Mediterranean Lentil Salad

~Amanda~

Summer is my favorite season for many many reasons, but one of the biggest is that I just love warm summer nights on the patio eating a light, refreshing and healthy dinner. In the summer, I don’t need heavy comfort foods for dinner to leave me feeling satisfied and it’s so much easier to eat healthy and feel good! These past few weeks Conor and I have been trying to be extra healthy in preparation for our upcoming vacay to Hawaii so I’ve been experimenting with some new recipes to add to the mix. This Mediterranean Lentil Salad turned out absolutely amazing and it’s going to be a staple in my menu planning going forward. It’s also super quick and easy to throw together so it’s perfect for those busy weeknights when you don’t have a ton of time, but want something tasty and homemade. 

One thing I always hear from Conor is that I never include enough protein in our meals so that has been a new goal of mine – to include more protein in all our meals. I am not a huge meat eater – I enjoy chicken and fish and maybe some turkey here and there, but we just weren’t raised on red meats and now I don’t particularly enjoy them (or digest them well) so I like to find proteins in plant-based forms too. That’s what got me started on this recipe idea; lentils! Lentils are a great source of plant-based protein and a great way to add protein to this side dish. I’ve also been really into fresh Mediterranean flavors after making my sister’s Greek Salad and wanted to incorporate those in this salad too. 

To make this simple and delicious salad, I combined lentils (you can use any color) with sun-dried tomatoes, olives, parsley, feta, and bell peppers. For the dressing, I kept it very simple by combining some of the leftover oil from the sun-dried tomatoes with apple cider vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. That’s it! Drizzle it over the top and stir everything together then top it with some fresh basil and you’ve got an amazing salad. I also love the versatility of this salad; you can serve it like I did as a base for your main protein (I recommend salmon or another light fish or maybe even some Mediterranean grilled chicken), you can have it as a side dish or you can even use it as a ‘dip’ to put on crackers for a snack! However you choose to eat it, I hope you enjoy!