Lentil, Garbanzo Bean and Tomato Salad... and a Mistake

First I'll give you the original (very simple) recipe... then I'll tell you what I ended up making after I managed to mess everything up :)

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup lentils
2 large carrots, peeled, diced
1 bay leaf
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 basket cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used basil and thyme instead)
4 green onions, chopped (I only used 2)
4 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Combine water, lentils, carrots and bay leaf in saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are just tender, about 25 minutes. Drain; transfer to large bowl. Cool. Mix all remaining ingredients into lentils. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared four hours ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

* * *

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, this is what I did. For the first step, I substituted ingredients that I had on hand: red lentils (not realizing they are softer and smaller than regular lentils), red potatoes instead of carrots, and chopped fresh basil and thyme instead of the bay leaf. After 15 minutes I picked up the lid to check on the lentils and they were MUSH. Apparently the red lentils cook more quickly...

So instead of lentils, I popped some quinoa in the rice cooker (no risk of overcooking it that way), then mixed the cooked quinoa with all the other recipe ingredients. It came out DELICIOUS. Really, I can't imagine that the lentils would be as good as the quinoa because it was fantastic. I also thought that the basil and thyme made all the difference.

But I didn't want to waste the lentil-potato mush, so I added olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mixed everything together well...and I had it for lunch. It was actually quite delicious--it tasted like a combination of mashed potatoes and hummus. Let's call it: Herbed Red Lentil-Potato Mash. You should try it :)