Small Market Cook: Salad

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Fruit & Walnut Barley Salad

Sorry it's been a while! I've have been cooking just as much as ever but I just can't seem to find the time for Blog posts... Until today! Cody and I have been trying to stick to the clean eating regimen and for the most part it's pretty dang simple. Except for those days when I simply MUST eat a Reese's PB cup. Anyway, here is a wonderful barley salad recipe that we made for dinner the other night and loved. Fresh and Easy was having a BOGO on Strawberries this week and in an effort to use them up, I added them to this salad. The result: DELISH.

Fresh & Easy Ingredients:

Fruit & Walnut Barley Salad

adapted from Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients
·         1 cup cooked barley
·         ¼ cup unsalted walnut pieces, chopped
·         ½ cup chopped peaches
·         ½ cup chopped strawberries
·         ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced
·         1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
·         2 tbsp fresh lime juice
·         ¼ cup 100% orange juice
·         ½ tsp chile powder
·         ¼ tsp sea salt
·         ¼ cup low-fat feta cheese
·         Fresh basil leaves finely sliced for garnish

Directions

Toss barley with walnuts, peach, strawberries, and bell pepper. Blend oil, lime juice, orange juice, chile powder and salt in a separate bowl. Pour juice mixture over barley mixture and mix well. Sprinkle feta and basil over top and serve.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Watermelon & Goat Cheese Salad

Happy Monday! This is my first April post and we actually have April showers here in Las Vegas. This weekend Cody & I met some good friends for dinner at Angelo Sosa's (of Top Chef fame) Poppy Den. We tried many of the small plates and were impressed with every dish. One dish that left me wanting more was their Watermelon Salad which was served with goat cheese and candied wassabi. It was fresh and delicious and I was craving it the next day so I whipped up a copy cat. I happened to be near a Trader Joe's this weekend so I purchased my ingredients from their small market! I love Trader Joe's but unfortunately there isn't one near my home, so shopping there regularly isn't really an option.

Here are my Trader Joe's ingredients:
Sliced Watermelon Spears, Goat Cheese, and cinnamon almonds (because candied wassabi wasn't available)

I cut 3 spears into cubes, placed in a shallow dish, crumbled approx. 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp goat cheese, and finely chopped 3 almonds on top. You could stop there and the salad is delish! BUT I reduced a couple tbsps of balsamic vinegar and drizzled over the top. Fresh herbs like mint, rosemary, or thyme would also pair up nicely with this salad.