should be old enough to have some fun and Eliza will definitely feel the excitement of all those presents.

Later Thursday we all met at my oldest brothers house to exchange gifts and share food with almost every one of our family members on my side. Our brother and his family, who live in Texas, and my oldest brothers two oldest children and their sweeties who live in Washington were missing, but they were all with us in our hearts.  

Each year my sister-in-law and I take turns hosting dinner and planning the menu. This year, I was given the appetizer platter and a vegan dish for our daughter and myself. and after all our eating was over, I still had plenty of vegetables left over.  So I decided to use up as much as I could tonight using the pre-cut vegetables and the rice and grains I used in another dish.

Whole Grain Salad

I started out roasting a medium sweet potato, about a cup and a half of baby carrots and a medium onion for about 30 minutes. Toss these with just a little bit of olive oil (about a tablespoon) and then salt and pepper to taste. I then steamed about 2 cups of fresh broccoli just until bright green and still slightly firm.

While the veggies were roasting and steaming I measured out left-over cooked lentils (1 cup), brown rice (1 cup) and mixed red and white quinoa ( 2 cups)

 I added 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, 4 green onions and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to the grain mixture. Stir all of this together and set aside.

I made up a dressing that was both nutty and slightly sweet to compliment all the flavors of the salad.

1/4 cup Tahini

2 TB fresh lemon juice

1 TB tangerine balsamic vinegar

2 TB maple syrup (Or maple flavored agave)

1 TB low-sodium soy sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

Mix all that together and pour over the grain mixture. Stir well.

 By now your vegetables should be roasted and steamed. Add that to your grain and dressing mixture and stir gently so as not to break up the sweet potatoes.

This dish is good served warm or at room temperature.  

 Spoon this main dish salad up into a bowl and enjoy!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthful New Year!