Warm Vegan Wild Rice Salad

My baby girl ain’t no baby anymore

She turns THREE today. Three, drei, tres, trois!!!! This is huge! I know I say that all the time but time passes by sooooo fast. Especially with this little lady. She is like a whirling dervish. Always on the go. Fast, fast, fast. I’ve told you 3 weeks ago, that my son’s birth reflected his personality perfectly well. His birth was exactly the way he IS. Well, the same applies to my daughter. Her birth couldn’t have been any more suitable for her personality. She gave exactly 2 strong contractions notice that the moment had come and she broke my water in FULL FORCE. (Running her head against a wall is still to date her favorite way of resolving things). I called the midwife to say that this was going to be VERY fast and that she’d better hurry and come over. She said she had one foot in the car already and that she’d be there in 25 minutes max. I hung up and 15 minutes later Ana came out in one push. ONE! No midwife, no nothing. I gave birth standing in my living room without knowing she was already going to come out. My husband had noticed the change in my growls and dropped everything to come help me give birth.  My mom not wanting to believe my husband that the baby was really coming had to jump in like an American football player to help him who was holding the head to catch her bum. My sister grabbed a big towel to jump in and wrap the freezing baby and was the only one coming to reason fast enough to call the midwife to report what had just happened. Had it not been for my amazingly attentive husband, Ana would have fallen on the floor I think. The second she was out she started screaming like a MAD lady requesting loudly to be covered and held warm. Her birth was mind-blowing. Absolutely unbelievable. Amazing! Today she is always on the go for adventures. One, two, three, go, go, go on her scooter or balance bike or jumping all the way home “like a bunny mama: boing, boing, boing”. She is extremely determined. She knows exactly what she wants and she requests it with tenacity. She never gives up. She is a fighter through and through and I love it. She is also the most cuddly little thing I’ve ever met. She loves cuddling and kissing and she is kind, just like her brother. So very kind it moves me to tears. In short…she is amazing!! I know I am biased, but, SHE IS!!!

Before I continue writing a book about how awesome I think my kids are, lol, here a few facts about this Warm Vegan Wild Rice Salad ;)

I made it with pumpkin but that was the only thing I didn’t like about the dish. I just happened to have chosen one that didn’t taste as good. I wish I had made it with butternut or kabocha squash. That would have tasted divine!! The wild rice and lentils (when soaked for 12 hours) take exactly the same time for cooking which is super convenient if you are like me and had to wash even a teaspoon more than necessary. You can cook both together in ONE pot *win*

Once my wild rice and lentils were cooked and the squash was roasted I felt there was something essential missing and since I was lucky enough to have bought my two herb plants this week it suddenly occurred to me….I HAVE to make my Out of This World Tahini Herb Sauce for this. I hadn’t made it since April for the Vegan Lentil Lettuce Wraps and oh my! I had totally forgotten how “out of this world” this sauce tastes. I love, love, love, love it! You may want to eat this meal in the evening because you’ll want to pour the whole entire sauce on top of your warm salad bowl but it contains 3 raw garlic cloves and you maaay get a tiny little bit of a strong breath *aham* which is absolutely worth it though….

Warm Vegan Wild Rice Salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings: 4 -6

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 squash (butternut or kabocha are best)
• olive oil
• salt
• 2.5 cups lentils (soaked for 12 hours)
• 1.5 cups wild rice
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt
• 4 tomatoes on the vine
• salt
• Out of This World Tahini Herb Sauce (click on link in text above)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F (180C)
• Peel and deseed squash and cut into 1" cubes.
• Put in a bowl and add a dollop of olive oil and move the squash cubes around in the oil with your hands to cover from all sides.
• Spread out squash in one layer on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and roast for 45-60 minutes.
• Peel and chop onion.
• Peel and crush garlic.
• Drain and rinse soaked lentils.
• Bring about 4 liters of water to the boil. Once boiling, add wild rice, lentils, chopped onion and crushed garlic and a good pinch of salt. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes (set an alarm).
• In the meantime, wash and cube tomatoes and prepare Out of This World Tahini Herb Sauce (recipe link in text above)
• When the rice/lentil alarm goes off, drain rice and lentils and then return to pot to fluff with a fork.
• Add to a bowl, cover with roasted squash and tomatoes and a generous amount of sauce.
• Salt some more if necessary.
• Enjoy warm.

Have you tried this recipe?Take a picture and tag @greenhealthycooking Can't wait to see your version!