Barley Salad

I don't want to jinx myself, but I must admit that it feels like my baking disorder has passed. I no longer feel the urge to dice every fruit in sight, whisk in a little sugar / butter / egg and combine with flour and turn it into some sort of sweet baked treat. Thats the good news. Ahem. Invariably, one set of symptoms is replaced by another set of symptoms. Who is to say which set is normal - ha. Normal is a sine wave, if you ask me. However, I digress. The baking disorder has turned into whole grain madness. You probably saw this coming. I am so incredibly transparent.

Even as the baking disorder loosened its tentacles round my brain, a new stream of ideas started to take over. At the tail end of my infatutation with baked fruit, I found myself lingering over whole grains. Spelt, quinoa, millet, brown rice, you get the picture. I have traded smiling, summery sweetness of rustic fruit breads for hearty, robust whole grains.

The Real Food Daily Cookbook jumped into my hands - such a treasure trove of ideas! Some delightfully innovative flavor combinations lurk between those pages. The barley salad caught my eye.

Heres what I did:
1. Soaked and cooked a cup of pearled barley.
2. Chopped up half a cup of grape tomatoes, three green onions, a handful of kalamata olives and added it to the cooked barley. Tossed with lemon juice, parsley and cilantro. The original recipe called for dill. Topped with a little sprinkle of feta cheese.

The verdict:
Delicious! In a light, summery way. This one worked nicely as a salad for lunch and even as a side dish.

Don't miss the other lunchbox delights at Coffee and Vanilla!