Tomato, Feta, & Barley Salad

Did You Know? Barley played an important role in ancient Greek culture as a staple bread-making grain as well as an important food for athletes, who attributed much of their strength to their barley-containing training diets. Gladiators were even known as hordearii, which means "eaters of barley."

One more dish before we put Easter away until next Spring. This barley salad was my favorite addition to our lunch on Sunday. The original recipe called for orzo, but that didn't seem hearty enough for me, nor very flavorful. My fondness of barley's texture and chewiness won over, and I used this favorite grain of mine once more in a lovely salad of sorts.

Besides being wonderfully nutty, barley also packs quite the nutritional punch. Unlike your average pasta or white rice, barley delivers over half of your %DV of fiber and selenium per one cup serving, as well as being a good source of phosphorous, copper, and manganese. Racking up benefits like protection against cardiovascular disease, free radicals, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes, barley is a nutritious whole grain you surely want to incorporate into your diet.



Besides the barley, the ingredients backing it up are in no way lacking nutritionally either. Full of juicy tomatoes, creamy feta, and spicy green onions, the whole salad comes together with a wonderful honey-sweetened vinaigrette. You'll have some extra dressing after tossing the barley, so just throw it in the fridge to flavor your salads and veggies for the next couple days (which is about how long it will last). Enjoy!

Tomato, Feta, & Barley Salad
Adapted from Bon Appetit via Epicurious

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup olive oil

4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups barley
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 7-ounce package feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup chopped green onions 1/2 cup toasted, slivered almonds

Rinse barley, and place in a small bowl. Cover with water by about two inches, and let soak for about an hour. Drain.

Whisk vinegar, lemon juice, and honey in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.)

Bring broth and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a large heavy saucepan. Stir in barley, reduce heat, cover, and boil until tender but still firm to bite, about 20 minutes. Drain. Transfer to large wide bowl, tossing frequently until cool.

Mix tomatoes, feta, basil, green onions, and almonds into barley. Add vinaigrette (I used about half); toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Serve at room temperature.

Chickpea, Tomato, & Barley Soup

Did You Know? Grains found in pits and pyramids in Egypt indicate that barley was cultivated there more than 5000 years ago. The most ancient glyph or pictograph found for barley is dated about 3000 B.C. In fact, Historians report that up until the 16th century, barley was the most important grain on the European continent. It was also used as currency and as a measuring standard.

Trying to keep my promise of cooking more from the magazines I subscribe to, this next recipe is from a past issue of Body and Soul, a division of Martha Stewart. If you're not familiar with the magazine, I definitely recommend checking it out. It's full of useful health and wellness information, workouts, recipes, and sustainable living advice, but with that Martha Stewart flair we all love. The pictures are beautiful, and the companies and products featured somehow seem to make their way onto my grocery list each and every week.

This particular soup recipe has become a family staple ever since I first made it many months ago. I don't know why I never shared it here, but I'm guessing it's because I never got around to photographing it before the pot was empty. I'm always looking for thick and hearty soups to prepare. Something that will fill me up on its own, and not as a side to some other dish. With 19 grams of protein, and 12 grams of fiber, this soup is nutritious and satisfying.

The original recipe calls for spelt, but I substituted that with barley since its what I had on hand. We all like the flavor so much, I have yet to make the spelt version. That, and I've never seen spelt offered at any of my local grocery stores. I also top it off with cilantro instead of parsley. Mainly because of my recent obsession with this wonderful herb. Other than that, I followed the recipe pretty much to the T. Starting any soup with a mirepoix is almost a guarantee that you'll end up with a flavorful bowl. And the creamy chickpeas work wonderfully with the nutty barley and the spicy tomato broth. It also makes for great leftovers. Just make sure you have some extra broth on hand, because it thickens up substantially in the fridge. Served with a nice salad and fresh loaf of bread, lunch could not have been better.

Chickpea, Tomato, & Barley Soup
Adapted from Body and Soul Magazine

1 cup barley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch lengths
2 celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 cups vegetable broth
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish

Rinse barley clean under running water. Place in a medium bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak for 1 hour; drain.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven or large soup pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add bay leaves, paprika, cumin, barley, broth, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes or until barley is tender.

Add tomatoes and chickpeas and cook for 20 minutes or until flavors have blended. Discard bay leaves. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro before serving.

Pisto Manchego with Eggs

Did You Know? White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. Brown egg layers usually are slightly larger and require more food, thus brown eggs usually cost more than white eggs.

Just in this past year have my tastebuds developed a love for eggs. I've always eaten a healthy diet, but when I started going to acupuncture, my doctors really examined the foods I was incorporating into my daily life. Surprisingly, I wasn't eating the type foods that my body required to function at it's best. So to get my system in its optimal condition, and my chi in balance, I reworked a lot of aspects of my life, diet being one of them. I was instructed to eat eggs, a lot of eggs. In fact, they were perfectly fine with me consuming at least a dozen every week, if not more. And while I didn't take it to that level most weeks, I did go from not eating eggs at all, to eating at least 1/2 a dozen every week.

This recipe came about in one of my late night recipe searches for things to do with eggs. If I was going to be eating a lot of eggs, I needed to find ways that I would enjoy them (scrambled not being one of them). To this day, I pretty much only enjoy them fried or poached, with the yolks still runny. This pisto manchego incorporates my love of vegetables with my new found love of poached eggs.

Swimming in a ratatouille base, the creamy egg yolks are blanketed by a firm white, making this dish perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I can't wait until Summer arrives, when the farmers markets spring up again, and you don't think you'll ever see the end of your zucchini and tomato bounty. Until then, here's the recipe...

Pisto Manchego with Eggs
Adapted from The New York Times: Recipes for Health section

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds zucchini, or a combination of green and yellow summer squash, diced
2 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (juice reserved)
Salt & Pepper
4-6 eggs

Heat the oil in a large, heavy, nonstick skillet over medium heat, then add the onion. Stir often, until transluscent — about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or two until fragrant. Stir in the squash and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook for 5 minutes, until the squash is coated with oil and beginning to soften. Add the tomatoes, and salt to taste (3/4 to 1 teaspoon), and turn the heat to medium-high. Stir often for 5 to 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have slightly cooked down. Add the juice from the tomatoes plus 1/4 cup water, stir together, and turn the heat back down to medium-low. Cook uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and easy to mash. Stir often until the mixture cooks down and begins to stick to the pan. From time to time, press on the squash with the back of your spoon so that it breaks down. Taste, adjust the salt, and add lots of pepper.

Using the back of your spoon, make 4-6 wells in the vegetable mixture and break an egg into each well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the pan, and cook until the eggs have set, about six to eight minutes (the whites should be set, but the yolks should still be runny). Serve, using a spatula to dish out portions of pisto topped with an egg, or two.

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

Did You Know? Women in the Orient used to use the peel of the eggplant as dye to stain their teeth gray because that was all the rage.

Eggplant parmesan has always been a favorite of mine. The crusty, golden top, and the smooth and cheesy inside. But after changing my eating habits, and trying to really limit my dairy intake, I wanted to make an updated version of this classic to fit my new tastes, but still satisfy that craving. Not to mention, make something that the rest of my family would enjoy.

There's something about Italian food that is so satisfying and fun to enjoy with friends and family, but it can also be not the healthiest of cuisines. I try to get everyone in my family to eat a little healthier, and by offering fresh ingredients and flavors they enjoy, I think healthy cooking can be quite simple.

Although this recipe does not provide the oily, thickly breaded cutlets of eggplant you might be used to, the flavors are in no way lacking. I love the freshness of this dish, and the fact that each ingredient is really present. The burst of the sliced tomato against the roasted eggplant, along with the sweet basil make this a wholesome dish your family will love anytime of year.

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
2 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Sea Salt and Pepper
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
5 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
1/2 cup Bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Basil leaves
1 lb. dried pasta (any shape will work)

Place eggplant rounds on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with sea salt. Feel free to layer eggplant if needed, just make sure each layer is covered with salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes (you'll notice the moisture leeking out of the eggplant-that's what you want). After 30 minutes, rinse the rounds, then squeeze any moisture out of them (don't worry about tearing them, they've pretty much turned into sponges now). Pat dry, season with salt and pepper, and set aside while you heat up a pan.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray or a little olive oil. I used a griddle here, so I could cook all the eggplant at once. I tend to use cooking spray when I grill eggplant, because it has a tendency to soak up the oil way to quickly, and you end up using a bit too much. Grill the eggplant until nicely browned on both sides, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large baking or casserole dish, pour about 1/2 to 1 cup of the crushed tomatoes. Layer the eggplant on top of the crushed tomatoes. Follow with a layer of sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and a sprinkle of some torn basil leaves. Repeat, ending with a final layer of tomatoes, and some more torn basil and the minced garlic. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta and heat the leftover crushed tomatoes in a small saucepan. When the eggplant is ready, it's time to plate. Put a serving of pasta on each plate, top with some leftover crushed tomatoes, and finally place a few eggplant stacks on top. Sprinkle any basil you have left on top and serve with additional parmesan cheese. Enjoy - this was plenty for my family of 5. And made an awesome sandwich filling for lunch the next day.

*Note: The next time I make this, I will definately use another eggplant and a couple more roma tomatoes, so there would be three layers of eggplant and tomato slices, instead of two. Since I tend to add additional veggies into whatever pasta dish I eat, I served my pasta over a bed of steamed broccoli - really tasty and filling. FYI: The picture at the top was taken before I baked the whole thing. The sun was going down, and I wanted to capture the jist of it. The picture below is baked and plated (minus the broccoli).

Caramelized Tomato & Onion Marinara

Did You Know? During the nineteenth century, American cookbooks warned that tomatoes should be cooked for a minimum of three hours before eating to eliminate the raw taste. People were cautioned not to eat tomatoes raw because they were still suspected to be poisonous.

Every spring I conjure up a list of vegetables for my Dad to include in "our" vegetable garden. Somehow when it's time to actually build the garden, it becomes "his" garden. I love all of the outcomes of the finished garden when summer rolls in, but I'd much rather get my Dad a drink every now and then, than to dig up a garden with him.

So after much directing on my part and building on my Dad's part, the garden gets finished, and then we wait. It's always exciting to see the first few fruits, but then I usually forget about the garden all together until my Dad starts complaining that he made me this vegetable garden that I begged for, and the vegetables just sit down there, waiting to be cooked.

This summer, like all other summers, we had an abundance of tomatoes: beefsteak, grape, cherry, pear...I had been researching recipes, and that's when I thought of my Mema, and how my Dad always said she made the best spaghetti sauce when he was younger. Knowing that if I called her she wouldn't be able to remember how she actually made her sauce, I decided to think of something on my own. I looked at a few recipes for some ideas, but all of them were pretty basic. Incorporating flavors that I love with the ingredients at hand, I ended up with a pretty tasty sauce. Sweet from the caramelized onions, and rich from the roasted cherry tomatoes, this sauce is sure to liven up any dish it's added to...

Caramelized Tomato & Onion Marinara
Cherry tomatoes...enough to fill a large baking sheet when sliced in half
8 Beefsteak tomatoes, cored and diced into large chunks
2 Sweet onions
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and toss on a baking sheet with a generous splash of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until skins have browned and are caramelized all over, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, make the caramelized onions. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot, over medium heat. Add sliced onions, salt, and pepper. When onions become translucent, lower heat a little and continue to cook until onions are a deep, golden brown. The whole process take about 45 minutes.

When onions are done, add roasted cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine everything, cover, and cook on medium heat until tomatoes break down and form a sauce. Working in batches, puree sauce in a blender or food processor. Add sauce back into the pot and simmer for about an hour with the lid half on. When finished tear up some fresh basil, add it to the pot, and enjoy all your future creations!

This recipe makes a ton of sauce. I usually freeze some to enjoy throughout the year.