Barley Confetti Salad

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Earlier this week I had a bunch of veggies to use up and didn't feel like making anything elaborate. I decided to throw them all together with some grains and legumes and call it good. Easy, tasty, and chock full of vitamins. I was mainly trying to get the spinach into my diet because of this anemia bout. Friends, I apologize if I haven't been too communicative the past few weeks, but I have been wiped out from this condition. I'm taking my iron but it seems to not be working as quickly as normal. Just plain annoying to have to go to bed at 7:30 or 8 every night. What am I, 10 years old? I thought early bedtimes were a thing of the past. Oh, how wrong was I.



Barley Confetti Salad
serves 4

1 cup dried barley
1 red pepper, finely diced
2-3 smallish beets, finely diced
2 cups packed spinach leaves, chopped into small strips
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 lemon
1/4 olive oil
fresh ground pepper & dried red pepper flakes to taste

Cook barley according to package directions. While it is cooking, you can prep the rest of the ingredients. Once barley is done, add corn and spinach to it. The frozen corn will cool the barley to room temp and the heat from the barley will wilt the spinach. Add the kidney beans & red pepper and mix thoroughly. Squeeze the lemon over the top, drizzle on the olive oil, and add the ground pepper & pepper flakes. Stir. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Spoon into individual bowls and sprinkle beets on top. You do not want to mix them into the salad because they will dye the entire thing pink. Which may not be bad, if that's the look you're going for.

P.S. While cutting these beets, I got a little giddy at the color. And look at the gorgeously stained cutting board. Makes me go weak in the knees. Really now, I cannot be the only person this in love with the color of beets.