Quinoa and Lentil Salad in an Almond Dressing with Roasted Veggies and Radicchio

So, thanks to my magic tea, the cold is nearly gone. But, what is up with this rain?!

As we all know, the end of the semester is approaching extremely quickly. So, it is once again cookcrastination time in my house. (I'm hoping to get the cleancrastination bug this weekend...) I've been dreaming up this recipe all day. It is reflective of my current effort to really minimize the presence of all animal derived products in my diet. So, far breakfast is the only real challenge, but this would be a great brunch salad! And, this little salad is inspired by one of my favorite snacks- Raw beet "chips" with almond dip. To give that lovely snack a try, make the dressing and then mandolin a raw beet into chips. Its a great alternative to standard chip + dip options!

Dressing
3/4 cup raw sliced almonds
1.5 T walnut oil
the juice of one big lemon
1.5 t shoyu (more to taste)
3 cloves garlic

Place the almonds and garlic in a small food processor. Grind until finely chopped. Drizzle in the oil, lemon juice, and shoyu. Blend until you have a thick, chunky paste. Taste and add more lemon or shoyu if the balance is off.

Salad
1 cup red quinoa
1/2 cup french lentils
2 smallish beets peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
2 large carrots peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 smallish head of radicchio, coarsely chopped, rinsed and dried
1 large clove garlic
juice of one lemon
giant handful of chopped parsely
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400. Toss the beets and carrots in a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Roast.

Toss the chopped radicchio in the lemon juice and stir in the minced head of garlic. Set aside.

Cook the quinoa (in 2 cups water) and the lentils (in 1.5 cups water). (I did the quinoa first, tossed it with the dressing and then used the same pot to cook the lentils.)

In a LARGE bowl toss the quinoa and lentils in the dressing while still warm. If there is a tablespoon or so of water hanging out in the pot, that's fine, it will just thin the dressing and make it easier to mix. When the veggies are done, toss them with the quinoa and lentils. Let the warm part of the salad sit until just a little warmer than room temperature and then toss in the garlicky radicchio. Toss and taste. Add salt and pepper if you want it. (I didn't.) Toss in a generous amount of chopped parsley. If you're going to hold this as leftovers, I would add the parsely as you go through the salad so that you maximize its flavor.

Serves 6. Seriously, it fills my 3.5 quart bowl.