Kidney Bean and Barley Salad

Well I managed to make us a decent dinner last night and now I'm even getting around to posting about it. Though I imagine our posts here will be sporadic for a while. Our stash of food in the freezer is now severely depleted and we were fortunate enough to have some friends bring us food on several occasions, but at the moment we're on our own. So I threw together another grain salad. You could really go in any direction you want with this - what I did was mostly based on what we had on hand (and what's growing in our herb garden)

1 c. pearled barley
2 1/2 c. veg. broth

1 large can (25 oz.) kidney beans
1/2 c. frozen corn
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1 large avocado, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
2 Tbs. chopped fresh chives
1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing:
3 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. agave
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. finely minced fresh oregano
1/4 c. olive oil

Bring broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add barley then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for around 30 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. While the barley is cooking make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients but the olive oil in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until it thickens a little, then set aside. Put all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl then mix in the barley once it's done and cooled a little. Add the dressing and serve as is or chill for a while first. A dollop of salsa on top is a good addition too.

Oh Baby!

Baby Jonas arrived on May 6 at 2:45 AM. It's been as amazing and crazy as everyone says and more (as I type with one hand and hold him in the other at 2 AM because he slept all day and now he's wide awake).

So now this blog is on temporary hiatus while we spend all our time with baby.

Two Quick Salads

Here's a couple of good meals we've had recently courtesy of Quick Fix Vegetarian. A couple weeks ago I saw that Amey made the Mediterranean Orzo Salad and I said to myself, "Self, we haven't had orzo in a long long time." But we didn't have any artichoke hearts and the parsley is just getting started in our herb garden while the cilantro is taking over. So instead of Mediterranean it became Southwestern. I used black beans instead of chickpeas, and instead of artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and olives I added avocado, corn and roasted red pepper. And plenty of cilantro. I don't remember exactly how I made the dressing but I'm sure there was lime juice and fresh oregano in there. It was a good one course meal.


Then I was trying to come up with something to do with the nice bunch of local asparagus we found and I happened upon the Quinoa Salad with Roasted Asparagus recipe. I did add chickpeas to this one instead of white beans, and also cilantro instead of parsley but otherwise I stuck to the recipe. Served over fresh spinach, it was another fabulous Springtime meal-in-a-bowl. We do love hearty salads like these. Next time I think the grain of choice will be barley.