Nutty Grain salad

I recently remembered how much I used to like Trader Joe's (long-discontinued) Nutty Grain Salad. I tracked down an ingredient list in the hopes of recreating it some time soon. I will definitely be leaving out the cilantro. I'm curious what the pomegranate juice concentrate does...

cooked red quinoa, cooked spelt (wheat), edamame

(soybeans), carrots, dry roasted peanuts, canola oil, sweet

chili sauce (sugar, water, pickled red chili, vinegar, garlic,

salt, xanthan gum), water, pumpkin seeds, soy sauce

(water, soybeans, wheat, salt), honey, ginger, sugar, rice

vinegar (rice vinegar, water), white wine vinegar, pistachios,

cilantro, lime juice, pomegranate juice concentrate,

modified rice starch.

 

reformated/simplified ingredient list:

red quinoa

spelt

edamame

carrots

dry roasted peanuts

canola oil

sweet chili sauce

pumpkin seeds

soy sauce

honey

ginger

rice vinegar

white wine vinegar

pistachios

[cilantro]

lime juice

pomegranate juice concentrate

 

Black Beluga Lentil Salad

(Loosely based on the packaged lentil salad they sell at Peet's.)

1 cup black beluga lentils
4 cups water
1 small shallot, diced
~1 tbs chopped parsley
1 carrot, grated fine
~2 oz feta cheese
half a lemon's worth of juice
red wine vinegar to taste
olive oil to taste/preference
salt to taste
pepper

Put lentils and water in a pot, bring to a faint boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add chopped shallots and cook for 10 more minutes, til cooked but still firm. (You can also just add the shallots after cooking, but raw onion is a bit sharp for me.)
Drain. I did not rinse.

Put into bowl. Add remaining ingredients (Some recipes say to let the lentils cool first but I did this while still warm.) Stir, eat.

Half of this recipe (which feels about like a portion if it's all you're eating) contains ~370 cal 6g fat, 29g protein, 51g carbohydrate and 20g fiber.I did not include olive oil in this so probably slightly more fat.  Going forward I'd be inclined to use more olive oil to make it a bit more balanced/less carbohydrate-dense, though I didn't measure how much olive oil I used, so...