Maple Pear Lentil Salad

Are you a Lentil Freaker Outer?

I used to be a Lentil Freaker Outer.

"Lentil Freaker Outer" is my own soon to be copyrighted phrase describing a person who sees lentils in a recipe and, well, freaks out and avoids making and consuming said recipe.

How does a Lentil Freaker Outer become one?

I don't know. It could be for one reason or another. A few reasons why I became a Lentil Freaker Outer: my mother never cooked with them; lentils are different; the fiber content is scary high; there are too many types; nobody else will eat them...

Then I saw the package of ready to eat lentils at Trader Joe's, and I decided to trade in part of my Lentil Freaker Outer status. It was nice to pop the package open and dump them in the bowl. An extra bonus is that the ingredients in the package are just lentils, salt, and water. True, I didn't make the lentils myself, but it's a step in the right direction.

I grabbed some pears while I was at Trader Joe's, plus some dried cranberries and pecans. I figured all that would go well with a maple dijon dressing.

It did.

And I have now partially traded in my Lentil Freaker Outer status. Once I actually boil lentils from scratch, I'll have fully traded in my Lentil Freaker Outer status. This Maple Pear Lentil Salad was really simple to make (thanks to pre-cooked lentils), and I do believe I will try lentils again.

What's a legume or grain that you have freaked out about cooking?



**Update 10/13/12: I now avoid non natural/organic sweeteners, so I instead of using sugar free maple syrup, I use real maple syrup. And it's delish.


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Maple Pear Lentil Salad

2 1/2 cups cooked lentils
1 pear, diced
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 Tbls maple syrup
2 Tbls white wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbls olive oil
pinch of black pepper


In a medium sized bowl, combine the lentils through pecans.

In a small bowl, whisk the sugar free maple syrup, white wine vinegar, dijon, olive oil, and black pepper together. Pour over the lentil mixture, stir, and serve immediately, or refrigerate a few hours before serving.


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Servings: 8 | Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Calories: 178 | Fat: 7.5 | Carbs: 23.7 | Fiber: 6.6 | Protein: 6.4
Sugars: 5.2 | Sodium: 24.5

{4 WW Points+}