Beans, Rice and Vegetables

I tried several things tonight that were complete experiments. I had half a can of kidney beans left over from last night's dinner and decided early in the day that I'd like to do something with rice, and with green vegetables. At the grocery store, I picked up green beans and some really fresh asparagus as well as some salad fixin's so I could have a couple sections on the plate.

I started cooking 1/2c. brown rice and 1/4 cup of lentils with a 1 1/4c. water and 1tsp. vegetable broth. When it was close to done, I chopped the asparagus and beans into little segments and popped it in the microwave with a sploosh of water for 2 1/2 minutes. The rice and lentils looked done so I added 1/4 can of kidney beans and the vegetables, and stirred it up. I wanted to season it somehow, so I mixed in a pre-made Lemon Pepper seasoning, but next time I won't - I think it would have been better with the Herbes De Provence or thyme or basil or something a little earthier.

I chopped up some cucumber and campari tomatoes, and put it on a plate with some 7 Lettuce mix. I thought I had dressing up until this moment, and then it turned out I didn't.. which is fine because I never used to eat it anyway. I sprinkled a little lemon juice on it (although that might have been horribly expired so it was sparingly..) and was set to go.

It was ok. I think the right seasoning could have reallly improved it, and it wasn't *bad*, I just knew I made a mistake with that Lemon stuff. But it did *look* great, and that's half the battle.

**I thought about it overnight and what would *really* have made this better, is different rice. The brown rice plus the lentils plus the beans made it kind of mushy. Not horribly so, but I think it would have been improved with some wild rice instead. Or some other rice I don't know about yet. Something sturdier.