The Week of Baking!

Last week was a fun (if sometimes stressful) week for me.  I am a proud member of the Alamance County Service League, and we had a great fundraising event this Saturday, the Holly Days Bazaar!  One of the biggest parts of of Holly Days is our bake sale, where you can purchase homemade cakes, pies, cookies, spiced nuts, cheeseballs and other yummy treats.

I made a lot of great desserts last week, and I planned to post this before the event (to entice all you locals to come buy our fabulous desserts and do a little shopping from our vendors)! But that didn't happen. So here are my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy them this holiday season!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

1 c sugar

1/2 c flour

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 stick melted butter (cooled)

1 c chopped pecans

1 small bag (8 oz) chocolate chips

9-inch deep dish pie crust

Melt butter and let cool. Mix in sugar, eggs, flour and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour in pie crust and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

    

When I make this pie, I usually make two of them! It is really easy to double it (and a regular, 12 oz bag of chocolate chips split in half is enough chips for two pies, although buying the big pound bag and splitting it in half works, too).

Yum Yum!

Oatmeal Caramelitas

14 oz bag of caramels

1 sm can evaporated milk (or a little less than 1/2 c regular milk)

2 c flour

2 c oats

1 1/2 c brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c (3 sticks) butter, melted

12 oz chocolate chips

Unwrap caramels and put in glass bowl.  Add milk.  Put in microwave and melt (start at 3 mins., stir, then keep heating until fully melted).

  

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and melted butter.  Press 1/2 of crumb mixture in a 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

  

Take out of oven, and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust.  Spread caramel mixture over chips.

Top with remaining crust crumbs.

    

Bake for 20 minutes.

Cut when completely cool.

Can you see the ooey, gooey, yumminess from this picture????

Chocolate Cake with Truffle Frosting (from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

2 1/4 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 c butter

1 3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c water

     

Grease and lightly flour two 9 x 1 1/2 inch round baking pans or one 13 x 9 x 2 pan; set aside.  Melt chocolate and set aside to cool.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In large mixing bowl, beat the butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until well combined.  

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in chocolate and vanilla.  Add dry mixture and 1 1/4 c water alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. (What that means - add 1/4 of flour mixture, and beat, then 1/4 of water, then beat, then next fourth of flour mixture, beat, then more water, and so on, until you've added it all.)  Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).

            

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Cool layers in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove cakes from pans, and cool completely on racks.  Or, place 13 x 9 cake on wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

Truffle Frosting

1 1/2 c whipping cream

1/4 c light colored corn syrup

1 12 oz package (2 c) semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

In medium heavy saucepan, bring whipping cream and corn syrup to a simmer.  Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate pieces and vanilla; let stand for 2 minutes.  Whisk the mixture until smooth and melted. Cover and chill for about 1 1/2 hours or until mixture reaches spreading consistency, stirring occasionally. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy. This frosts tops and sides of two layer cakes.

NOTE: For Holly Days, I make this a three-layer cake.  While the cake recipe itself does not need to be increased (usually, you have to make 1 1/2 times of a recipe to go from a two-layer to a three-layer, but I tried that, and believe me, the three layers did NOT fit in my cake dome!), I do usually need a bit more frosting.  I tend to just double it, and have extra frosting (YUM!).

I forgot to take a picture of the cake, frosted in all its glory, so you'll just have to take my word that it looks yummy!

I think the best part about the Holly Days bake sale is that everything is homemade (and sometimes looks it). Yes, we do a great presentation, with beautiful bows, and some of us are talented enough to put pecans around the edges of our cakes, or top our cakes with crushed nuts or shaved chocolate.  But we take pride in our baking, and do our best to sell cakes, pies, cookies and other treats that taste as good as they look!  And if we are not great bakers, we find someone who is to help us out who is.

Happy holidays, everyone!

In Defense of Public Schools

This is a post I have been working on for a couple of weeks now.  I have found it hard to write, partially because I am so passionate about my child's education, and partially because I found myself worrying that I would offend my friends who have chosen to send their kids to private school.

So I will say at the beginning that there are many, many wonderful reasons to choose to send your child to a private school, or a charter school, or a "school within a school" such as language immersion or a magnet program. You have to do what is right for your child(ren), your family, and there is nothing wrong with your decision.

But SO many people in my socioeconomic bracket are choosing these other options, and opting out of their neighborhood public school, and that is sad. It is sad for that school, because they lost out on a great kid, and great parents who would be involved in that school. It is sad because the more parents who pull their kids out, the more the other parents question whether they should pull their kids, too. It is sad for me because there is only one other kid at our church who goes to his school, and she is several years older than him.

So I am going to focus on my kid's school, and all the wonderful things we have experienced there.

My son goes to a Title I school.  For those of you not in the know, that means that more than half of the children at the school are from low-income households.  Racially, my son's school is pretty evenly split into thirds: white/Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American. It is a diverse school, in a lot of different ways, and I think that is a wonderful thing.

If you look strictly at test scores at his school, you would wonder if the learning environment was a good one.  But when you look at the makeup of his school (high rate of poverty, children whose families that are homeless or transient, English as a Second Language students and students whose parents don't speak much English), you see that test scores don't ever tell the whole story.

When you walk through the school, you will see so much more.

The administration is dedicated.  They are in the classrooms, participating in school events, checking up on children that they know might not have a coat for the winter, or something to eat that weekend.

Teachers are doing what they can to help their class succeed.  Many of our teachers have children at our school (showing that they believe that their colleagues are going to do a great job with their children).  They collaborate with the other teachers on their grade level to share techniques that worked in their classrooms, and share the responsibility of coming up with great lesson plans.  They work with teachers at other grade levels to make sure that every child enters the next grade well prepared.

I did an informal survey at the end of last year (Kindergarten), and found that my son (and his classmates) had learned more sight words than any other kid I knew in public school, and at least as many as his friend in private school. Some schools in our district taught Kindergarten students 40 sight words by the end of the year (part of List A). The kids at my son's school learned at least 50 by winter break, and all 100 on List A by March. My son actually went into First Grade knowing most of the words on List C, because his teacher had blown through List A by December, List B by March or April, and started on List C. She is passionate about her kids learning as many sight words as possible because that fosters reading skills, and she is working with the district to implement standards so that all Kindergarten students will learn at least 100 words, rather than 40, in their first year.

We also have incredible "specials" teachers who are dedicated to introducing our children to art, music, computers, physical education, science and the library.  We have a choral group, an orchestra, and a small but dedicated PTO that presents fun events for kids and their families, purchases items for classrooms and encourages school pride.

I know a lot of teachers, and they will all say that any student can be a successful one if they believe in themselves.  What success means varies from child to child, but I think we all would agree that it would be a better world if all children graduated from high school with a goal and a way to achieve that goal, whether that meant a technical school, community college, or four year college.

How do you achieve that? One way is to start early.  At my son's school, they are already talking about college and career preparedness. The 3rd-5th graders visit different colleges and universities, as well as our district's C-TEC (Career and Technical Education Center), where high school students can take classes in fields such as nursing, computer science, engineering, culinary arts and automotive maintenance, most of which are for college credit in partnership with our local community college.

But sometimes, all of this isn't enough.  Scores are still low, because of factors that can't be controlled in the classroom, and because a test doesn't always show all that a child has learned.  So it is discouraging when you are judged just by a number on test.

That doesn't mean that our school isn't working its hardest to pull up those test scores, but not so that they get a pat on the back.  Rather, they want those score to increase because that means that more kids are learning to read well before third grade.  It means that the kids who live in households that speak Spanish at home are becoming truly bilingual, and that perhaps their parents are becoming better at English as well.  It means that despite all the things that could be holding a child back - lack of food, shelter, and clothing, lack of parental support - our school is doing all that it can to overcome those barriers and give a hand up to a child.

I have more to say on this topic, but I will leave that for another day :-). I will finish with this story:

Last year, a Hispanic parent came to an information session at our school about reading, and asked how she could help her child because she (the mother) didn't read or speak English well.  The teachers told her to learn alongside her child, or even have her child teach her.  It was a great answer, and, to me, a testament to how much she valued her child's education that she wanted to make such an effort. The teachers followed up with that parent after the session was over, to give her additional resources that could help her and her family with learning English.

Now doesn't that give you a better picture of my son's school than any test score? Parents who are doing their best, teachers who are not only helping the students, but their entire family, and a school administration that invited parents to come learn more about what their children were learning and how they could help them. That is the definition of a good school, and I am proud to be a parent of a child there!

Quick and Easy Dinners - Greek Pita Pizzas and Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizzas

On Sunday, I was feeling pretty good after uploading my blog post.

That lasted about 5 minutes, until I realized that the beef with barley soup I was planning on making and eating that night should have been started, oh, about two hours before.

Oops.

I did start it, and we ate it for dinner Monday and Tuesday nights, and it was yummy.

But back to Sunday night - I needed something quick but tasty for dinner, and decided to go with one of our tried and true favorites, Greek Pita Pizzas.

And since they are so easy to make, I am also including the recipe for another easy, different from the norm, pizza , the Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizza.

Greek Pita Pizzas

1/4 small red onion, chopped
4-6 pepperoncini peppers, sliced
1 sm can sliced black olives
1 package of small pitas (6 inch? you want the fat kind, not the thin kind - I used wheat, but white are okay, too)
1 container hummus (red pepper, garlic, original - up to you)
1 container feta cheese (can use regular or low-fat, chunk or crumbled)
1 container bacon bits (I use the real bacon kind, but the other would be fine, too)

Here are all my ingredients! 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put foil on a large baking sheet, and put four pitas on the baking sheet.  Spread hummus over pitas.  I usually use most of a container.

Chop up red onion.  Chop pepperoncini peppers (I bought the kind that was already chopped last time, and that makes this recipe even easier!).  Open can of black olives.

Put as little or as much red onion as you'd like on each pita.  Ditto for the pepperoncini peppers and black olives.  Sprinkle feta cheese on top (crumbling it if you have a block of cheese rather than the precrumbled).  Sprinkle bacon bits on top.

Cook for 10 minutes or so, until everything is hot.

And that is it!  SO easy, and so yummy.  My husband and I eat two each, which we probably shouldn't do, but they taste so good!

As for my second recipe, I don't have pictures, but it is just as easy as the first.  This recipe came from Cooking Light, although I can't find it on their website.  I have altered the recipe somewhat for our tastes!

Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizzas

1 package pitas (for these, the thinner, larger pitas work better, but again, white or wheat work fine)
1 can refried beans (I often use the refried black beans)
1 package taco seasoning (optional)
1 cup chicken (optional)
1 container fresh pico de gallo (sold in produce section of the grocery store or at farmers' markets), or homemade pico de gallo (you want chunky salsa, not runny)
2 cups cheese (cheddar, mexican, or pepperjack)
1 bag of shredded lettuce
sour cream (regular or low-fat)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover large baking sheet with foil, and put four pitas on it.  Put them in oven while oven is preheating, flipping after a few minutes, to crisp the pitas.

Cook refried beans in small pot.  I usually add some taco seasoning (add some, stir well, taste, and repeat until you're happy) and sometimes some chicken, if I have some already cooked that was left over from another dish.  But the chicken and the taco seasoning are optional!

Once beans are warm and bubbly, the pitas ought to be crisp.  Spread beans over pitas.  Put pico de gallo on top of beans.  The amount of salsa on each can vary, depending on how spicy you want your pizza to be.  Add cheese on top - as much as you would like!

Cook for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and everything is good and hot.

Take pizzas out of oven, and put on plates.  Top with shredded lettuce and sour cream.  My husband sometimes adds more salsa to his.

One of these is more than enough to fill you up, unlike the first recipe, so we wrap up the other two in foil and enjoy them the next day.

So there you have it - my two favorite, easy, pita pizza recipes!  I hope you enjoy!

The Sweet Spot

It is Sunday afternoon, and as I think back on the week, I realize that we have hit our sweet spot with our son.  I am sure there will be other sweet spots in his life, but this is a pretty great one.

He is seven, and I swear is growing every night in his sleep.

In looking for Christmas gifts for him, I was reminded again and again that he is no longer a little kid.

But he is still very loving and kind, and he still talks to his parents about what is going on in his life.

Hence, the sweet spot...

Old enough to dress himself, but not so old that he refuses to wear a coat to school.

Old enough to reason with, but not so old that he doesn't admit when Mom was right and thank me for it.

Old enough to help us rake leaves on a sunny Saturday, but not so old that he sees it as a chore, rather than a fun activity.

Old enough to play complex board games, but not so old he would rather play with his friends than his parents.

The perfect example this week: on Tuesday, he woke up with a cold and cough.  He didn't feel great on Tuesday, but woke up Wednesday feeling worse.  I debated about keeping him home from school, but he didn't have a fever, so I decided he didn't feel bad enough to justify missing school (by the way, I think this is the hardest part of being a parent, the choosing of what exactly is bad enough to stay home from school, and what just has to be endured).  But Wednesday night, I told him he had to take cold medication.

I will do a commercial for Mucinex Kids Multi-Symptom Cold, because that is our wonder drug for him.  It doesn't have any pain medication, but it decongests his nose, and has both the expectorant and cough suppressant.

My little guy HATES to take medicine.  In the past, we have had to hold him down and use a dosing syringe, squirting it at the inside of his cheek.  In the more recent past, I've held the dosing cup and "helped" him pour it in his mouth, and watched it dribble out the sides of his mouth and all over his PJs (argh).

This is a kid who doesn't like the taste of juice, or sugary/chewy candy with artificial flavors.  So the fact that the box advertises it is "Triple Berry Flavor" or "Bubble Gum Flavor" does nothing for him.

But this time, he picked up the cup, and drank it, without spilling it.  Then he went to bed.  I went into his room the next morning, and he greeted me with,

"Mom, I slept GREAT!  That medicine really helped."

Wow.

How great was that???  I felt like a superstar mom.  I went around all day telling people what he had said.

I know that in just a few years, he will not be as willing to acknowledge that his mom was right about something.  I know that probably by the end of the week, I will make a mistake, and he will be right there to tell me about it.

But for one shining moment, I was the mom who had gotten it right, and had the son singing my praises to prove it.

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken Fried Rice

I got busy this week, so my Recipe Wednesday has turned into Recipe Thursday.  But that's okay!

Any A Christmas Story fans out there?  Don't you love that they go eat Chinese food for Christmas dinner when the dogs eat the turkey?  Because, let's face it, turkey and all the fixings are good, but sometimes a good stir fry is even better.

This recipe for Chicken Fried Rice is amazing.  It really tastes as good as, or better than, restaurant versions.  The tricks are to use the right kind of rice, fresh veggies, and sriracha hot sauce to add a bit of a kick!  The recipe is from Southern Living, and will feed 6-8 people (depending on how hungry everyone is).  In our house, since my son won't eat it, we make 1/2 the recipe for two nights in a row.  It is not bad reheated, but tastes better if it is freshly made.

Chicken Fried Rice

3 TB vegetable oil, divided
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c diced onion (1 small onion)
3/4 c diced red (or green) bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces (thin are best, but any fresh beans will do - the thicker ones just need to cook awhile longer)
2 c chopped cooked chicken (I use rotisserie chicken as a time saver)
4 c cooked basmati rice
1/3 c soy sauce
2-3 tsp chili sauce (sriracha hot sauce)
sliced green onions and/or sliced almonds (toasted if you want), optional

Chop up veggies.  As you can see from the picture, this time I added some sliced mushrooms because I had them in the fridge.  I love mushrooms, so they were a great addition.

Cook the rice per package instructions.

Heat 1 TB oil in skillet over medium-high heat for one minute; add eggs and cook, gently stirring, 1-2 mins or until softly scrambled.  Remove eggs and chop.  Put aside.

Heat 2 TB oil in skillet; add onion, bell pepper and green beans, and stir fry 3-4 minutes (longer if you don't have thin green beans), or until crisp-tender.  How do you know they're ready? The onions will be slightly translucent, the green peppers will be softening, and the green beans will still be crunchy, but will be hot all the way through and taste good.

Add chicken, and stir fry 2 mins. Add rice, soy sauce, and chili sauce; stir fry 3-4 mins or until thoroughly heated and mixed together. (At this point, if we're not quite ready to eat yet, I will turn the burner on its lowest setting, and just let the stir fry sit, stirring occasionally.)

If you want green onions, slice them (I use both the white and green parts).  If you want almonds, either open the package and pour them into a small serving bowl, or get out a little skillet and toast them.  I am certain they taste better toasted, but it tastes great even without the toasting.  Or you can add neither of these things, and it will still be great!

Right before you're ready to serve, stir in egg.  Put on plates, or in a large bowl if you're serving it family style.  Add toppings on plates, or put toppings out for everyone to choose from.  We also put the soy sauce and sriracha hot sauce on the table, and add a bit of both to make the dish more tangy!

Here's what it looks like on your plate - yummy!

Food Wars

Before I had my son, I watched other parents fight the Food Wars.  They threatened, they bargained, they made separate meals.

And I said, that will never be me.  MY child will eat what is on the table, or not at all!

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Every young child realizes that one of the few things they can truly control is what goes in their mouths, and when.  Children are little dictators, and so they are completely willing to fight trying a new food (or even eating a food they used to like, but now have decided they despise).  Hence, the Food Wars.  But what we do as parents can either sustain that war, or defuse the situation.

The bottom line is that what works for one child might not work for another, even in the same family. You can spend your meal time fighting, or you can find a compromise that works.  And our compromise is probably more radical that most.

Yes, I make my son his own meal almost every night.  Actually, it is every third night or so, because I make enough to last for three nights.  So how did this happen?

In our case, there are some mitigating factors that not everyone sees, which is why I think it is important to share why we chose the path we did.

1. My son has Sensory Processing Disorder.  New foods mean new textures.  From an early age, certain foods have made him gag or choke.  He seems to be outgrowing this, but I as a parent need to understand that it is not just him exerting control when he doesn't want to try a new food.  That food may have a strange look, or smell, or feel, that makes his brain send out signals that say, "DANGER!"  Even if your child doesn't have sensory issues, they still might have an aversion to certain smells and tastes and textures.
   
2. He eats healthier than we do.  So what does he eat every night?  I cook a chicken breast in olive oil and a spice mix every third night (frozen breasts, individually wrapped from BJ's Warehouse, that are already trimmed).  I cook a steam-in-the-bag veggie mix that includes broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, or cook a can of carrots with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.  He also has eaten canned green beans and green peas in the past, but really prefers the steamed veggies.
   
3. The opposite side of the coin of #2 - what he doesn't like isn't exactly food I should be pushing him to eat on a regular basis.  He doesn't eat cheese, pasta, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza or any kind of dipping sauce.  He eats raw carrots by themselves.  Should I push him to dip them in fat-drenched dressings just to expand his food repertoire? And he doesn't like juice, either.  Should I make him drink juice, rather than the much more healthy water and milk he does consume?
   A few months ago, we were attending a sacraments workshop at church with our son, and the pastor was talking about communion.  He passed around the bread, and each kid took some bread.  Then he passed around the grape juice cups.  My son said, very politely, "No thank you," and passed the juice cups on.  Yes, my child is the only kid who takes communion without the juice.  But hey, at least he was polite!
   
4. Cheese may or may not give him migraines.  We are pretty sure he had migraines when he was a baby (6-18 months).  They stopped after we stopped giving him Zantac for acid reflux, but one migraine incident happened after he ate some cheddar cheese.  Cheddar cheese is a known trigger for migraines, so do you think I am EVER going to push my child to eat cheddar cheese?
   
5. My husband and I get to eat what we enjoy (at home, at least).  We are never worried that something we pick isn't going to be something he will eat.

But I admit, there are downfalls to this, too.  Eating out is a pain.  Most children's menus are almost entirely made up of food he doesn't eat - pizza, mac and cheese, cheese quesadillas, hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches.  The one thing he will eat are chicken fingers and fries, which is not the most healthy choice (not that any of the other choices are all that healthy, either).  And some restaurants plop down the most unappetizing chicken nuggets that obviously have come from a bag in the freezer.  That does not make us want to come back!

My husband and I love Mexican, Thai, Chinese and Italian foods.  Our little guy doesn't like rice (it chokes him), beans, pasta or spicy foods.  That pretty much rules out our favorite things that we would LOVE to share with him.  That is really frustrating as a parent!

My biggest concern is that I want him to be able to go to a sleepover at a friend's house and not have to pack his own dinner.  I do not want to ask friends to cook a special meal for him.  I want him to go to parties and choose to eat one slice of pizza or a few bites of a hamburger (even if it isn't what he would choose to eat otherwise).  I want him to to be able to go into any restaurant and find something that he will eat.

But I also have to recognize that trying new foods is truly a scary experience for him.  That doesn't mean that he should always avoid them, but rather that he needs to set the pace.  No one wins in the Food Wars if every meal is a battle.

And that is true for any family, regardless of whether your child has sensory issues, or is just a picky eater, or is stubborn as a mule (or all three).  If all your child will eat is mac and cheese, then sneak some veggies in there.  If they only like chicken nuggets, then tell them that the store is out and they get grilled chicken strips instead.  What worked for us was telling him we were going to Disney World, and that Disney didn't serve nuggets for dinner.  He tried baked chicken, and has eaten ever since.  I know The Greatest Place on Earth probably would have served him nuggets (even if it wasn't on the menu), but, hey, it worked, and I am not going to feel bad about that!

In general, I agree with the principle of putting food on the table (making sure there is at least one thing your children will eat) and saying, this is dinner, eat or don't eat, but we're not going to whine about it or cry, or argue.  If your child truly has issues (like mine) then you probably have to take a gentler approach, and introduce foods more slowly.  But any time that all of your energy is focused on a child who isn't eating, and not on your own plate, is a losing proposition.

I have been told by parents with older children that he will eventually outgrow some of the sensory issues that have plagued him.  I can really see progress in the last couple of years (he ate a bite of rice without gagging! He eats deviled eggs!  He ate the crust off the slice of pizza!), which gives me hope that one day, when he is a teenager eating me out of house and home, I will look back fondly on the days he had his own meal and left ours alone!

Recipe Wednesday - A Healthy, Yummy Salad!

My husband came to me on Sunday, and said he'd heard this great recipe on The Splendid Table for Farro-Chickpea Salad with Sunflower Seeds.  I tease him for listening to this show (and NPR in general).  It's not that I don't listen to NPR, but not with the same fervor as my husband.

However, we are always looking for new recipes to try, and we are fairly adventurous souls, so I said, sure!  We did have to substitute several items.  The original recipe says that farro is available in most Italian grocery stores.  Those are pretty scare in the small(ish) NC town I live in.  I also could not find ricotta salata, or sunflower oil.  Luckily, there are easy substitutes for all of these!  I took one bite, before the flavors had even had time to mix, and swooned.  I texted my husband immediately and told him he had picked a winner!

This recipe makes enough for a potluck supper, or a larger family than ours!  My son is not an adventurous eater; he actually eats much the same thing every night (and the fact that we make him a separate meal is a subject for another blog post in the future).  So it was just my husband and I, eating large servings for lunch and dinner. The next time I make it just for us, I will probably half the recipe.

So here's my lower-brow version of the salad.  The recipe's origins are below the recipe - I want to give credit where credit is due.

Barley-Chickpea Salad with Sunflower Seeds

• 2 cups pearled barley
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or one 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 small red onion, cut into small dice
• 1 cup (5 ounces) sunflower seeds, toasted (I used roasted sunflower seeds, so I didn't toast them again)
• 1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
• 2 cups (8 ounces) crumbled feta
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chiffonade of fresh basil or 1 TB dried basil
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the barley and 1 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover by 4 inches. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a serving bowl large enough to hold the remaining ingredients.  (I would make sure to get Pearled Barley, not Quick Cooking Barley. I think the quick cooking kind would get mushy, and you don't want mushy).

 

 2. While the barley is simmering, cook the asparagus in a pot of boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt for 2 minutes. Drain well, rinse in cold water, and add to the cooled barley.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  

 

4. Keep the salad at a cool room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature at least 1 hour before serving.

Excerpted from In A Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Copyright © 2014 by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. 

This would be a great side dish to bring to a holiday party or family dinner.  It tastes fresh, and a little tangy, but is not something that would overpower the main dishes.  Other than the cheese, it is even vegan!  Or you can be like us and enjoy it as a main dish.

My husband prefers his cold, straight from the fridge.  I like mine heated in the microwave! I served it with a toasted sunflower bread, but I think any crusty, strong bread would work.

Enjoy!