Dr. Fuhrman's Warm Lentil Salad

Hello dear blogging community!  I am sorry about my absence this last month.  After moving and getting settled into my new job, I started to feel soooo worn down and tired.  I continued to have jaw pains and headaches from my TMJ, but on top of that I was out of breath often and felt tired way too often.  After doing some research I have found that I was a bit anemic and have started taking supplements.  I have also found that much of my general tiredness is a side effect of my birth control pill.  I have decided to use a different method and I hope that I am back to feeling normal again soon.

Now on to the food talk.  Over the last couple of months, mostly since I have been married, I have been merely a part-time Nutritarian..... Generally for lunch and breakfast I ate full Nutritarian meals, then in the evening I messed up by eating some sort of processed food because it was easier, or I was point-blank craving it. :(. This is sad to admit, because I always hope to be an inspiration for my readers, but I started this blog as a way to be accountable to not only myself, but my audience.

I have been noticing more and more over the last few months that I have found more and more foods acceptable to eat or drink.  I even had Kraft Mac n Cheese or Top Ramen some nights for dinner.  I convinced myself that those processed foods were "still vegetarian, and not that bad for me."  I started craving these horrible foods and would shun my bowl of fresh fruits.  I have decided that to get rid of these cravings, I need a redo of Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live Six Week Plan, and today is day one. Please follow me through the weeks as I try to daily post what I eat (yes, I am being that accountable), when I exercise, and how I feel.

Food log:

• Breakfast: banana, green pear, red pear
• Lunch: quinoa and kale salad with ginger dressing, 3 mandarin oranges
• Dinner: Dr. Fuhrman's Warm Lentil Salad (see recipe below), 2 small and thin whole wheat rolls
• Dessert: apple and pineapple slices

Exercise: Little.  Being active at work.

How I feel: I'm feeling very very optimistic today.  In Eastern Washington we have been experiencing an early Spring heat wave (literally look at the country temperature map, we are red!).  This warm, sunny weather had me waking up a bit earlier than usual, and I was able to take my time getting ready for work.  While I was getting ready for work and during my commute, I drank about a liter of water.  Another one of my goals during the Six-Week Plan is to add more water throughout my day.  Now, at the end of the day, I feel happy with everything I ate and drank and look forward to one more day of progress.  One. Day. At. A. Time!

I dug this warm lentil salad recipe out from my email archives of Dr. Fuhrman's recipes that I have from his website membership. I figured I can't go wrong or fall off the wagon the first day with a Dr. F recipe for dinner!  I have included Dr. Fuhrman's recipe as it is written as well as my slight differences in red.  This is definitely the recipe to try as we move from cold winter weather to warm "eat-yo-salad" summer weather. Hope you enjoy!

Dr. Fuhrman's Warm Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

For the Lentils: 

• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
• 1/4 cup wild rice
• 1 1/2 cups lentils, rinsed
• 4 tsp Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest (I used 4 tsp of Mrs. Dash no-salt seasoning in Tomato, Basil, And Garlic)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 4 cups water

For the Salad:

• 10 oz mixed salad (I used arugula)
• 3 green onions, chopped 
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced (I used shaved carrot slices and omitted the other veggies that I didn't have on hand)
• 1 medium cucumber, sliced

For the Dressing:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp Dr. Fuhrman's Blood Orange Vinegar (I used pomegranate red wine vinegar)
• 6 oz soft tofu

Instructions:

1. In a large saucepan, combine all lentil ingredients and stir well.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook on low until the rice and lentils are tender, approximately 50 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, prep the salad ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. In a high-speed blender, blend the tomatoes, vinegar, and tofu until smooth. 
4. Toss the salad with the dressing. 
5. To serve, place a generous portion of salad on each plate and scoop the warm lentils on top. 
6. Top with nutritional yeast if desired. 

Amy's notes:

I found this to be the perfect dinner-time salad. It had loads of greens, but still had the aspect of a hot meal. I would definitely make this again, but probably with half of the lentil recipe (it made a lot!).  I'll be using some of the lentil rice leftovers tomorrow to make mini lentil burgers for the whole wheat buns I made tonight. Tomorrow, I'm making dinner for my dad since my mom is on a girl's trip up the California coast with my sister-in-law. Thankfully, my dad is Nutritarian as well, and is happy to have someone cook while my mom is gone. (Miss you mom, if you read this!)

What do you do when you fall off the Nutri-wagon? What keeps you encouraged to keep going?