Spicy and Sweet Barley

It's Recipe Redux time again . . . and guess what we were pleasantly surprised to find the theme was! A Whole New Grain! Awesome, since that's kind of our thing. Now I know all of you have heard of barley before (corner on the barley market, anyone?), but when's the last time you used it?

Here are some of the health benefits of barley:

• Contains 8 essential amino acids
• Eating whole grain barley can regulate blood sugar (i.e. reduce blood glucose response to a meal) for up to 10 hours after consumption
• A 1 cup serving has over 50% of your daily recommended fiber intake
• Helpful in lowering cholesterol
• Shown to be helpful in preventing cardiovascular problems, lowering risk of heart failure and type 2 diabetes and even childhood asthma.

Whole grains can do amazing things. If you don't have barley on hand, this recipe would also be great with quinoa. Either way, you're getting your whole grains.

Ingredients:
1 T coconut oil
1/2 onion chopped in thin slices
2 minced garlic cloves
3/4 C barley (you could replace 1/4 C with quinoa)
3 3/4 C water
2 tsp salt
2 tsp thyme
1/2 to 1 tsp finely chopped chipotle pepper or 1 to 1 1/2 tsp chili powder (or a little of both if you like it extra spicy)
1/3 C brown rice
2 C fresh spinach
3/4 C coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tsp honey
dried cranberries

1. Heat oil in med. saucepan stir in onions and garlic. Stir and let soften on medium heat for 3-5 min.

2. Sir in barley and quinoa and let brown a little for about 3 min. Continue to stir the mixture.

3. Stir in the water, salt, spices, pepper and brown rice. Let it come to a boil and let boil for about 2 min.

4. Turn down to simmer and cook 45 to 60 min. Till most of the water is absorbed and the grains are softened. Don't stir too much or it will turn mushy.

5. Heat up a small skillet and sir in honey and walnuts and let them cook on med heat till lightly toasted about 3-4 min. Take off heat and let cool. Take out of the pan before they cool all the way or they may stick. If they get stuck to the pan you can reheat them a little.

6. Drain off excess liquid in a strainer. Let cool.

7. Prior to serving toss in the spinach and sprinkle walnuts and cranberries on top.

Barley info links here and here.

Other Redux Bloggers' Links

Pumpkin Breakfast Cake

This could be made the night before for a quick breakfast. I think the flavors taste even better over night. Just about anything made with pumpkin is a winner. :)

Ingredients:

2 C whole grain flour ( I used 1 1/4 C Kamut and 3/4 C Spelt)
1 C Old fashioned oatmeal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 /2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg or 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C grape seed oil or oil of your choice
1 1/4 C honey
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C cooked pumpkin
1/2 C walnuts
1/2 of raisins and 1/2 C dried cranberries

topping optional:
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C coconut oil or butter
1/4 C whole grain flour
1/4 C oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions: Bake in 9x13 greased pan

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Whisk all the dried ingredients together in a bowl.

3. In another bowl beat together the oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Fold into dry ingredients with a spatula.

4. Stir in the pumpkin and fold in nuts and fruit.

5. Pour into greased pan. (I love stoneware for whole grains)

6.* Optional Blend together topping if desired. 1. You can just sprinkle it on top.
2. divide it in half. Sprinkle half on top and then swirl a knife through it to get it to go down into the batter and then pour the remaining on top. 3. Double the topping amounts. pour half the batter into the pan. Sprinkle half the topping on to the batter. pour in the remaining batter and then sprinkle on the remaining topping.

7. Bake for about 60 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. Put the pan on top of cooling rack to cool. Cover for storage to keep moist.

Apple & Almond & Feta Salad with Honey and Chia Dressing

I thrive on learning new things about nutrition and health. I was in the bookstore and grabbed a whole stack of things to read, while waiting for my daughter. I didn't get through all of the stack but, I had a great time. That is one of my favorite things to do. There are sooo many great things out there to learn I love it. I look forward to the next time I can do that.

This salad is fantastic. It one I recently found in my quest for learning and changed it around. It is on the list of one of my favorites. Britney came over and got to have some of this too. We both loved the combination of flavors. All the colors in it make it very appealing. It is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It is a great salad for the Summer.

It was fun to use chia in the dressing as oppose to poppy seeds. They are loaded with nutrition Just 2 T of chia is 6 grams of fiber. It is thought that chia could help in lowering triglyceride levels, and increase your HDL. Some studies have shown it could suppress your appetite, reduce inflammation and decrease blood pressure. They don't have much of a flavor so they can be added to almost anything. I put them in my smoothie every morning. I found that putting them in the salad dressing made a nice thickener. The seeds expand in liquid. You could use it in recipes that call for poppy seeds too. You don't have to grind the seeds to get the nutrtion out of them like you do with flax seeds.

Ingredients:
Dressing
1/2 C honey
2 T chia or poppy seeds
3/4 C grape seed oil or another kind of oil
1/2 cider vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper

1 head of Romain lettuce washed and torn in small pieces
1 C chopped almonds and 2 T honey cook in frying pan till is nice and thick. Let cool.
2 green apples cut in small bite size pieces
1/2 dried cranberries
1/2 red onion diced in small pieces
4 oz feta cheese crumbled

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients for dressing in blender or shaker bottle and blend or shake. Refrigerate till ready to serve.

2. Toss the salad just before serving. I added the cheese last. I didn't want it to get over mixed. We poured on our own dressing, so the leftovers wouldn't get soggy.

I served this as the main dish with some cantaloupe a great meal. Yum!

Millet Cranberry Bars

This was a winner. It has some similarities to rice crispy treats, yet healthier. It was a fun snack. It is a nice way to incorporate a new grain too. I also used Almond Butter in it. I hadn't bought it before. You can bring your own container into Good Earth. They will weigh the container, then you only pay for the Almond butter. I learn new tricks every day. I put cranberries in it, that I got from Good Earth as well. I really liked the consistency of the cranberries. They were softer than the ones you usually see, and not all the added sugar. They were yummy!
I found this cereal at Sunflower Market!

Ingredients:

1 C almond butter or creamy peanut butter
2/3 C honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 C oatmeal (I used old fashioned)
3 C puffed millet
1/2 dried cranberries or different dried fruit
1 tsp cinnamon (I used pumpkin spice)

Directions:

1. In a saucepan on the stove. Heat on med low heat butter and honey. Heat until a smooth consistency. Then stir in vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl mix the oatmeal and millet together with the cinnamon ,and cranberries. Pour the hot mixture on top. Mix until the cereal mixture is all covered.

3. Grease a 13x9 " pan. Pour the mixture in the pan. Flatten let harden a little. Cut into squares and wrap in plastic, and store in fridge. They are a nice snack for you to have when you are on the go. Enjoy!

Cranberry Oat Muffins (Low Gluten)

This is a wonderful treat to enjoy, while getting the benefits of eating cranberries. :) I love this time of year when you can buy the fresh cranberries in the store. I learned a trick last year you can freeze cranberries, and you can then use them all year. Yeah! Some of the SUGGESTED benefits to cranberries are, they can help urinary tract infections, reduction of dental plaque, anti cancer activities, heart diseases, and kidney stones. That is a nice long list. I like getting cranberries fresh because they haven't added all the sugar. It is hard to find dried unsweetened ones.

I love the sweet and tart combination this recipe has. (I used to always love those sweet and tart suckers too. :) These kind of reminded me of a yummy bran muffin. They were nice and dense. The problem when they taste good is I eat too many of them. :(

My mother in law is gluten intolerant. I have found when I make her things with spelt and kamut she doesn't have a problem. Each person is different. It has been fun to make her yummy things she can eat.

Ingredients:

2 C spelt flour
1/2 C oatmeal
1/2 C Sucanat or sweetener of your choice
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 C fresh cranberries Chopped (I just chopped them in the blender)
2 T honey
1/2 C Almond milk or 1/3 C regular milk *
1 egg *
2 T oilve oil
3/4 C fresh orange juice or you could used canned
1 T orange zest

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 Grease muffin pan. It made 12 regular muffins.

2. Combine in a bowl, spelt, oatmeal, sucanat salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add cranberries and stir to coat them with the flour mixture.

3. Then mix in a separate bowl, egg, oil, honey, juice, milk, and zest. Then add to flour mixture. Stir just until blended. Spoon into muffin pans.

4. Bake 12-15 min or until completely cooked through. Enjoy! these are a keeper.

* Almond milk is a little thicker so you can add a little more.

*I realized I left the egg out, after I had already put the batter into the pan. I decided to see how it would work without it. It worked well. It may have risen higher with the egg and been a little lighter. But I was happy with them. A recipe is just a guide. You can do your own experimenting.
Have fun. =)

* These taste even better the second day. They are soooo good!