Salmon with lentil-black bean-squash skillet

I decided the other day I wanted to try lentils.  For some reason, in my pursuit of healthy living, I had not yet had these.  I picked up some at Wal-Mart yesterday (great value bag of dried lentils is only $.98).  Then I started looking online for how to cook them.... Not necessarily recipes to use them in, but just how to cook them and pretty much everything I came across indicated that they were simple because they do not require soaking (which is a big reason I don't often cook dried beans).  So I rinsed them.... and picked out any shriveled or weird looking lentils.  Then I transferred them to a pot - this is 2 cups of dried lentils. And the ratio I found was 2:1.  I also saw a lot of people saying to cook them in chicken broth.  Well chicken broth has a ton of sodium - even the reduced sodium is ridiculously high - so I did 1 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth, and 3 cups of water.  I also seasoned them with curry powder & cumin.  (Do not season with salt during cooking - season with salt after).  Brought to a boil, let boil for a couple minutes, and then reduced to a simmer for about 25 minutes.  Drained off some of the liquid and threw those bad boys in a tupperware container headed straight for the fridge. 

For lunch I made the dish you see above.  It is a simple salmon filet (wild caught) on top of a bed of lentils, black beans, spinach, yellow squash, mushrooms, & onions.  Turned out to be such a tasty dish, I can't wait to have it again!! 

Here it is....

1/2 cup lentils (cooked)

1/4 cup black beans

1 small yellow squash, cubed

2 mushrooms - chopped

onion - chopped

2 tbsp salsa

1 cup spinach

cumin

red pepper

curry powder

garlic powder

s&p (or salt substitute & pepper)

1tbsp shredded cheese (if desired)

Preheat oven to 375.  Place fish on baking sheet (thawed out of course). Season as desired.  Bake for 11-12 minutes.

While fish is baking, heat frying pan over med-high heat.  Add in onions, mushrooms, & squash.  Season with cumin, red pepper, curry powder, & garlic powder (all to taste).  Sautee for a few minutes.  Add in black beans & lentils.  Sautee for another minute or so, until heated through.... Then add in spinach & salsa.  Sautee until spinach is wilted and salsa is mixed through. Remove from heat and plate.  Top with cheese, s&p.  And place fish on top of bed of veggies/lentils. 

DIG IN -- And check out how good this is!!

404 Calories

6g Fat

65g Carbs

30g Fiber

52g Protein

622mg Sodium

 (isn't that like a whole day's worth of fiber in ONE meal?!  Who says it's hard to get fiber in?  And who says it's hard to eat all your veggies?  There's multiple servings in this dish!!)

This would easily heat up if you wanted to make it and take it to lunch at work!