Brussels Sprouts and Squash Barley with Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Food cravings can be unpredictable, but for me they’re a way of life. Often the cravings are for something understandable like chocolate, a salty snack, or even fruit. But for some odd reason this evening I craved barley. There was something about the nutty chewiness of this nutritious grain that I needed.

So, I decided to do a bit of experimenting to see if I could make a full meal based on barley. And… I did. And… it rocked!

The result was sort of a pilaf of barley with oven-roasted Brussels sprouts and winter squash. And then, from the suggestion of @LDGourmet on Twitter, I topped the whole thing with rosemary turkey meatballs to make for a complete and filling meal.

Brussels Sprouts and Squash Barley with Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Here’s the recipe:

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Bison-Barley Stuffed Pepper

You’ve got to be thinking, can’t Jackie go a week without using barley? I know I’ve used it a lot lately, but it’s just so good. And one small package makes SO much barley that it takes forever to use up. But the truth is, barley wasn’t the main inspiration for this dish. I really just wanted to make some type of stuffed pepper, and to use up the bison meat that’s been in the freezer since I bought it on a whim in January.

Why would I want to make a stuffed pepper in March, something I associate with summer eating? Primarily because I’ve been trying to eat more vegetables lately and thought this would be a great way to accomplish that. I’ve noticed I haven’t been getting anywhere near my recommended daily amounts, mainly because vegetables are so uninspiring this time of year. There are virtually no local vegetables available, and even the produce in the supermarket that’s been shipped in from Chile or somewhere seems a little fake.But I figured it’s time to suck it up and eat my veggies like a good girl.

This filling recipe for bison-barley stuffed peppers offers the perfect solution. It’s chock full of heart-healthy, nutritious ingredients such as spinach, barley, bison and the red peppers. There’s very little added fat and a lot of aromatic seasonings.

You’ve already “heard” me go on and on, and on, about the healthy values of barley, so this time I’ll focus on bison, a lean meat that tastes similar to beef. According to National Bison Association, bison is nutrient-dense, especially in iron and essential fatty acids, and is significantly lower in fat, calories and cholesterol than chicken.

The website says: “nutritionally you are getting more protein and nutrients with fewer calories and less fat. Buffalo is a dense meat that that tends to satisfy you more while eating less.”

Sounds like a winning ingredient to me.

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Beef and Barley Soup

Remember how excited I was to make my Grandma’s Junk a few weeks ago? Not only was the junk delicious, but it also piqued my interest in barley as a superfood and got me thinking about other ways to use this incredibly nutritious grain.

Enter beef and barley soup. This was simple to make, again a one-pot dish, and was so incredibly filling with all the vegetables and barley that it could easily be dinner all on its own.

Look how hearty the soup is!

The recipe is pretty basic: sweat the vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, mushroom) in a bit of olive oil. Add diced beef, then barley, broth and seasonings, and let simmer. But there’s a suprise ingredient that elevates this version over all others by adding tremendous depth of flavor: soy sauce. It may sound like a strange choice for a classic soup but you’ve got to trust me on this, it works.

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The idea for this post came from my mom after she read an article online about the new superfoods, one of which was barley. Next thing you know, she’s reminiscing about something called junk that my grandmother often served around the time my parents were first married (this was my dad’s mom).

After an extensive search through her recipe file – you know, the boxes filled with index cards – my mom finally found Grandma’s recipe for junk, which is basically pearled barley toasted and then baked with sweated sweet onions. The original recipe called for margarine, a popular ingredient in the late 70s, but my mom substituted heart-healthy extra-virgin olive oil in the revised recipe.

According to the article from MSN Health, barley is “full of soluble beta-glucan fiber” which can lower bad cholesterol and decrease blood sugar and insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Basically, it has lots of dietary fiber and protein.

Looks like Grandma was way ahead of her time, although I can’t quite figure out why she called it junk. Here’s her recipe for the addictive, sweetly nutty, brilliantly textured junk:

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