Lentil and Avocado Salsa

After a friend of mine made this at a 4th of July party this summer, I vowed to make it myself. It was so good and it also felt a little healthy. It's sort of like a salsa, and using tortilla chips is probably best for scooping out all of the delicious dip! Don't be scared off by the lentils if you don't know if you like them - they don't have a strong flavor and just take on the flavors of the other ingredients in this dip!

Lentil and Avocado Salsa
1 bag of lentils from Trader Joe's (already cooked and ready to use)
2 tomatoes
1 avocado
1 small cucumber
1/2 cup of corn (I used 2 ears of corn)
1/2 red pepper, chopped small
1/2 a red onion, chopped finely
fresh cilantro (use as much as you like - I probably used 4 TB or so)
Juice from 1 lime
salt and pepper

Making the salsa is as easy as chopping all of your ingredients and mixing together!

I recently tried out a new type of tortilla chips that I came across in the organic/natural aisle. Anything made with sweet potato grabs my attention so seeing a corn and sweet potato tortilla chip was a must-try for me. As you might imagine, they were a tiny bit sweet and not quite as salty as the usual tortilla chips but they had lots of flavor, and the same shape and crunch as your usual tortilla chips. These were yummy on their own, but also worked fine with salsa. Don't let the natural sweet potato fool you though, they're still high in calories and fat grams.

Asparagus and Eggs

These two ingredients pair so well together - and have a long list of different ways in which they can be prepared. This article in the New York Times says it all. This dish is a little inspired by this asparagus dish I had at an Italian restaurant, which had roasted the asparagus and served a cheesy polenta over it. Not quite polenta, but it has the same richness and yellow color, plus I was trying to come up with something breakfasty so I paired eggs with the asparagus instead!

Roast the asparagus in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Rinse the asparagus and cut off the tough, thick ends. You can toss it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper but the actual act of roasting the asparagus brings out its flavors more so than sauteeing or boiling or any other form of cooking.

Quick Spinach Dip in Boule Bread!

This spinach dip is an easy go-to for a party appetizer - everyone always seems to love it and there aren't 5 million ingredients that you need to worry about.

Spinach Dip in Boule Bread
1 package frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and squeeze out all the extra water)*
1/3 cup finely chopped yellow pepper
1 package Lipton Vegetable soup mix
1 1/3 cups light sour cream
2 TB mayonnaise

Mix everything together and refrigerate for a good hour before serving. Cut out and scoop out the center of a boule bread - use the bread you scooped out to dip into the dip, and spoon the dip into the bowl of the boule. You can also put out some baby carrots, celery or other vegetables to dip in!

*Don't be tempted to skip the step where you squeeze out the water from the spinach - there really is a ton of it in the box since it's frozen. After squeezing mine out I had a whole cup of green spinach water which is NOT an ingredient in this dip!