Bean Salad. WITH BARLEY!

I love barley but I never make it. Heck, unless it's in a soup, I never eat it. Today I decided to go into my first foray into making barley as a major part of a meal.

Enter: Bean and Barley Salad

This salad is crunchy, chewy (in a good way) and filling. It's also incredibly cheap. All these ingredients cost maybe $15, and you wont be using nearly all of it for this recipe. The most expensive ingredients, the vinegar and oil will last for MONTHS.

Ingredients
1 can of mixed beans
1 cup of cooked barley (cook according to the package)
1/2 cucumber diced
2 tbsp diced red onion
1 handful of chopped cilantro
big handful of grape tomatoes, cut in half
balsamic vinaigrette
lemon
salt and pepper
baby spinach
Optional: whatever other veggies you might like... hot peppers, olives, maybe a green apple?

Let's do it!
Throw the beans, barley, and veggies (except spinach) plus maybe about 2 tbsp of vinaigrette and a squeeze of lemon into a leak-proof container. Give it a taste. Season with a dash of salt, and more lemon, pepper and vinaigrette as needed. In an effort to use less salt, try adding more balsamic or lemon instead. What you're looking for is a nice, full flavour, without destroying your kidneys. Let this marinate in the fridge. Shake it up every couple of hours to really let the flavours meld. Or eat it right away, whatever.

If you've never made balsamic vinaigrette before, it's very simple. 1:1 ratio of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Put in a jar and shake. Because my coworkers don't steal food, I have a bottle of both balsamic and olive oil in the cupboard. I put them in a jar and shake before pouring over my salads. Yes, you're also supposed to add some mustard, chopped garlic and salt, but I don't always do it and it ends up just fine. I tend to put a little more balsamic than olive oil, but only because I love sour flavours.

Lunch it up!
If you're going to eat your lunch within maybe 4 hours, you can throw your spinach in a container, then top with the bean salad and some more dressing. The dressing will season the spinach without making it too soggy. If you love your spinach crunchy, package it in a separate container. If you can, bring some vinaigrette in a jar so you can season it to taste when you get to work. I tend to drench my salads in dressing, particularly balsamic vinaigrette, thus my salad-dressing supplies at work.

There you have it, a healthy lunch that combines whole grains, protein, dark greens and vitamin C! This recipe will yield about 4 servings, which makes it a great thing to make on a Sunday night and eat throughout the week.

Salami and Bean salad

Last week I almost exclusively ate salami sandwiches for lunch. It was a mix of laziness and a weird craving I was having. I still had a little left over, and wanted to make something somewhat healthy and easy so here it is: Salami and Bean Salad.

Ingredients
1 can mixed beans, drained and rinsed well
5 slices of salami, chopped
some olives
a handful of mint leaves, chopped

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tbsp finely minced onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
salt


Let's do it!
First make the dressing. Combine all the ingredients into an airtight container and shake shake shake!

Then mix the salad ingredients. To chop the mint leaves, place them all on top of one another, roll lengthwise and chop into little slices. You can also add ingredients like red onions, tomatoes, edamame, spinach, whatever.


Lunch it up!
I kept the salad and dressing separate, since I didn't use all the dressing for the salad. I like to make extra and just have it in the fridge at work.

The salad was actually quite good, the mint was a nice touch, as was the spicy/salty salami. It's still probably not the healthiest thing I could have eaten, but the leftovers had to go.

Quinoa Salad with Lemon and Soy Dressing

There comes a day every summer where you realize that you really really need to start taking care of yourself. I call it the Day After the Canada Day Long Weekend. This weekend usually involves more booze, bbq and nachos than any one person should be consuming over a three day period. There's only one way to make up for your transgressions: eat nothing but salad for a week while watching weight-loss reality TV. And exercising. Obviously.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw, drained quinoa
a handful of baby spinach
1/4 cup dried cranberries (DO NOT OMIT, this MAKES the salad. You can also replace with sultanas, or sweet fruit, or fresh berries)
2 hard boiled eggs

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1.5 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp each finely chopped fresh chives and mint


Let's do it!
Put the eggs in a small pot and cover with water. Put on the stove on high until the water boils. When the water boils, cover and put the pot aside for at least 10 minutes. The eggs will be hardboiled after this time.

Put the drained quinoa in a slow cooker and add 1 cup of water. Turn on.

Lunch it up!
I had the dressing in an airtight container, the quinoa in another, and everything else together in yet another container.

To eat, chop up the egg and arrange with the spinach and cranberries on a plate. Top with quinoa and top that with dressing.

Like I said, you do not want to skimp on the sweet stuff (dried cranberries or fruit), otherwise this will be a soul-suckingly boring salad. Enjoy!