Barley Bowl

Chewy Chewy by Ohio Express
I've recently discovered barley and I am in LOVE!  It had always been something you'd find in a soup during the cold and blustery time of the year - a backdrop, a co-star, perhaps even a third wheel.  It is indeed a chewy entity, but not overwhelmingly so.  It's the perfect state of chewiness.  And it's so healthy!  I love what it does for my body!  If you haven't had a proper introduction to barley - please, let me do the honors!

I recently made a decision to dive deeply into a Mediterranean diet.

It's not a "plan" or "program."

You simply pretend you live on the Mediterranean and eat what those folks eat.

They're some of the healthiest people on earth!

Eating this way means LOADS of servings of vegetables and fruits - I aim 

for nine total daily.  Typically I get to around seven total.

This means whole grains, cereals, legumes, and nuts.

This means dairy is a side note - usually cheese from goats or sheep - or cultured

cow milk, as in yogurt.  This is a win for my lactose sensitivities.

Proteins sourced from animals mainly come from 

fish or chicken, some pork, and an occasional red meat fix.

Sweets are seldom and truly a special treat.

And olive oil is, literally, everywhere.

And I made the daring decision that I wasn't going to 

worry about the amount of olive oil, 

just to see what happened.

The decision to embrace this way of eating is what brought about the 

renewed acquaintance with barley.

It is no longer the co-star in a hearty winter soup.

It is the base of many meals.

It comes pearled and hulled.

The hulled barley, harder to find, is the more nutritious, but

pearled is good for you, too.

It cooks up fairly quick.  

I like to start checking it about 10 minutes before

the recommended cooking time as I like it still chewy.

I do not want a mushy grain.

I also give it a rinse with some cold water after I strain it.

I make up a container and keep it in the fridge

and make meals from it all week.

Taking a cue from the rice bowls I've seen, I start with a scoop of 

a half cup of barley in a bowl.

After that I take a walk around my garden and peek into my fridge

and produce box on my counter.

I look for color first.

I make sure that what I choose provides a vision for my eyes!

I mix fruits and veggies together with reckless abandon, 

fancying myself some mad culinary scientist.

This week I found a carrot, green onion, and arugula in my

garden containers.

An avocado and tub of tomatoes from the store rounded out my search.

Later, I decided to throw in a nectarine from Costco that needed to be used.

Sweet, pungent, crunchy, chewy, juicy - and bursts of vivid colors. 

I was ready to assemble!

This is what I discovered about olive oil - and fat, in general.

It brings food alive!!

It makes their flavors pop and gives them a pleasing mouth-feel.

When partnered with some good sea salt or kosher salt, you just can't beat it.

So the trend of telling us to eat more vegetables but omit fat sets 

us up for a short-lived relationship with those veggies.

They need each other!

After all my add-ins are peeled, cut, prepped in whatever fashion I choose,

I pile them into the bowl on top of that barley.

Then I drizzle extra virgin olive oil,

sprinkle some kosher salt over and some black pepper,

then give it a stir.

Right before my eyes, a masterpiece of delicious and nutritious

ingredients emerges!

And I can't wait to dig in!!

Barley Bowl

Printable Recipe Card

1/2 cup cooked hulled or pearled barley

1 carrot, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

1 handful or arugula leaves, chopped

5 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 small avocado, peeled and chopped

1 nectarine, chopped

extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt

black pepper

Place barley in a deep bowl and add all prepped produce to it.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with the salt and pepper.  Stir gently to combine and taste.  Add more olive oil, salt, or black pepper, if desired.  This feeds just me for lunch!  But you could definitely make it larger to serve a family.

Coconut Lime Shrimp

Coconut by Harry Nilsson
Oh come on!  You HAD to know that there was no other song for a recipe like this!  You know it's the first thing that popped into your head - and you were singing and jiving along before you even got to the first sentence of this post!  Haha!  It's ok!  Ever since the song played on the air, nobody can say the words "coconut" and "lime" in the same sentence without someone within hearing distance singing the words!  That's the sign of a good song - a song that brings about happy and carefree feelings!  And this recipe does the same for me.  I hope you find it does the same for you!

My husband and I were lucky to be on 

the island of Kauai last January.

Even though it tends to rain a lot on that

island, hey, you're in Hawaii!

Somehow Hawaiian rain just feels

better than mainland rain!

Hard to let it get you down!

Of course, I started doing research on

the places to eat before I got there.

I was happy to find so many really

good options.

The very first place that got my 

attention was a place called

Savage Shrimp.

Isn't that a great name?!

It's in a little shopping

village in Poipu.

Once they had my attention with the

name, they kept it with a perusal of 

the menu!

I was salivating already and

the reviews promised that

I would not be disappointed!

I mean, it's shrimp!

My FAVORITE food on 

the planet!

It's a walk-up-to-the-counter-and-order

kind of place.

Then you go out and hopefully score a seat 

at one of the tables on their deck.

I knew what I was getting before 

I got there - the Bahia Shrimp Plate!

It was peeled shrimp scampi

in a coconut milk broth.

They used some tomatoes and OJ

and it was phenomenal

served over rice!

So much so that I made time

to go back and have it again!

I knew that I was going to

have to attempt a recreation of

some sort when I got home!

I was surprised at how easy it was 

to come fairly close.

I used a more traditional

lime and coconut flavor

combination

(see, you're singing it again!)

and I just am so very happy with the result!

Another time, I'll try to do a more

exact copy of their OJ 

and tomato version!

Either way,

Go get some shrimp and 

get cooking!

Coconut Lime Shrimp

Serves 4

Printable Recipe Card

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup sake

1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk, preferably not light

1/2 - 1 teaspoon sambal oelek

zest of one lime

Juice of half a lime

1 " finely grated fresh ginger, or to taste

kosher or sea salt to taste

3 cups of cooked white long-grain rice

I usually buy my shrimp raw, in the shell.  Sometimes it's deveined, sometimes not.  I don't mind the task of peeling and deveining.  I've become pretty quick at it over the years.  It's pretty much the only "labor" involved with the dish.  You decide how you want to approach this part.  Just please don't use precooked shrimp.  I often save the shells and make a fish stock from them.  When I'm done peeling and deveining I had a good-looking pile of shrimp like this:

Set aside the prepared shrimp and heat the olive oil in a shallow pan.  Once the oil is hot I add the shrimp and do a quick saute for about one minute.  You aren't cooking the shrimp all the way at this point - just giving them a head start and getting that shrimpy flavor into the oil and pan.  Remove the pink but uncooked shrimp from the pan and place on a plate.  

You can see that they are pink but still not quite opaque down their backs.  Set them aside.

If you need to, add a little more olive oil to the pan.  Reduce the heat to low and add the minced garlic.  Remove from heat if the pan is still pretty hot.  You don't want to burn that garlic!  Stir the garlic in the pan for a minute and then add the sake.  Turn up the heat and cook the sake until it's reduced by about one half.  When it's reduced, reduce the heat and slowly add the coconut milk by pouring it into the pan down the side and letting it ooze out into the sake and garlic.  Add the sambal oelek - as much or as little as you like.  Give it a stir and turn the heat back up and let it come to a low boil.  You are essentially making a coconut milk reduction.  Let it boil until it thickens up a bit and the bubbles become larger in size.  It's not going to be a super thick sauce in the end.  When it's about done, add the grated fresh ginger and the lime zest and stir.  Also, add the shrimp back in at this point along with any juices that were released on the plate.  Cook for another minute or two until the shrimp have cooked through.  Right before serving over the rice, add the lime juice and salt to taste and stir in.  Put some rice in a bowl and ladle the shrimp and broth over.  You can garnish with some fresh lime wedges or more lime zest.  A sprig of cilantro wouldn't be a bad idea either!  I know you'll enjoy!

And for the sake of being real, after I took the top photo - but before I dug in - I went back and added more shrimp - because SHRIMP!!!!!  This is the "for reals" photo!  Haha!

Shaved Cauliflower Salad

Made In England by Elton John
Elton John and this Cauliflower Salad recipe - what do they have in common?  Well, they both have their origins in England!  And I like them both!  And they're both very interesting!  And I think I'll just get on with telling you about today's recipe!

Last month we went to London.

We had heard about a great exhibit
that the Victoria & Albert Museum
was putting together about
Pink Floyd.
It was going to be called
"Their Mortal Remains"
and all the press about it
sounded fantastic!
We were dying - we wanted to go real bad!
Was it crazy to want to fly across the
ocean to another country over
the love of a rock and roll band?
Probably!
Did we want to do it anyway?
Heck yes, we did!

We threw the idea out to some
friends of ours and they were
crazy enough to think it was worth
it as much as we did!
The next thing I knew,
we were planning an epic vacation
around this Pink Floyd journey.

AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT!

The museum did an outstanding job
curating all the memorabilia.
To make the occasion a little more fun,

we'd found an old photo of the

original Floydians -

Syd, Roger, Nick, and Richard -

and dressed up in outfits like they
were wearing in the picture!

We felt like we were being outrageous -

we barely turned a couple heads!

Haha!  London! 

I guess that city has seen everything!

Honey Oatmeal Sugar Cookies

Cook With Honey by Judy Collins

I was a little dismayed that I had already used Sugar, Sugar by The Archies and briefly considered using it again for this post anyway.  But then I wandered around my iTunes library and found this perfectly acceptable pairing from my Judy Collins collection.  Honey has been on my brain lately.  I'll be telling you why shortly.  But, in the meantime, click on the link in the song title and take a trip to 1973!

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity

to spend the day at my brother and sister-in-law's

bakery and cafe in Bountiful, Utah.

It's called Beehive Bakery and Cafe

and they serve delicious soups,

salads, and sandwiches as well as cookies,

brownies, pies, and all sorts of

goodies to satisfy your sweet tooth!

It was fun to be back in a 

commercial kitchen again!

Honey has been my principal sweetener 

the past several months and I've learned

to use it in both savory and sweet dishes.

My Honey & Spice Pork Roast  is an

example of one of the savory recipes

I've come up with.

And today's recipe is a sweet offering.

Berry Patriotic Rice Krispie Treats

Yankee Doodle Dandy by James Cagney
This was one of my favorite songs to sing when I was a little kid.  I mean, any song that has the word "doodle" in it is going to be fun to sing, right?  Just try to sing this and not feel happy!  And I am certainly happy and proud to be a Yankee.  Not as in the baseball team - but a true Yank!  I've been called a Yankee or Yank when I've been in the southern United States as I've always been a northerner.  I've also been called a Yank when traveling abroad.  And I own it loud and proud.  I hope you're celebrating this great nation this Independence Day!

This might very well be the most

dangerous post I've ever done!

I'm happy to report that my

eyelashes are working just fine 

and doing what they're put there to do!

Let me explain!