Clean Eating: Lentil Arugula Salad

Lately, I have been reading a TON about processed foods and the benefits of eating clean. I've decided to jump on the health nut bandwagon by first trying to cut out processed foods like bread, splenda, and snacks...it's been day one and I' am already feeling better. It also helps to have a few friends getting married and watching more of what they eat... their healthy food updates spread like wildfire among our friends.

Here are some basic clean eating rules to live by:

• Eat whole foods - meaning straight from the farm!
• Stay clear of processed foods - basically anything that has a label!
• Eliminate refined sugar or artificial sweeteners - sniff. sniff. Bye splenda.
• Eat five or six small meals a day- I use to roll my eyes everytime I heard this piece of advice...mainly because I felt it was not very practical and it would make me feel like I was always eating. Well, I was very wrong...if you make a habit of carrying almonds or an apple with you it will make it easy to not eat as much during the main meals of the day.
• Cook your own meals - this isn't anything new or rocket science... when you cook at home you know what's going into your body.

Need your first clean eating recipe to get started? Check out my Lentil Arugula Salad recipe below!

Salad/Lentil Ingredients:

• 2 cups of arugula (triple washed)
• 1 cup of lentil - cooking instructions should be on the bag or box of packaging. 
• 3-4 radishes
• 1/2 english cucumber

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 pieces from garlic clove
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil 
• 1 tsp dried dill
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Read the lentil instructions on box or bag of packaging. This part should take the longest (about 45 minutes or till lentils are soft) - once the lentils are cooked put them to the side to cool. 
• To save time I cut cucumber and radishes into thin slices while the lentils were cooking. After I finished cutting the cucumber and radishes, I finely minced the garlic and placed to the side for the dressing. 
• Once all the salad/lentil ingredients were cut and placed to the side, I mixed the dressing ingredients and whisked them all together...don't forget to add the garlic you minced earlier!
• Add arugula, cucumber, radish, and lentil in a bowl together - pour the dressing over the salad/lentil mix. 

Happy clean eating!

xoxo, Carol