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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Barley and Me

Last night's meal calls for a mid-week post! I made a barley and vegetable salad. It was another recipe from Whole Foods' free app. You will see that it calls for green lentils, however I totally forgot to buy them last time I was at the store. I happened to have some barely so I used that instead. I thought it came out great. It's full of bright, fresh vegetable flavors because all of the veggies are raw. Definitely shop at the produce stand for this one. Buying this stuff at Publix would probably cost a small fortune. I got all of my herbs and veggies for about $4. The chickpeas were on sale for $0.65 a can, and a half a box of quick-cooking barley is about $1.20. So for less than $6 total (about $0.98 per generous serving) you can have a delicious, vegan meal that would make many chickens, pigs, and cows very happy. Here's how mine came out. I served it with plantain chips (store bought) which I thought was a nice compliment because it added crunch and it was fun to scoop up some of the salad with them.
And here is the recipe.
Lentil and Vegetable Salad
Ingredients
1 cup green lentils, picked through and rinsed (or barley)
5 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 jalapeño pepper (optional), finely diced
1 small bunch mint, finely chopped
1/3 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
Mesclun salad leaves for serving (optional)
Method
Place the lentils, water, salt and bay leaf in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until lentils are tender but not mushy, 20 to 25 minutes. Strain lentils and transfer to a bowl of ice cold water to cool. Let cool completely, then drain and put in a large bowl. Add pepper, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, chickpeas and jalapeño to lentils. Gently stir to combine, taking care not to mash the lentils. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over salad greens if desired.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=575

I also made some hummus this week (also from the Whole Foods app) and spread it on one of those thin, round deli-flats. I roasted 1 large zucchini and 1 orange bell pepper and added those to the sandwich. Talk about another very inexpensive yet delicious meal! Wow. And here is the hummus recipe I used. Sorry, I don't have a picture, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Hummus Tea Sandwiches
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
12 slices thinly sliced sandwich bread
Method
Put chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, soy sauce, cumin, coriander, garlic, and 1/4 cup water into a food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Before serving, let hummus come to room temperature, then stir in parsley. Divide hummus between 6 slices of bread and spread out evenly with a knife. Top with remaining slices of bread and press each sandwich down lightly. Using a large cookie cutter (any shape you'd like), cut out the sandwiches and transfer to a platter. Cut the remaining part of each sandwich into geometric shapes and transfer to the platter, if you like. Serve immediately, or cover platter with a slightly dampened paper towel and plastic wrap, then refrigerate until ready to serve.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1680

So that is all for now. Next blog I think will be about how factory farms are to blame for these mega-viruses popping up, like the H1N1. Researchers and scientists say that it's only a matter of time before another catastrophic strain comes out. This is terrible on so many levels. More to come about that.

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