Barley Salad

As much as I love macaroni salads and other salads smothered in a mayonnaise based sauce, sometimes, you need something less creamy and more refreshing. Enter this salad. It's light, with a hint of lime and a great zing from the cilantro. We eat this as a side dish generally, but sometimes we even eat it as a whole meal. It tastes even better as it sits, so try to plan ahead and make this at least a few hours in advance.

Barley Salad

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup uncooked barley
~2 cups(1 15 oz can) black beans
~3 1/3 cups (1 16 oz bag) frozen corn*
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
hot sauce

1: Cook barley by covering with 2 2/3 cup water and simmer 30-40 minutes.
2: In large bowl, mix beans, corn, and barley.
3: Add lime juice and oil to barley mixture. Stir to mix well. Add cilantro and stir.
4: Refrigerate at least 1 hour, until ready to serve. Top with hot sauce to taste.

Recipe adapted from Eatingwell.com *I like to leave the corn frozen so it helps to cool down the barley, but if you are eating it right away, you will want to thaw your corn.

Barley Stuffed Tomatoes

Last night, I made a delicious recipe that I felt I had to share. I love tomatoes, but cannot always find fun things to do with them, and my husabnd tends to complain if we just have sliced, raw tomatoes as a side(though I would happily eat this daily). This was a good solution for that problem. We both thoroughly enjoyed the dish, and it was a fun to way to eat some veggies.

1/2 uncooked barley
4 tomatoes on the vine
1/2 small white onion, chopped small
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper,chopped small
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chilli powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
Shredded cheese(optional)


1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cook barley. To do this, boil about 1 1/2 cups of water or broth. When boiling, add uncooked barley, lower heat, and simmer until soft(about 35 minutes).
3. While barley is cooking, slice off the very top of the tomatoes and scoop out the pulp and juice. Reserve pulp and liquid.
4. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 2 minutes.
5. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
6. Add green pepper, spices, and about 1/4 cup of reserved juice from tomatoes. Lower heat and cook about 10 minutes, adding more liquid if necessary.
7. Add cilantro to pepper mixture, and cook about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
8. Mix pepper mixture with cooked barley.
9. Lightly spray a square baking dish with cooking spray. Place tomatoes in, open side up, and fill with the barley-pepper mixture. Poor about 1/4 cup reserved tomato liquid into the bottom of the baking dish, and cook for about 10 minutes.
10. If adding cheese, sprinkle it on top each tomato and place back in the oven 5 minutes(if not adding cheese, leave the dish in the oven for 5 more minutes)
11. Remove from oven and let stand at least 5 minutes before eating.


I'd have to say, I was concerned this recipe wasn't going to work, but overall, I think it turned out great. I served it with some spiced black beans on the side for protein, but I'm sure it would also go great with grilled chicken or other meats.