Recipe | Warm, Asian-Dressed Barley Salad

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2 cups cooked Barley
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1 small red onion - chopped
a couple tbsp vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup thai lime, chili cashews, chopped
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sriracha together in a bowl and set aside.

I used 10 minute barley and just made the whole package. Cook your barley according to package directions. You can either do this ahead of time and have it ready or you can cook your veggies and other components while you're waiting for the barley to cook. However, wait to cook your veggies until your barley is about half done if it's not quick cooking, other wise your veggies will get too soft and over cook and won't be delicious.

Anyway, set a large skillet to medium heat and add some extra virgin olive oil. Sweat the onions and peppers in there together for about 5-7 minutes. Add some salt and pepper. When they start to become translucent, add the fresh ginger and vegetable sauce. Stir to incorporate the ginger.

You can now add all of your frozen veggies, reduce the heat to simmer, cover with a lid, and wait until your barley is finished cooking. Add some more salt and pepper to this layer of veggies.

When your barley is done cooking, drain and add two cups of the cooked barley to your vegetables. introduce the sauce you made earlier and stir to combine everything. Taste for seasonings and add more salt and pepper is desired.

Top with your chopped thai, chili, lime cashews.

I served this as a side dish to just a veggie burger and it was quite filling. There was a load of leftovers so this would be a great dish to bring to a party or a picnic or something. It tastes great cold or room temperature, too!

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Recipe | Vegetable Stir Fry with Chili, Garlic, Ginger Sauce

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Makes 4 servings

a couple tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 1/2 cups water (optional)
1 cup brown rice (optional)
1 package of fake chicken pieces (I used the Gardein brand, you could use anything, really - tofu, seitan, even a couple sliced up veggie burgers if you wanted)
1 onion, sliced
2 bell peppers, sliced
3-4 carrots, julienned (I only had baby carrots, so you're looking for about a cup of chopped carrots)
3 handfuls of saute greens (my mix had baby spinach, baby kale, and baby swiss chard)
1 zucchini, cut in half and then sliced
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen or canned corn
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
3 tbsp raw agave
1 tsp chili garlic sauce (you can find this in the ethnic food section of your grocery store)
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE SAUCE:

Make this before you start cooking everything so the flavors have enough time to love each other and develop into a delicious sauce

Combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce, ginger, and agave in a bowl. Whisk to combine everything and set aside. The reduced sodium soy sauce is important because you don't want your dish to turn out too salty - you should be able to control the amount of salt that goes into your cooking.

FOR THE STIR FRY:

I served mine over rice, so if you plan on doing this as well, and your rice isn't quick-cooking, start on that before you cook the veggies. For long-grain brown rice it's typically 2 1/2 cups of water brought to a boil. Add 1 cup of rice to the boiling water, cover the bot, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 35-40 minutes.

Side note: You want all of your veggies to be roughly the same size, so what I did was after I sliced the carrots and peppers, I cut those slices in half, like so:

The onions and zucchini aren't that important because they get very pliable when they're cooked so bigger pieces don't usually pose as an issue.

While your rice is cooking, set a large skillet to medium heat with some extra virgin olive oil. Start browning off your pieces of fake chicken. This should take around 3-5 minutes on each side.

Once your protein is done browning on both sides, start cooking the carrots. Cook them first for a few minutes because they will take the longest to soften up. After about 3 or so minutes have passed, add the peppers and onions. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Once the carrots, onions, and peppers start softening up, add the zucchini and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add a little more salt and pepper but refrain from salting the dish again until the end of the cooking process.

Now you can add the frozen broccoli, corn, red pepper flakes, and the sauce you made earlier. Cover the pan and let everything simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Uncover and add the greens. Turn the heat off and work them in until they're all wilted down. The sauce probably adds enough salt for the remainder of the dish, but adjust any seasonings to your taste.

Serve over rice, lo mein/rice noodles, or just enjoy on its own!

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Recipe | Vegetable Lo Mein

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I made this dish for Chris and I one of the nights he came to visit for Valentine's Day last weekend, but I didn't get a chance to write it up until now because I've been swamped with schoolwork. It yielded it about 3 servings total. Here we go:

1 9oz packet of Chinese/Lo Mein style noodles
1 package of Gardein Mandarin Crispy Chik'n
1 carrot, julienned
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
Handful of Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Frozen Broccoli pieces (if you're using fresh broccoli, you could just use a small head)
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup soy sauce (preferably low sodium)
1/4 cup Hoi Sin sauce
2 tbsp Raw Blue Agave
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large skillet to medium heat. Add the chik'n pieces and 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan and start browning on both sides. This should take about 5 minutes on each side. While you're waiting for the chik'n pieces to cook, set a pot of water up to boil for the noodles. When the pieces are nice and brown, remove them from the pan and set aside.

The carrots will take the longest to cook up out of the veggies, so start cooking them in the Extra Virgin Olive Oil first. *Side note: to julienne something simply means to cut them into thin strips... like matchstick size and shape. Add a little bit of salt to the carrots, and after about 7 minutes or so they will begin to soften. Next, add the peppers and onions.

 Sautee for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften as well, and then add the mushrooms and broccoli. If you're using fresh broccoli, you might want to blanch the broccoli first because throwing raw broccoli into the dish will take longer to cook. Either that or you could just throw it in with the pepper and onions with a little bit of water, cover with a lid, and steam it for a few minutes before adding the mushrooms. Combine everything and cook together for about 5 minutes.

While the vegetables are all getting nice and cuddly with each other, mix the vegetable stock, soy sauce, hoi sin sauce, and agave in a separate bowl.

You're going to also want to cut up the chik'n pieces into smaller strips, so you can do that at this point too. Add the sauce mixture to the pan with the chik'n pieces, cover, and set the heat to simmer.

At this point you can add the noodles to the boiling water. It's important to read the cooking directions on the back of the package because they do not cook as long as regular pasta! Mine only took 3 minutes

When they're done cooking, add them to the pan, stir to combine, and enjoy! If you have some sesame seeds, you could toast them up in a dry pan and top the lo mein with them.

*** Refrain from salting after the carrots until the very end of the cooking. The soy sauce could be just enough salt for the dish. I didn't need to add any more salt when I made this, but it's all personal preference, so make sure you taste the finished product before you add more salt. ***

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