Recipe: Easy Brown Rice Salad

I can't tell you how many times I get asked about healthy lunch options. Well, lately I've been interested in this topic myself. As I previously posted, I recently started working in an office again, part-time. And considering there aren't too many great lunchtime eats in my part of town, I have embraced the opportunity to hone up my ability to create meals-on-the go.

For me, it's important to create something that doesn't take a lot of time to put together in the morning, tastes great, and can be eaten at room temperature. This brown rice salad is one of my favorite dishes that I've come up with and thought I would share.

I love the fact that this dish uses my leftover brown rice and doesn't require any salad greens. As a result it's a nice change from the usual salad, as well as a bit heartier. I really just throw in whatever I have in the kitchen - some parsley, canned chickpeas, carrots, cherry tomatoes, raisins, feta cheese. I even threw in some sweet pickle slices that I purchased from my neighborhood pickle guy. And then topped it with a simple dressing.

You'll note in my recipe there are no measurements. It's really about throwing things together.

Salad
cooked brown rice
a few sprigs of parsley, chopped
a carrot, cut into matchsticks
a few cherry tomatoes
a few sweet pickle slices
a handful of raisins
feta cheese

Dressing
2 parts olive oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 part brine from pickle juice
salt and pepper

Throw all ingredients in a tupperware container. Top with dressing. Enjoy...wherever you are!