Skinny Banana Biscotti!

Oh, I know, it has been a long time since I last posted.  Please forgive me. And I will offer you a cookie...it is that kind of day.  It's cold outside and you want an warm cup of Yorkshire Tea, thanks Liz Babbs, and the smell of fresh baked banana bread.  Only, you don't want all those calories.  This recipe lets you have it all.

Banana Biscotti

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
 Mix above ingredients in one bowl,

Mix in a second bowl:
1/3 cup very ripe mashed banana ( 1, in my case)
1  tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Mix the contents of the two bowls, dough will be sticky. Turn dough onto floured surface. Shape into two 9" long rolls with floured hands.  Place rolls on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Flatten to 1/2 " thick.  Bake at 350 F for 23 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Cut each roll diagonally into 12 slices. Place slices cut side down on a baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 250 F and bake  15 minutes on each side . Cookies will harden as they cool.

1 biscotti is 72 calories, 2 grams of fat .4 grams fiber, 2 ww points,  4 syns.
I got this recipe years ago from Kristin Kinser, who nicknamed it eyeball biscotti after poking her eyeball with a pot handle when she went for her cookie sheet to make these!  I hope you enjoy. I love them, but then, I do have loads of biscotti recipes that I love.

S'More Trifle Please!

Okay, okay...it is still calorie-laden but I made it about as skinny as possible and I needed a dessert for a crowd.  You can probably do better using Walden Farms products but this is what I did.

1 box cake mix, chocolate
1 14 oz. can pumpkin

2 small boxes of sugar free, fat free Instant Chocolate pudding
8 whole reduced fat graham crackers, crumbled
2 1/2 cups fat free milk, plus 2 Tablespoons
7 oz. Marshmellow cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Chocolate bar for decorating
1 12 oz carton lite Cool Whip

Mix Box Cake mix with 1 can pumpkin and spread in sprayed baking pan and bake with time according to box directions.  Remove from oven, cool and cut in 1 inch squares.  Mix 2 packages pudding mix together with 2 cups of milk using a wire whisk.  Allow it to set for 2 minutes and fold in 8 oz. cool whip.  Melt chocolate chips, mixed with 2 TBSPs milk in the microwave fo 90 seconds.

Construct trifle:
Layer cake cubes topped with 1/2 pudding mixture.  Add crushed Graham cracker, drizzle with melted chocolate and spoons of marshmellow cream.  Repeat layers and top with rremaining Cool Whip and shaved chocolate. (I use a vegetable peeler to shave the edges of the chocolate bar.)
Assemble at least an hour in advance.  Serves 24.

Mark's Morning Frittata

Ooooooh, I love it when I wake up smelling this!  Mark gets up before me and I wake up to the most delicious aromas...yes, and he delivers coffe and breakfast in bed when I wish but I would rather have coffee in bed and breakfast at the table.  I am not a breakfast in bed sort of girl, you might be relieved to know, lol.

This recipe is a keeper, I promise...so is Mark, sorry, you can't have him!

First, you slice a few potatoes on a mandoline, or we use the Pampered Chef Simple Slicer. You lay them in a pan sprayed with Pam Spray and brown them in the oven at 350 until beginning to brown.

While they are browning, saute onion, asparagus cut in small pieces, a bit of cubed ham, and he tosses in a bit of frozen chopped up hot red pepper from the freezer.

Distribute evenly over the potato crust.

Add a small sprinkle of fat free cheddar.

In a blender, combine 4 eggs and 4 oz of Fat free Cream cheese.  Pour this over the vegetables.

Now bake for 1/2 hour or until set for the most delicious breakfast Mark will ever deliver to your bed and you will carry to the table to eat!  YUM!  Thanks Mark, kiss kiss x.

Fruited Jello

I know, Jello on my blog...IMPOSSIBLE!  I am the one who can't make Jello afterall.  I know you are thinking that.  Maybe you just are not caught up to date.  When I turned 50 I discovered how to make Jello. Okay, busted.  I did not make this one but I can make it now, um, well usually I can make it.

This is 1 box Sugar Free Strawberry Banana Jello
1 banana, sliced
1 carton Strawberries, sliced
 a handful of frozen dark sweet cherries
2 cups boiling water
1 cup of ice, then filled with water
2 1/2 oz fat free cream cheese
1 cup fat free Greek yogurt, unflavored

Mix Jello with hot water and dissolve well.  Blend cream cheese, yogurt, ice and water.  Then add hot mixture and blend.  Pour over fruit and allow to set in refrigerator.  It sets quickly.  The whole recipe has 2 syns and 1/2 A choice.  Very nice, thanks Mark!

Benriner Vegetable Angel Hair!

As promised, here it is.  It is so simple really.  Three vegetables made into angelhair shapes with the help of the Benriner.  Got it from Amazon. I have only experimented with this one shape so far.

Benriner Cook Help, find it on Amazon.



Attach them to the gripper.

Cut some straight vegetables into three inch pieces.

Rotate the handle using even pressure.

Microwave for 5 minutes on high using your preferred seasonings.

They twirl right onto your fork.  They make a nice base for chicken or fish.

Vegetables should be fun and we need to eat more of them!  Bon Apetit!

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Simply one of the best things I have eaten.  Now we are talking comfort food.  You have got to be kidding, this is not diet food, right?  WRONG!  This is Slimming World diet food!  I love this recipe, oh, wait, did I say that already? Mmmmmmm. Just look at all the deliciousness. I am talkin' yummy flavor here people.

Okay, okay, I'll give you the recipe... but first I have to tell you that I got it from Brenda Layton.  She told me today on the phone that she has lost 90 pounds since seeing me on TV and trying Slimming World for herself.  She took a recipe she found and made it Slimming World friendly.  I want ALL her recipes!  Whoooooop Whoooooop Yay Brenda! You rock! Keep up the good work!

Here 'tis....

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

1 pound red potatoes
1 pound Yukon Gold (yellow) potatoes
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
16 ounces baby carrots
4 cloves garlic
1 (10 ounce) package frozen white corn, thawed
Spray butter, spray it don't pour it!
1/2 pkg shredded fat free Cheddar cheese (1 A choice)
Salt and pepper to taste
  

Directions

Place red potatoes, yellow potatoes, jalapeno pepper, carrots and garlic cloves in a large pot. Cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Drain water from pot.
Stir in corn and spray with butter.
Mash the mixture with a potato masher until butter is melted and potatoes have reached desired consistency.  I used a Kitchenaid mixer.
Mix in cheese, salt, and pepper.
Serve hot.

Vegetables made into Spaghetti Noodles!!!

Yes , REALLY!  And they are so very yummy!!!  I got the idea first of all by going to a local Italian restaurant named Patrizio's.  They served my fish on a bed of julienned vegetables and it was lovely even though I had the cream sauce on the side.  I remembered a friend of mine telling me that she had a gadget that made vegetables into long thin noodles...so Christmas came along and Mark got me one!

It is really unbelievable.  I will do a whole blog post about the process, but here is the end result:

These are looooooong noodles, two feet long, sometimes!  You can twirl them on a fork like spaghetti!  I used McCormick's Perfect Pinch Vegetable seasoning and seved a slice of baked salmon over it.  I can't wait to experiment more.  This was a combination of carrot, yellow squash and zucchini. Can you imagine a two foot long noodle of carrot from a short 4-inch stub of carrot! I'll take pictures of this process, it is amazing!  I just left it all in this bowl and microwaved it!

Mini Chocolate 2 syn tarts!

 Tracy Sanders and I put on our thinkin caps about that powdered whipped topping. We used the Kroger brand which uses 1/2 cup Skim milk to make it.  Some may also know it as Dream whip. And I will tell you what...OMG!! It is so gosh darn delicious!!!! SOOOO...we were thinkin' Sugar Free Jello, Yogurt and whipped topping...

I didnt have any sugar-free jello in the house, but I did have the sugar free choc pudding and fat free milk.
I got some of those little mini fillo tart shells. Whipped up the pudding, and topped it with the fat free whipped
topping and dusted it with cocoa. YUMMMMMMY!  Doesn't taste like a diet dessert at all.
 Then I used half of the pudding and half of the whipped topping, mixed them together and plopped it in the crusts. Wowzer...thats good too!!
Everything inside of those little tarts are sugar-free,fat-free. The only Syns I am seeing is for the little tart.
1 syn each for those and to prtoect you weight loss you may add another syn for the filling, even though it is divided by 56 it would have some syn value if you ate more than one!  The next thing is the Yogurt, Sugar Free Jello, whipped topping tarts...standby for that...maybe some red and green ones for the Holiday!

Here is my photo..one batch made 54 tarts!! Im bringing those to my next party you can bet!

 Ingredients:

Mini Chocolate Tarts

3 boxes fillo tart shells

1 pkg sugar-free choc pudding (mix with FF milk,use the pie measurement, not the pudding)
1 envelope powdered whip topping(mix with FF milk and vanilla)

Makes 54 tartlets

Looking for recipe ideas?

Just had to publish these and as I make them I may even add the pictures if I don't eat them so fast that I can't like last time I made them! Thanks to BK and Greg.

 SALSA

 3 large yellow onions.  Place the onions in a food processor first and chop for about 5-7 seconds

 To this add:

1/2 bunch chopped cilantro
2 large jalapeno's (sliced)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup real lemon juice
1 tablepoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon minced garlic (I use one from a jar)
8 cans tomatoes (whole peeled)

 Close cover of food processor. Pulse until desired consistency.

Can be stored in jars in the refrigerator for up to two months.

MEXICAN CABBAGE

3-4 pieces of turkey bacon (cooked, does have syns check your brand)
Head of cabbage
Onion
1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes
Salt and Pepper

Cook bacon and crumble. Shred cabbage.  Finely chop onion.  
In a large skillet (sprayed with Pam if necessary) add cabbage, onion, crumbled bacon and Ro-Tel tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook until cabbage is soft. 

Recipe Time!

It is about time, huh!  This is not my recipe...it belongs to one of my lovely target members Margaret Melton and it is yummy...wanted to share it with you! You will be using your A choice with this one, depending on how much you eat!

Italian Zucchini Casserole

3 medium zucchini, sliced (6 ½ cups)

Pam spray
1 medium onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 TBSP minced fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 boxes Rice a Roni Long grain and Wild rice, cooked with 2 cups water.
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

In large skillet, cook zucchini with Pam spray until tender, about 5-6 minutes; drain and set aside.  In same skillet, sauté onion and garlic with Pam spray.  Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.  Remove from  heat; gently stir in rice, zucchini, parmesan AND HALF THE MOZZARELLA.  Place in ungreased 13 x 9 baking dish.  Cover and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella cheese.  Return to oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Mmmmmm grapes and grape tomatoes!

Seedless Red Grapes

You know I love 'em...and especially I love red seedless grapes frozen!  They are just $.77 a pound so I bought alot, they will be in the freezer afterall!  Just wash them, remove the stems and freeze in freezer bags.  Enjoy by the handful, they are superfree!

Grape Tomatoes Pasta Sauce

The make the best quick pasta sauce.  Take two packages of grape tomatoes and dump them out on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam Spray.  Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper.  Toss on a garlic clove and cook in the oven at 375 F for about 15-20 minutes until the begin to shrivel and crack.  Dump them into a blender  or food processor with a basil leaf and pulse a few seconds.  Serve on fresh pasta!  YUMILICIOUS, and so easy and superfree!

The Smaller Hauler - Chicken Chilaquiles ala Annie

Hey, we do FUN stuff at Slimming World!  This was the LOVELY raffle basket and recipe put together by my friend Annie for last week.  She says that the recipe is one of her family favs and I promised to post it so here goes!  Hey I took a picture of this so you could see the products so you would know you were getting the right thing, smart huh?  I really took the picture so I COULD GET THE RIGHT THING.  Enjoy and thanks Annie, you are the bestest!

Chicken Chilaquiles

Ingredients

·        1 small roasted chicken (grocery store roasted chickens are great!)

·        2 cans diced tomatoes (fire roasted is preferred)

·        5 cloves of garlic

·        1 can Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

·        Cilantro

·        Lettuce

·        Crumbled fat free feta cheese (A choice)

·        Optional*** reduced fat sour cream*** for syns

·        1 can corn

·        1 red onion

·        1 jalapeno

Instructions

1.       Dice the jalapeno and ½ of the onion into small squares, keeping as many seeds from the jalapeno as you desire.  Place in a bowl and mix with equal part of drained corn. Set aside.

2.     Shred the meat off of the roasted chicken into bite size pieces, getting as much of the meat as you can, set aside. 

3.     In a large pan, over medium heat, spray with pam then press the garlic into the pan. Cook until garlic is fragrant and sizzling, stirring occasionally. 1-2 minutes.

4.     Chop into fine pieces 2 chipotle peppers. Add the tomatoes with their purée and the peppers into the pan. Add two large tablespoons of the Adobo sauce from the pepper can.  Simmer until the mixture has slightly thickened, about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5.     Add the shredded chicken to the tomato mixture and cook until hot, 1–2 minutes.  Remove from heat.

6.     Chop up the lettuce into rough pieces, place desired amount in bottom of your individual serving dish. Top with tomato chicken mixture. Garnish with desired amount of feta cheese, fresh cilantro and corn mixture!

7.     Enjoy!!

The Smaller Hauler So Close to Free SLAW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AanxoJ7kcfg

Close to Free Slaw

1/2 head of cabbage, sliced thinly
1/4 red onion, sliced thinly (I used a bunch of green onions)
1 carrot, grated
1 rib celery, chopped
1 apple, chopped
1 small orange fat free yogurt ( I used my fav Archer Farms)
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP fat free mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all...and  enjoy!  The only syns are from the Mayo.  I will continue to experiment with this recipe but I did like it alot!  Let me know what you think! What would you do to it?

The Smaller Hauler - Cooks Ham and Potato Soup on an Ice Day

 Now here is the recipe!

Ice Day Ham and Potato Soup

4 cups, peeled, diced potato
2 ribs chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced ham, remove visible fat
3 1/2 cups water
2 TBSP chicken boullion granules
2 cups fat free milk
5 TBSP (or 1/2 cup) Instant potato flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine first 6 ingredients and cook on medium heat until veggies are tender, about 15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  In a separate saucepan warm the milk and add the potato flakes.  Combine the two pot to create a warm yummy soup for an NICE DAY in DALLAS!

Corn Chowder...yummmmy!

This passed the Josh taste test...he ate several bowls so now I have no leftovers for lunch...ah well, what a problem, huh?  The whole family eating the same healthy delish food is a good thing! Slimming World has changed my life and has helped us to eat together as a family - all eating healthy great food!  But I was afraid that Josh was going to lose his tuxedo pants during his recital last night!  He has lost weight too!  I am so proud of you Josh~

Here it is while cooking for 20 minutes.

Here it is before I enjoyed it, sure wish I had made more so I had leftovers!

3 cups of chicken broth made with boullion and 3 cups boiling water
3 cups frozen hash brown potatoes
2 cans corn, do not drain
1 medium chopped onion
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 ribs chopped celery
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups skim milk

Saute onions, peppers and celery in a soup pot sprayed with Pam spray for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 20 minutes.  Blend 3/4 of the mixture and leave 1/4 unblended to remain chunky.  Serve!  Yummmmy!  I promise!

Flatout Recipes

Three Flatout, all the FATOUT, delicious recipes!

How many times do you need to "bring the snack or appetizer"?  These are simple to make and you can come up with great combinations  and have a beautiful dish to share.  Here are a few of my favorites that were featured on the Flatout page this week... I wanted to reference the recipes here too.

Slimming World Turkey Dilly Rolls

1 flatout of your choice

1/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt

3 sprigs fresh dill or 1 Tablespoon dried dill

1 chopped green onion

3 slices turkey

chopped lettuce

 3 sliced grape tomatoes

Freshly ground pepper

Mix yogurt and snipped fresh dill.  Spread evenly over flatout bread.  Sprinkle with chopped green onion.  Lay slices of turkey to cover surface of bread. Put a row of chopped lettuce down through the middle.  Top with sliced tomatoes and freshly ground pepper.  Roll tightly and refrigerate until ready to slice.  Slice evenly in 10 rounds.

That green stuff is called micro Arugula and it has a very peppery distinct flavor...pure YUM!

Horsey Beef Rolls

1 Flatout of your choice

2 TBSP Fat Free Cream Cheese

½ TBSP Fat Free Greek Yogurt

1 ½ teaspoons horseradish

3 slices lean roast beef

2 thin slices swiss cheese

Arugula ( I bought fresh Micro arugula near the spices)

Mix cream cheese, Greek Yogurt and horseradish.  Layer  roast beef, swiss cheese and arugula.  Roll and refrigerate until ready to cut into rounds and serve.

Turkey Curry Apple Rolls

 1 Flatout flatbread

2 TBSP Fat Free Cream Cheese

½ teaspoon sweet curry powder or to taste

3 slices turkey

chopped coleslaw mix

chopped apple with peel

Walden Farms Thousand Island salad dressing

Mix cream cheese and curry powder.  Spread evenly across Flatout bread round.  Layer with turkey, coleslaw mix and chopped apple.  Drizzle with a small amount of Walden Farms Fat Free Thousand Island salad dressing.  Roll and refrigerate until ready to cut into rounds and serve.

Hope you love these as much as me! There is no reason whatsoever that you should eat BLAH food!  Make it pretty and make it tasty and make your mouth happy to eat it and your tummy will be happy too and your brain will be satisfied that you ate!  I am just amazed at the wonder of Fat Free Greek Yogurt, but then, that will be a post for another day!

Enjoy y'all!

Flatout Yummy!

I was featured on the Flatout webpage today...wanna see?
http://flatoutfresh.com/2010/11/12/the-smaller-hauler-video/

I'll upload here too if you are patient!

Soup Weather

See, it is Fall in Texas...pumpkins in the background and I am wearing LAYERS of clothing!

Okay, I was probably the only person wearing layers of clothing at the Fall Festival at St. Nick's...and it was at least 70F...but hey, it has cooled off in the Texaplex enough to make soup!  I LOVE soup!  Some of you think that soup is just for when you are sick and can't eat anything else...you know who you are and I am not mentioning any names.  SOUP is your friend!  I have many soup recipes to upload here and today I will only tease you with one and then later I will update and add more.  In fact, Mark made up a great soup recipe yesterday and it was yummy.  It is stuffed pepper soup, Slimming World style, in the crockpot!

Today's soup is Cream of Carrot...and don't be fooled...no real cream here but it is creamy and delicious and you will love it!

Cream of Carrot Soup  (FREE)

6-8 carrots, cut in chunks or in food processor
1 large onion, cut in chunks
Pam spray
3/4 cup raw rice
7-8 cups chicken bouillion
1 cup fat free milk
Cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Spray bottom of a large soup pan with Pam spray and saute onions and carrots until onions are tender.  Add raw rice and broth.  Cook on low until rice is cooked and carrots are tender.  Blend and season with Cayenne pepper and salt!  Add your milk to the blender before seasoning.

I love this Vita Mix...she is my friend too.  See how I added the milk?  What a beauty!

Enjoy with your favorite Flatout Sandwich! 

Now tell me that this doesn't look yummy...a Flatout satisfying lunch if you ask me!

Watch for me on the Flatout website this week for more recipes...hey, maybe I will even post a link if I can get that organized!  Stay tuned for more soups for this cold 70 degree winter weather...brrrrrr.

I did some body magic today...I went hiking with Maria!  Thanks Maria!

Roasting Real Pumpkins

If you want to see me make Pumpkin Pie Rice pudding you can do so here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoCBa5PtiKo

Okay, some of you can't easily buy canned pumpkin...so here goes.  You can see that I bought two.  Cut it in half and remove the stem.  Turn it upside down on foil lined pan and cover with foil and roast at 350F for about 45 minutes until tender.

Then scoop out...

Then mash...

Then I refrigerated the pumpkin.  It made about two cups.  I used all of it in the pumpkin Pie Rice pudding although I calculated that it was about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more than needed and it turned out just fine.  I also used a fine wire mesh strainer and strained off a bit of excess juice. I would say that there was a good 1/4 cup that came off of the pumpkin.  The rice pudding was just the same as when I make it with canned pumpkin.  With canned,  I use the whole can or 15 oz of pumpkin.
Here it is:

See the earlier blog post for the recipe!  Next up will be pumpkin custard, hey I am in a pumpkin mood.  Oh, and I did roast the pumpkin seeds on the same foil in the oven after the pumpkin was cooked.  I salted and peppered them.  When they were roasted we ate them, shells and all.  It only had an ounce of seeds.  I weighed them because they do count as syns but they were a lovely salty treat!  Shhh, that was another secret!  Boy, I do know how to let those secrets out of the bags I am hauling, huh!  Oh, and I lost 6 pounds this week...did I tell you that I am getting SMALLER!

Go-to salads for a quick meal...

My favorite quick tuna salad

Oh, yum!  Can I say that Fat Free Greek Yogurt is your friend?  IT SO IS!  If you haven't met her yet, say hello to a Greek Goddess!  You'll see why if you make this salad.  This was my lunch today...yum.  So this is what I do, I will share a secret or two here...let me whisper...

I boil a few eggs, usually about 6 or so and I mark them with a pencil and stick them in the fridge.  I substitute fat free Greek Yogurt for mayo...and I am a mayo snob, only really liking Hellman's.  Greek yogurt can separate a bit if you don't eat it right away so you wouldn't want to make this one day and eat it days later, in fact, here is how I do it when I am bringing it with me to work.

I put all the ingredients in the container and do not mix them until I am ready to eat!  That is  a secret y'all!

Here goes:

2 hard boiled eggs
1 can of white tuna, packed in water, drained
1 rib celery
1 green onion, sliced
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon fat free Mayo
2 TBSPs fat free Greek yogurt
Small cooked pasta, there is about 3/4 cup here but add what you wish, it is free!

Mix and eat!  So fast and easy and with ingredients you probably have on hand.  I enjoyed mine with a ruby red grapefruit, peel 'em and eat 'em!  I really love them, in fact I am rather addicted to ruby reds right now and they are super slimming.  I peel off the tough skin between the juicy flesh...they are fun to peel and so yummy to eat.  I have been eating them every day because I love them and I did lose 6 pounds this week!  I ate this tuna at least twice too, because it was very satisfying to me.

Why not try this too:

Curried Chicken Salad

Cooked chicken chunks, fresh or canned
2 eggs, hard boiled
celery, cut up
apple, cut up
1 tsp raisins, minced (syns)
Greek Yogurt
1 tsp ff mayo
salt, pepper and curry powder

This one is yummy too!  No need to be hungry at lunch time!  You can even throw cooked rice or pasta into this mixture and it is a meal in itself. Who needs bread for lunch!

Lentil Rice Salad

This salad makes a fast, easy lunch.  Throw some into a bowl, grab a piece of fruit and a bottle of water and you are set to go.  That is what I need.  I like to have left overs for lunch because they are easy.  But there are not always left overs to be had.  This one takes some preparation.  I would liken it to the Bean Salad recipe that I have already posted because you do the chopping and make it ahead of time.  Then you have it on hand for a fast meal or an addition to your dinner. I made a lot of this.  Lentils have loads of protein and are a slimming way to get protein.  I thought this was yummy. 

 Check it out and let me know what you think.  I will post the second go-to recipe in a day or so, hey, I am busy, why do you think I need a go-to salad anyways?  Speaking of that I am so excited to GO-TO weigh in this week at Slimming World because I got weighed today and I was lower than I have been, like, way lower...I am getting SMALLER! May be I should show you that too, huh?  My girls took this picture...here I am and  here they are too...

Sorry, some bad lighting here...I'll do more pictures later... just thought you wanted to see my smaller sized jeans ; - )

My girls took the pictures...aren't they the cutest!?! 

Lentil Rice Salad Recipe

(I doubled this because to me that is the whole point of making it ahead.)

1/2 cup lentils, washed and cooked per directions

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup chopped tomato ( I used grape tomatoes)

1/4 sliced green onions

1 cup diced carrots

1/4 cup lightly sauteed red onion

3/4 cup green pepper (I only had red on hand)

1 1/2 cups broccoli or cauliflower flowerets

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

3/4 cups brown rice (cooked, yeilds a larger amount)

Dressing:

3 Tablespoons Nakano, Marukan or other Seasoned Gourmet Rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Add lentils to water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain.  Prepare rice according to package directions. Prepare vegetables while rice and lentils are cooking.  Mix lentils, rice and vegetables.  Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over vegetable mixture.  Chill well before serving.

I can also envision this recipe with a few twists.  You could make it Mediterranean by adding fat free feta, cucumbers, mint, and olives. Or what about adding tuna and a small pasta?  How about fresh pineapple tidbits, chicken pieces and curry powder?