Barley Salad with Chickpeas

Salads are perfect for hot, humid summer evenings. They come together so quickly. They require no heating source so your air conditioning doesn't have to go into overdrive keeping your apartment cool. However, lettuce topped with chopped veggies can get a little boring. Adding grains is a great way to step up your salad to that next level. If you really want to put it over the top, add some dried fruit and nuts. Make your way to the fresh greens section of your grocery store and try something new. Chickpeas make a great alternative to meat as your protein source.

This recipe is adapted from my cooking for one cookbook, Serve Yourself. Originally it was designed with farro but I subbed barley because I had that in my pantry. It was refreshing and delicious!

Barley Salad with Chickpeas (adapted from Serve Yourself cookbook)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp chopped pecans
1 cup cooked pearl barley, cooled
1/3 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup lightly packed arugula leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes including juice
2 tbsp dried cherries
1 green onion, thinly sliced
6 large mint leaves, thinly sliced
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until they turn dark brown and smell fragrant. Remove to a plate to cool.

Combine the pecans, barley, chickpeas, arugula, tomatoes, cherries, green onion, and mint in a bowl. Mix. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Chicken Week- Day 2- The Best Chicken Salad

I really meant to post everyday this week. That's part of the reason I decided to do another theme week. But yesterday afternoon I had to leave work because I was not feeling well. That meant I spent the remainder of the afternoon asleep on my couch before crashing for the night in my bed. That also meant that I didn't open up my computer to finish this post and tell you about "the best chicken salad". Sorry!


We've had the miracle whip vs mayonnaise discussion before. The last time I fell into the miracle whip category while I was enjoying my tuna salad. However, now we're talking chicken salad and I'm switching camps to mayonnaise. Like I always am with food, I appreciate it all. There is a time and a place for them all... aka the time and the place for Reeses pieces is whenever and where ever I can get my hands on them and the time and the place for Sprite Zero and saltines is when I'm sick and laying on my couch...

In order to make the best chicken salad, mayonnaise is essential. Plus you need a tart apple and some walnuts for texture. And dried cranberries to sweeten it. A little bit of lemon juice and salt and pepper and we are rocking. It is best served on a croissant but unfortunately I couldn't find any in my grocery store's baked good section so I went with a whole wheat ciabatta roll. The recipe below is for about 1 serving; you can definitely double it or quadruple it to make enough for the family. Because of the apple and my desire to not eat soggy walnuts, I suggest making it fresh on the day you are going to serve it. The leftovers are okay but definitely not the best anymore.

The Best Chicken Salad*
Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced cooked chicken
1/3 granny smith apple, diced
2 tbsp craisins
1 tbsp diced green onion
1 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tbsp light mayo
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the chicken, apple, craisins, green onion, and walnuts. Squeeze the lemon juice over the mayo and mix. Pour the dressing on to the chicken mixture and stir until coated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve on your bread of choice.

*In my opinion

Kale Strawberry Smoothie

Let's talk crazy college traditions.

At Hope College we had the Pull, a giant tug-o-war competition, and Nykerk, a singing/acting/speaking competition. At Duke University, we had graduate student campout weekend and everything that revolves around being Cameron Crazies. At the University of Illinois, they have this thing called Unofficial. Apparently it was a tradition started in the mid 90s so that the students could celebrate St Patty's day early because the actual holiday fell on spring break. From my understanding, it is an excuse to dress in green, drink green beer and party like, well, college students. As a person outside of the student life on campus, I had no idea that Unofficial was today. So imagine my surprise when my boss's office assistant asks if I'm wearing my green shirt in honor of Unofficial. Oh boy. Nope, I just picked out this shirt this morning without any thought. So I spent the rest of the day just trying to hide my shirt from everyone and waiting to get home to the safety of my apartment before campus got to crazy tonight. It's funny how the further you are removed from the ungraduate students, the less appealing these traditions seem.

Did you participate in any crazy college events?

In honor of those UIUC students celebrating Unofficial today, I bring you this green smoothie. Not quite green beer but certainly a lot healthier for you-- chalked full of nutrients from fruit, yogurt and kale! I think kale green smoothies taste more "green" than spinach ones, so feel free to sub in a handful or two if you don't want a kale taste.

Kale Strawberry Smoothie
Ingredients:
10 strawberries, washed and halved
1/2 frozen banana
6 oz vanilla yogurt
5 pieces of kale, washed and thick stems removed
splash of fruit juice (as needed)

Directions:
Place the strawberries, banana, yogurt and kale in a blender. Pulse on high until smooth. If you are having trouble getting it smooth, add a splash of fruit juice (any kind you would like) and pulse again. Use the juice to thin the smoothie to the consistency you desire.

Strawberry Banana Mini Muffins

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Since I've spent the night completely unplugged from the world, I always check my email and the weather. If I'm feeling extra lazy, like I was this Saturday, I check Facebook and Pinterest while still cuddled under the covers in bed. And this week I learned that February 23 is National Banana Bread Day. Note: I'm pretty certain that there is a food holiday or month or something that we could celebrate everyday. But regardless, I had a few bananas that were on their last legs and I figured I might as well take part in banana bread day. I checked my fridge and found some strawberries that were also calling out to me, so I searched for a strawberry banana bread recipe. To make things quicker I went for a muffin AND I made them mini so I can pop them in my mouth on my way out the door on a workday morning.

What's great about this recipe is the lack of fat. There is a significant amount of sugar so they aren't exactly health muffins but they are better than what you would pick up at the coffee shop. Speaking of which, they go great with a cup or two of freshly brewed coffee.

Strawberry Banana Mini Muffins (adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 medium banana, mashed

1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg white, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 medium banana, thinly sliced
1 cup diced strawberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat a mini muffin tray with cooking spray.

Mix together the flour, sugars, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the mashed banana, applesauce, egg white and vanilla and stir until combined but do not overmix. Fold in the banana slices and strawberries. Scoop the batter into the mini muffin tray, filling almost to the top.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 20-24 mini muffins.

Store in an airtight container.

Cranberry Smoothie

I was trying to decide if I wanted to call this a cranberry smoothie or a cranberry milkshake or simple frozen goodness of cranberries. I think technically milkshakes contain ice cream so I went with the smoothie. Fair warning it has a consistency of a milkshake though because of the Greek yogurt.

Did you purchase a couple extra bags of cranberries over the holidays because they were so cheap? I certainly did. Then I threw them in the freezer for an occasion such as this. When it was freezing cold outside (literally, ice is everywhere!) and I just needed a frozen drink. Wait. What? If you haven't figured out that I'm a little bit crazy yet then you haven't been reading my posts thoroughly enough. Anyway, this cranberry smoothie is super tart because of the Greek yogurt and the cranberries; you may want to add more honey than I did if you want something a little sweeter.

Cranberry Smoothie
Ingredients:
6 oz carton non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup low fat milk
1 tbsp honey plus more to taste

Directions:
Combine everything in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Taste to see if you need extra sweetener and add as desired.