When the days get HOT I avoid cooking meals as much as possible – but I’m not planning to turn my family to Raw Foods. So I compromise and prepare something that has minimal cooking time and is still a light, hardy and healthy meal.

So I took out some BUCKWHEAT, SPINACH & KIDNEY BEANS – does this combination scare you? If so, stop reading now. If you’re still with me, THANK YOU. Let’s prepare a quick and actually pretty good meal that the whole family can fill up on but with a lighter and healthier alternative.  Best of all the full cooking time you’ll spend is about 15 minutes, so finally you’ll have a meal that takes longer to eat than cook!

BUCKWHEAT, SPINACH

& KIDNEY BEANS

SALAD DINNER

1 cup of buckwheat, cooked, drained
1 onion, diced and sauteed
1 can of red kidney beans
large bunch of baby spinach
olive oil
salt and pepper and sage

Directions: Cook the buckwheat as per instructions with a little salt (like you cook rice). In a skillet, fry the onion. Once the buckwheat is drained and slightly cooled add to a large salad bowl, add the onion, drained kidney beans and fresh baby spinach. Season with salt, pepper and sage. Drizzle the olive oil and mix well. Enjoy.

Click on these to get the nutrition information: buckwheat, spinach, kidney beans

For me this is a ‘cleaning the fridge’ salad. I had nothing else from vegetables to add in. So feel free do add a diced red pepper or whatever you feel would work (if doesn’t really need much). However, another ingredient that I think would make this salad dinner a hit would be to add SMOKED SALMON. I will try that next time I’m in the mood for this.

KITCHEN TIPS:

Keep your good quality OLIVE OIL in the FRIDGE at all times during the summer time.

The heat can make the oil turn rancid really quickly and it’s not fresh anymore. You can smell it when it’s fresh and familiarize yourself with how it’s supposed to smell. If it will take you longer than one week to use up the bottle, (it probably will) than store it in the fridge. It may harden after a while, if it does, just remember to take it out about 1/2 hour before you need to use it so it’s pourable again.

It’s a good idea to stock up on a few cans of beans (or dried beans) to make quick meals and I urge you to always get spinach with/instead of lettuce – why? Spinach (please learn to love it) is so VERSATILE, you can have it fresh and if you had enough of salads you can enjoy it cooked and add to pasta and rice dishes, burgers, stuffed chicken… you get the picture.

Here is how I got my toddler excited about eating spinach!

Since her name is GABRIELLA and we’re learning the alphabet – she is a GIRAFFE – giraffe’s eat leaves – you see where I’m going with this ;D – she loves to play pretend and eat her spinach ;)
I’m a proud MAMA GIRAFFE ;P