Lemon Herb Barley Salad

This barley salad is very simple, but tastes fresh and vibrant. It's a good side dish for hot summer days, as it's served cold. This recipe makes a lot, so you may want to half the amounts.

You can use any kind of barley, but I used hulled barley because it has a bit more chew than pearled barley, and it's a little healthier too. I cooked my barley in a rice cooker, after soaking it for an hour, with the ratio of one cup barley to two cups water.



Ingredients:
-6 cups cooked barley (approx. two cups dried hulled barley)
-1/3 cup sorrel, finely chopped
-1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
-4 T. olive oil
-1/2 t. salt
-juice from 1 lemon


Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Chill for an hour to allow flavors to marry.
3. Serve chilled.


I used sorrel in this recipe, because I have some growing in the garden, but if you can't find any you can leave it out. Since sorrel has a lemony flavor, you may want to add more lemon juice to make up for the loss.

Here is a picture of the pot of sorrel I have growing. Not only does it taste good, but I think it's pretty too!

Black Bean and Corn Salad

While I was out to dinner a week or so ago, I had a wonderful corn and bean salad that I knew I was going to have to try and reproduce at home. This is my approximation of the recipe, which I think came pretty close to the original!


Ingredients:
-3 1/2 cups cooked black beans (approx. 2 drained cans)
-1 can corn, drained
-1 roasted red pepper, finely diced
-1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
-zest from 1 lime
-juice from 2 limes
-1/8 to 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1/2 t. salt


Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn and roasted red pepper. Mix well.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the red onion, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, oil, and salt until well combined.
3. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and stir to coat evenly.
4. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours to allow the beans to absorb the dressing. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Salad

This salad was inspired by a dish my mom and I saw in the salad bar of a grocery store. It looked good, so I noted the ingredients and decided to try to make it at home. The only catch? I didn't try the salad, I just looked at it. So, my version might not taste anything like the one I saw! Slightly sweet and tangy, this salad is healthy and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

-2 large sweet potatoes (about 2 lb), cooked, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
-3 cups cooked quinoa (I used 1 cup uncooked quinoa with 2 cups water in my rice cooker)
-1/2 cup almonds, chopped
-3 oz. fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
-1/8 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
-1/8 cup sesame oil
-2 T. soy sauce/tamari
-2 T. agave syrup
-1 t. powdered ginger
-1/2 oz. chives, chopped
-zest and juice from 1/2 orange


Directions:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, soy sauce, agave syrup, ginger, chives, zest and orange juice to create the dressing.
2. In a large mixing bowl, fold together the sweet potato, quinoa, almonds and spinach. While stirring, drizzle the dressing over top. Taste the salad and add the dressing to your taste.
3. Refrigerate the salad for about an hour before serving. This salad tastes good cold, or at room temperature.

Quinoa Tabouleh

I found this recipe for a gluten-free tabouleh on the Whole Foods website. It's light and refreshing, but next time I may skip or reduce the cucumber. I also tossed in some chickpeas that I had in the fridge.

Ingredients:
-1 cup quinoa
-1 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
-5 green onions, finely chopped
-2 cups small grape tomatoes, halved
-1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, thinly sliced
-Juice of 1 to 2 lemons, more to taste
-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
-Sea salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste


Directions:
1. Cook quinoa and allow to cool.
2. Combine all ingredients together in a large serving bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Serve room temperature or chilled.

Yumm! Sauce and Yumm! Bowls

Café Yumm! is a restaurant in Eugene, OR that my sister raved about when she lived there. She brought home a bottle of their unique sauce, which is eaten on a salad. I found a few recipes for the sauce online, played around with the amounts and ingredients, and I was pretty please with the results.


Ingredients:
-1/2 cup oil (I used safflower)
-1/2 cup almonds
-1/3 cup nutritional yeast
-1/3 cup garbonzo beans
-1/3 cup soybeans
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup lemon juice
-2 garlic cloves
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp. curry powder
-1/2 tsp. oregano


Directions:
Blend nuts, beans and oil in food processor. Then blend in yeast and liquids one at a time. Puree until smooth.




Once you've made the sauce, you can make yourself a Yumm! bowl. For mine, I layered salad greens, brown rice, black beans, chopped black olives, salsa, sliced avocado, and topped it with Yumm! sauce. Delicious!

Raw Mediterranean Kale Salad

Recently, I went to a raw foods class at Whole Foods, taught by Chef Mehmet Ak. He taught us how to create four amazing dishes, including this kale salad. I'm not a big fan of raw greens, so I wasn't sure if I'd like this salad. I was pleasantly surprised- it's delicious!

Ingredients:
-2 small bunches dinosaur kale (aka lacinato or blue kale), stems removed
-3/4 tsp. sea salt or tamari
-2 T. extra virgin olive oil
-2 T. lemon juice
-3/4 tsp. black pepper
-1/4 cup pine nuts
-1/4 cup golden raisins, soaked 10 min, drained and rinsed

Directions:
1. Stack two (or more) leaves of kale together and roll tightly. Cut the kale crosswise into very thin strips. Repeat with remaining kale leaves. Add 1/2 tsp. of sea salt and massage the kale well with your hands, in order to soften the kale. (Really rub the kale together. The kale will change color slightly, having the appearance of being blanched). Add the lemon juice, olive oil, remaining sea salt, and black pepper, and toss well with your hands, working the dressing into the greens. Gently toss in pine nuts and raisins.

Variations:
1. Substitute 1/4 cup sliced kalamata olives for the raisins.
2. Eliminate the raisins and pine nuts. Add diced tomato and avocado.
3. Add agave nectar and curry powder to taste.*


*This is the variation that I prepared. Spicy, slightly sweet, and super healthy!