Barley Salad

The word barley stirs warm, comforting thoughts in my mind and then my mouth starts watering.  Perhaps that is because my aunt makes an incredible beef and barley soup that I have never been able to replicate and my taste buds simply want more!  In the summertime, however, I am not craving a hot bowl of soup but I still find barley incredibly delicious and comforting.  I came across a recipe for barley salad several years ago, but it wasn't exactly my speed.  I really liked the concept though, and so I modified it to suit my own taste (because when you're into food that is just what you do).   The beauty of this salad is how simple it is.  You can cook the barley ahead of time, simply allow it to come to room temperature before you proceed with the recipe.  And the recipe is really only a list of suggestions, feel free to modify until it suits your personal taste.  If you have a garden, chop up and add whatever is fresh and delicious!

Sesame Sizzler

A chicken quesadilla really is a blank slate.  The product you end up with can contain many of the traditional elements found in "Mexican" food, and that will likely satisfy you.  But for today, let's break from tradition and try something different.  We're going to start with a sesame-ginger sauce.

Whisk together the following ingredients: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp canola oil, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 clove of minced garlic, 2" piece of grated fresh ginger and a 2-3second drizzle of honey.

Now prepare the filling ingredients.  I used shredded cooked chicken, grated carrots, kale cut into ribbons and thinly sliced red onion.  Sauté ingredients in a skillet with the sesame-ginger sauce until cooked to your liking.  Sprinkle in some hemp seeds and freshly chopped cilantro.

Assemble quesadillas using tortillas of your choice.  I found a really cool brand of tortillas called, Engine 2, which are made of organic sprouted grains such as wheat, barley, millet, quinoa, lentils, farro and soybeans.  They taste wonderful!  Lay the tortilla in a clean skillet over medium-high heat, load in some of the filling on half of the tortilla, add cheese if you're into that, fold the tortilla over and cook on both sides until tortilla is nice and brown.  Now chow down, because your non-traditional quesadilla is making your mouth water!

Feeling Saucy

Mango-peach salsa with marinated chicken

Summer is officially in season when fresh produce such as ripe, juicy peaches and fresh mangoes start appearing in the market.  When the produce is good, dinner is a cinch.

To make this meal, start by tuning in to a good salsa radio station online or maybe you already own a nice salsa CD you can pop in.  Trust me, the mood in preparing the food is a very important ingredient.  It might also be wise to make a margarita or mojito to enhance your saucy-type mood.

Now that you're ready, consider what type of meat you'd like to skewer up for grilling.  I chose chicken, but you can pick anything you'd like from scallops, to shrimp, to pork or even beef.  Marinate it for 30 minutes or so in some soy sauce, sesame oil and grated ginger.  Just before tossing it on the grill, brush with a bit of honey and lime juice.  Yum!

Dance around the room a bit.

The salsa can be made well in advance as long as you refrigerate it, see the recipe below.  The best part about the salsa is having some leftover (I know, it will take a certain amount of self-control not to finish it all in one sitting, but try).  The next day I chopped up an avocado and mixed in a sizable amount of the salsa- what a delicious take on guacamole!  The only question left is, what are you still doing at your computer?  Go get saucy!

Sushi Salad

Here's a salad for all of you who are interested in trying sushi but haven't quite made it past the raw fish yet.  Use this to help transition your taste buds into the flavors of the sushi world...okay, so authentic sushi chefs would probably strongly disagree, but I stand by it.  One of the key ingredients is nori sheets, a type of sea vegetable that is rich in beta carotene, chlorophyll, amino acids, fiber, as well as vitamins and minerals.  Look for brands that source their products from certified clean waters.

I use brown rice as a base for this salad rather than the white sticky rice found in most types of sushi preparations because I prefer the nutritional boost you get from brown rice.  Cook the brown rice according to package directions in advance and then cool to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.  Add in vegetables that you like, such as avocado, shredded carrots, green onions, julienned cucumbers, and sprouts or shoots (if you've never tried pea shoots, I recommend those).  Toss in some toasted sesame seeds, both the blonde and black varieties for visual interest.  Mix in some dressing, I whisked together sesame oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce in equal amounts with a quarter-sized piece of ginger, grated.  Once the salad is ready, cut the nori sheets with scissors down to bite-sized strips and add to the salad.  You're ready to eat!

Reinvention

Some readers may remember that I am a huge fan of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich; when watching her prepare food on PBS or reading her cookbooks I feel like my grandmother is present.  Lately, however, I haven't been going to her pages for recipe inspiration because I've been trying to avoid processed foods that contain white flour and refined sugars, of which pasta is guilty on all counts.  But the memory of my utter taste-delight after eating one of her dishes called, Cavatelli with Bread Crumbs, Pancetta and Cauliflower, kept popping up in my mind, telling me I had to revisit it in some way.

While perusing the recipe's ingredient list, I looked at the innocent-sounding bread crumbs.  I've used them hundreds of times before in recipes, but today I hesitated.  As I read the Nutrition Facts, I was startled to find that 1/4 cup of plain bread crumbs contain 400mg of sodium!  The Italian-style bread crumbs contain 450mg in the same 1/4 cup.  Yikes.  I knew an alternative was in order...and preparing fresh bread crumbs on the spot is not always feasible.  As I meandered the aisles at the supermarket I found an alternative: baked brown rice crumbs.  There is only one ingredient listed on the box (versus around 20 or so ingredients listed on the bread crumb can, many of which are too lengthy to pronounce).  The baked brown rice crumbs can be used in all the same preparations one might need bread crumbs, and only contain about 10mg of sodium in a 1/4 cup serving.  That sounded much more reasonable to me, so I bought a box.

The remainder of the recipe's ingredients are not entirely innocuous, but fresh cauliflower and onions are nice, and I added in a can of chick peas because I think they taste good.  Instead of serving the sauce over pasta, I used cooked farro, a grain of wheat species typically grown in the Garfagnana region of Tuscany.  Since Lida's recipes bring a taste of Italy to our homes, I felt farro was in the right spirit.  As it turns out, when I added the farro to the sauce and allowed it to simmer a bit for the flavors to get to know each other, no crumbs were needed at all.  Farro did the job of absorbing liquid and thickening the sauce.  And my taste buds were happily satisfied because the new version of the recipe was just as mouth-watering as my memory of the original.

A shout-out goes to Mom for the gift of this DREAMY pan!

Better Than Granola Bar

Yum.  I did a little, "hip-hip-hooray!" cheer for Julie Morris, the author of the Superfood Kitchen cookbook, when I made these scrumptious bars.  They certainly are not your parents' granola bars!  These treats are packed with dates, almond milk, chia seeds, rolled oats, hemp seeds and my personal favorite, dark chocolate.  Though the wet ingredients threatened to fly out of my food processor the first time I hit the pulse button, preparation was fairly simple.  Even better, the wait during their time in the oven wasn't too long.  Fortunately I restrained myself a little so there were some bars available for the photograph.

You may be wondering what hemp seed is doing in the ingredient list.  For starters, it is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which play an important role in reducing inflammation throughout the body.  It is also an excellent source of fiber and some minerals, such as zinc, iron, magnesium and potassium.  Morris indicates that, "hemp's high saturation of protein is of premium quality, as well- an easily digestible, plant-based, complete protein boasting all essential amino acids."  What's not to love?

What makes me happy about eating these, well aside from the delicious taste, is the boost of energy they give me.  Today I hopped in the pool for a swim and was so grateful to have this energy-restoring treat awaiting me at the end.  Maybe I won't mind training so much...maybe I'll even forgive myself for signing up for a sprint triathlon at the end of the summer (What was I thinking?!).  

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Quinoa salads are one of the easiest foods to prepare.  Well, there may be tons of foods that are easier to prepare, but for your effort in making a quinoa salad you get a meal that is balanced in nutrition and also incredibly delicious!  I find it refreshing on a hot evening because there isn't much cooking involved.  It doesn't make you feel hot after eating it either, because your body isn't in overdrive trying to digest a super heavy meal.  The other bonus is that this salad contains almost all of my favorite foods...quinoa, avocado, spinach, tomatoes and lemon.  While it may not contain chocolate, my absolute favorite food, it still ranks pretty high on my list.  

Feel free to adjust ingredient amounts depending on your personal taste.  If the fresh spinach is looking really enticing to me on a given day, I might use well more than 3/4 cup.  Experiment to find the combination that works best for you!

Soup's On

A recent issue of Delicious Living magazine, available at The Heritage Natural Market, contained a recipe for Jasmine Rice Soup with Cannellini and Rosemary.  Everything about that sounds delicious to me, so I brought a copy home.  I'm always excited when I have an excuse to snip a stalk of wonderfully fragrant rosemary off the plant I have growing in the garden.  Rosemary is such a sensory delight!

As with most recipes, I tend to view them as loose guidelines and end up following my own train of thought.  The preparation of this soup was no exception.  For starters, I have a rice blend with brown and red basmati rice, rye berries and pearl barley which I felt was a lot more interesting for the soup than just jasmine rice.  I also used both cannellini and kidney beans for more color and variety.  The soup gets a velvety taste from stirring balsamic vinegar into simmering onions, garlic and crushed red pepper before adding in the tomatoes, broth and rice.  Another surprise flavor comes from the addition of a freshly roasted red bell pepper toward the end of cooking.  It gets a healthy dose of fresh baby spinach toward the end of cooking as well, making this soup a powerhouse of nutrition.  The final touch of freshly chopped rosemary and freshly ground black pepper just before serving sends a beautiful aroma wafting through the kitchen.  Thanks to my sister's baking experiment, I enjoyed some fresh foccacia along with my soup.  Delicious!