Recipes

Chicken and Barley Salad

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School is back in session – which means it is officially the end of summer in my book.  In honor of this self-declared change in seasons, I decided to make one last summer salad for dinner Monday night. 

The January 2010 issue of Cooking Light featured a recipe for Greek Chicken and Barley salad which was my inspiration and starting point to my dinner. 

First up, I seasoned a few chicken breasts with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning and tossed them on to the George Foreman grill.  I only used 4 ounces of chicken in this recipe, but grill once eat thrice I always say. 

When the chicken was done grilling, I roughly shred four ounces of it:

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Meanwhile I brought 1 cup of Nature’s Basket Free Range Chicken Broth (fat-free and low sodium) to a boil, then tossed in 1/2 cup Quaker’s Quick Barley and cooked according to the package instructions. 

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Next I got to choppin the veggies.  For this salad I used:

  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1 large cucumber, seeded
  • 1/2 a yellow bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup of reduced fat Atheno’s feta cheese

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In a small bowl, I mixed together a yummy dressing for the salad:

  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp water
  • 1/8 tsp each salt, black pepper, ground thyme
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil

Once the chicken and barley were cooled off, I added them to my veggies and feta, added the dressing, and tossed to combine. 

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I put the salad in the fridge to let the flavors merry while I cleaned up the inevitable disaster I created in my kitchen.

Dinner time!

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This salad was light and the veggies were so crisp.  I really REALLY like the dressing, and I had forgotten how yummy barley is.  I will miss you summer salads… but I won’t lie.  I’m looking forward to some dinner SOUPS!!

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Chicken & Barley Salad Ingredient List (makes two servings):

  • 4 ounces grilled chicken
  • 1 cup Nature’s Basket Free Range Chicken Broth
  • 1/2 cup Quaker’s Quick Barley
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1 large cucumber, seeded (or 1 seedless cucumeber)
  • 1/2 a yellow bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup Athenos reduced fat feta
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp water
  • 1/8 tsp each salt, black pepper, ground thyme
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil

Myfitnesspal stats on one serving:  309 calories, 37g carbs, 5g fat, 26g protein, 6g fiber

 

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Recipes

Tabbouleh with Feta and Shrimp

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I don’t know why, but I always get the words bulgur and barley mixed up!  I know the difference between each of the grains, and I can easily identify them, but my brain just jumbles up the names sometimes!

Case in point:  I found this recipe for Tabbouleh with Feta and Shrimp a while back and decided over the weekend that I would make it sometime for dinner this week.  All week, I’ve been thinking to myself “why do they call it tabbouleh when it’s got bulgur in it?  Don’t they know tabbouleh is made with barley??”

After 5 days of contemplating this, it JUST NOW dawned on me that the recipe did, in fact, call for bulgur which is, in fact, what tabbouleh is made out of.  Hahahha… geesh.  Suddenly, this recipe made a lot more sense to me 🙂

First, I cooked up 1/4 cup of bulgur (AKA not barley) per the package instructions and 3 ounces of shrimp.  Then put it all in the fridge to cool off.

In a bowl, I mixed together:

  • 1 tbsp parsley, chopped (the smaller, the better)
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/8 tsp each salt, pepper, ground cumin

 Then I tossed the bulgur (I swear to you, I just typed BARLEY… wow) with:

For you visually challenged that is:

  • 1/2 large cucumber, diced
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped (the smaller, the better)
  • 1 roma tomato, diced
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onion
  • 2 tbsp  crumbled reduced fat feta

 Topped it off with the dressing, and put everything back in the fridge so the flavors could mary merry 😉

Come clooooooossssseerrrrrr:

T-A-S-T-Y.  Just like the tabbouleh I’ve had at my favorite middle eastern restaurants… well not JUST like it, but still tasty in its own right.  Next time, I wont be so lazy and I’ll chop everything into smaller pieces 🙂

Stats on the tabbouleh:  360 calories, 50g carbs, 3g fat, 28g protein, 10g fiber

 

I’m off to mow the yard!  WOOHOOOOOOO!

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