Red Wine and Lentils

Ever since having a Waitrose salad with some quinoa in it (a pulse / bean from South America?) and being blown away with just how well this worked (I surprise myself how excited I can get about good food) I have been experimenting with salads and pulses.

I now eat salads several times a week - often for my main even meal. They are delicious and extremely healthy. The main ingredients are:

1) Sauce / dressing

I always start with olives marinaded in oil (olive, hemp and / or sunflower). Sometimes I remember to add herbs to this marinade. Typically I make a large pot of this marinade about once or twice a week and then pop it in fridge.

As a child I didn't like olives at all, it is only since having olives marinade in oil that I realised that it was the brine the olives are preserved in that I don't like. I now drain and rinse my olives before preparing my own healthy marinade.

2) Protein

My favourites are quinoa or green lentils. Although recently I have been experimenting with mung bean and barley. Mung bean are a pain to cook (you have to soak them for 24 hours) but are worth the effort - they are probably really good for you and have a great sounding name.

3) Vegetables

Vegetable are good for you and the more variety the better, I will list a few of my current favourite.

Spinach - frozen, simply defrost in the microwave

Roasted Vegetables (Peppers, aubergines, onions) - frozen, again simply defrost in the microwave. A side issue here is the Tesco vs Waitrose value debate: I am regular being told that Tesco is better value than Waitrose? In my experience is that if you match items of similar quality, the two are comparable. One exception, is frozen roasted vegetables, both Tesco and Waitrose do tasty frozen roasted veg, and Tesco's is a lot cheaper (2/3 of price?). However after some months of Tesco frozen veg (in London - where Tesco is my local supermarket), I noticed that they have added mono-sodium glutamate to their product. I will still enjoy Tesco's product but I don't mind paying the Waitrose premium for a quality, wholesome product.

Broccoli - frozen, simply defrost in the microwave

Carrot and Onions - these I actually buy fresh and can be steamed in the microwave

Cherry Tomatoes - Borough Market at the weekend does bag of delicious cherry tomatoes and they are not expensive. But if I'm not in London then any Supermarket tomatoes will do ...

Apples - I love a chopped apple in a salad (is it a Waldorf salad which have chopped apple and walnuts in it?)

There are literally dozens of great veg out there to be savoured, I could go on and on but I think this is enough for now!