Lentil-Rice Medley with Garden Salad

The garden was too much temptation. Only a fresh garden salad and a lighter protein-filled meal would do, so I grabbed this and I grabbed that and I added this and I added that and came up with a really delicious light warm-weather meal. I think you'll like it, too. The salad is on the left and the Lentil-Rice Medley on the right.

The best thing about a spring garden is that there's always something to put in a salad. As you can see, though young, there's already a variety of
lettuces, onions, spinach, broccoli leaves, and chard. Yummy!

My salad greens chosen, it was time to get the ingredients ready for my entree: 1/2 cup brown rice,  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup orange and green lentils. Mixed them altogether and then gave them a thorough rinse under cold water before placing in my hot-water heated baking dish. Stirred into the mix, 1 tsp. chopped dried figs, 1 Tbsp. of raisins, and 1 Tbsp. chopped pecans.

In a saucepan over medium heat, I poured 1 can of chicken stock, plus water to equal 3 cups, and brought it to just under a boil. In a separate small bowl, 1/2 tsp each of curry powder, ground fennel seed, sesame seeds, and, 1/4 tsp each of ground mace, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, salt and pepper to taste; stirred the spices into the Lentil-Rice mix. When the liquid reached a strong simmer, I added 2 Tbspns butter and two beaten eggs that had been tempered with some of the stock before adding to the pot so that the eggs wouldn't curdle.

Careully added the hot liquid to the baking pot and mixed till thoroughly blended. Covered and placed it in the solar oven to bake for approximately 2-1/2 hours.

The finished product just didn't have enough camera oomph, so I decided to make the salad fun. Along with the lettuces, green onion, spinach, and chard, I julienned some carrot, green onion, celery, ginger, and hoop cheese, then, rolled these up in the folded greens and tied it together with a green onion! Isn't it pretty?

To pull the plate together, I scooped the Lentil-Rice Medley onto an open lettuce leaf and made a salad dressing from 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1/2 tsp each of soy sauce, lemon curd, orange marmalade, and rice vinegar. So fresh and delicious. There's a lot of white space on the plate, but when the salad is opened up, you'll see that it needs the room!

Presentation is everything, isn't it?! This turned out to be a perfect meal for hot, sunny, days. Nutritious, light, and so good for you. What do you think?