Confetti salad with lentils and rice and random moments

It is a while since I made this salad for Sylvia's birthday lunch at my mum's but it is a good recipe to post on the Easter weekend for anyone looking for an easy and healthy dish for entertaining.

I wanted a simple salad but sometimes it is hard to find on the web so I turned to my cookbooks.  Alison Holst is an old favourite and I was able to adapt her recipe to what I had in my kitchen.  My parsley is just hanging in there so I didn't have quite as much as I would have liked but it was good to have some there.

While it is not as impressive as the brown rice salad I made earlier in the year, it comes together quickly and was enjoyed by everyone.  Though I was glad there was a little leftover to eat with vegetarian sausage rolls for dinner that night.

I hope you have a nice Easter weekend if you are celebrating.  And if you are lucky enough to work somewhere like me where we have a 5 day weekend for Easter, then you might have some extra time for reading.  So I leave you with some random moments:

• On Thursday, a colleague had come for a meeting at our office and I invited her to stay afterwards for drinks.  When she arrived at reception, we had an institute morning tea was just finishing, so I asked her to put some easter eggs in her handbag so we could have some food for our drinks.  I would have done it myself but did not have any bag to take them in.

• A month or two ago.  I stubbed my toenail really badly on a stray brick in the backyard (it was holding down some astroturf that was being blown about).  It stung and bled and bruised and I was sure it would come off bu it seemed to heal and I forgot it.  Then I went to cut my toenail and instead of trimming it, the whole toenail came away and a new one had grown underneath.  It was very surprising.

• Recently I heard of a town called Boomanoomana near the Murray River, which is in an area where my parents like to holiday.  When I asked the said they had not heard of it.  Then last weekend they went on holiday and came back saying they stayed at Boomanoomana and my mum had discovered that her grandfather had lived there!

• I heard government spokesperson on ABC 774 radio saying that more people are taking up home solar power because it is good for environment but even more important because it makes good economic sense .  What sort of world do we live where financial decisions are better than  the greater good!

We are spending Easter with my family.  Thank goodness our oven is finally fixed so I will have some Easter baking to celebrate with you soon.

More rice salads on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Asparagus, artichoke and wild rice salad (gf, v)
Bill’s broccoli rice salad (gf, v)
Brown rice salad (gf, v)
Brown rice salad with legumes and almonds
Mexican rice salad (gf, v)
Sushi rice salad (gf, v) 

Confetti salad with lentils and rice
Adapted from Alison Holst's Meals without Meat
Serves 4

400g tin of brown lentils, rinsed and drained (or 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 red capsicum (or stalk celery), finely chopped
handful parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper

Mix all ingredients together.  Leave to sit for 30-60 minutes and then check and adjust seasonings

On the stereo:
Die Dritte Generation Fassbinder the Third Generation Soundtrack - Peer Rabin