Fresh and Healthy Grain Salad

Grains

Pour lentils and chickpeas into a large bowl and fill it with water. Let them soak for five minutes. Sometimes small rocks or other debris can make their way into packets of dried grains so have a look for any and scoop them out if you can. Pour the grains into a colander (make sure the holes are smaller than the lentils!) and rinse the grains again.

Add all the grains to a pot with the 6 cups of water, salt, bay leaf and garlic.

Place pot over high heat and bring mixture to a boil, this should take approximately 10 minutes.

Turn heat down to medium-low until the mixture is just simmering for approximately 30 mins or until grains are soft and ready to eat.

Take the grains of the heat and pour mixture into the colander again. Remove the bay leaf and garlic.

Baby carrots

In a small pan on medium heat, heat the olive oil. Once hot, add baby carrots stirring every 30 seconds or so until they have softened and browned - this should take around 10 minutes.

Salad

Now it's time to assemble the salad: First place the grains in a heat-proof serving dish followed by the carrots. Next add in the tomatoes, kale and olives.