vegenista:

Fresh Cherries are one of my favorite summer indulgences. I seriously could eat an entire bag of them in one sitting. Cherries are so flexible, working beautifully in dishes both savory & sweet. I’ve been salivating over these recipes: Cherry BBQ Tofu, Mizuna Salad with Roasted Cherries & Balsamic Glaze, Vegan Chocoalte & Cherry Ice Cream, Raw Cherry Crisp. Endless possibilities for your palate. I am also very excited about this “Cherry Lentil Salad with Fresh Basil” that my guest blogger, Cameron, is sharing with us today!

From the fabulous Cam:

Recently I’ve been studying innovation; in particular how to teach it. An article I found on Forbes.com described five skills that if learned can drive one to be more innovative. One of these skill is experimentation. Being an innovator, I recognized this skill immediately in my passion for food. The thing about experimenting is that you have to be willing to make a few mistakes & learn along the way. As it would turn out, my second guest blog attempt would exemplify this point. You see, this post was supposed to be about making cucumber kimchi from scratch. I did go through all the steps to ferment my own kimchi but in the end it was a blunder. The pictures were fabulous, the ingredients looked delirious, & the recipe was just complicated enough to challenge me. I put together everything in a jar & stored it in a dark cabinet. It all seemed wonderful until I opened the three day old jar to find myself confronting an odor and a flavor that, well was a bit too much for me. To be honest I wasn’t sure if what I was smelling was safe to consume so I decided to scratch that experiment & start over. No disrespect to any kimchi fans out there. I’d imagine that many people trying new things in the kitchen have this same experience, especially when transitioning to the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. You get amped, you try something, you fail & then what? I’m happy to tell you that this is exactly the moment you must be willing to continue experimenting. I decided to turn to my friend for inspiration by asking on my Facebook page for favorite summer foods. The minute someone said cherries I was back on the hunt for a new experiment. What I found on my Whole Foods App had me elated: 

Cherry-Lentil Salad with Fresh Basil!

This delightful dish is a combination of unusual suspects satisfying my need to explore. It is perfect served warm or cold, & has kept all week in my fridge as I returned to indulge daily. I hope you enjoy & I wish you the best of luck in you laboratories/ I mean kitchens. :)

Yay! Thanks Cameron for sharing your gorgeous photos & this delicious recipe. I cannot wait to try it myself! I just so happen to have some French lentils & fresh cherries in my kitchen right now.