I love food. I am unashamed to admit it. Healthy food, unhealthy food, I’ll eat it all, as long as it tastes good. I’m not one of those girls who constantly stresses out about their weight, I would much rather enjoy myself and indulge in whatever I think looks scrumptious, because after all, you only live once.

Unfortunately, eating whatever you’d like is not always the healthiest option. Although I want to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, I do have to understand that eating healthily is also important. Lucky for me, there’s so many delicious and healthy foods out there.

The fall season is upon us and I’m obsessed with pumpkin everything. I’m sure you are too, so when I stumbled upon this recipe for a puy lentil and green pea salad with balsamic bacon, egg and pumpkin seeds with balsamic dressing, I knew I had to try it, and then share it with you.

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin seeds

Light olive oil spray

I cup puy lentils

1 cup green split peas

1-punnet baby tomatoes

4 eggs

8 slices of bacon

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons of light olive oil

Lettuce of your choosing

(Optional: Feta Cheese, Salt, and Pepper)

Method:

Lightly spray light olive oil onto the pumpkin seeds and toast in the oven (at 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10 minutes or until golden and crisp. Simultaneously warm the baby tomatoes on a baking tray for 20 minutes in the oven until the skins begin to split. Remove and cool.

Cook peas and lentils as the package directs, season with olive oil (salt and pepper if you choose) and toss in a bowl.

Hard-boil the eggs and chop up to whatever size cuts you prefer. Cook bacon in a frying pan, and pour 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the bacon so it caramelizes. Chop finely.

Finally, combine all of these ingredients with the lettuce and drizzle the remaining olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixture over the salad.

I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Ally | Elite.