Not Your Parents' Granola

I’ve been all about adding cooked grains to my salads lately to bulk them out a bit. Kamut is my usual favorite (see balsamic chickpea kamut salad, orange beet and almond salad), but my stocks were low, so I decided to try something with barley instead.

I had also been planning on trying out making tofu feta for a while so I decided to make a barley greek salad! I was never a feta fan, even when I ate cheese, but I did like the tofu feta. It does still taste like tofu though, so I probably wouldn’t serve this to tofu-phobic omnivores. I made the feta on Saturday so that it nice and marinated when I put the salad together on Sunday night. I use Soyarie brand tofu. Their tofu is made in Quebec using organic soybeans from Ontario and Quebec, so it’s a great local food option! I used the tofu as is and it was quite soft, you could freeze and thaw it first if you are looking for a firmer texture.

You can serve this on its own or over romaine lettuce.

This salad came together to be much better than I was expecting. Everything just worked. Dave was pretty sceptical – barley? tofu? – and even he loved it.

Tofu Feta (Adapted from this recipe)
1 package firm tofu (I use Soyarie)
¾ cup water
¼ cup miso
2 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tbs white vinegar
1 clove garlic

Drain as must water as you can out of the tofu. Slice the tofu, wrap it in a tea towel, and place something heavy on top of it. Let it drain for at least 20 minutes or as long as 2 hours. Blend together all other remaining ingredients.  Dice the pressed tofu into 1 cm cubes. Put the tofu cubes in a container (preferably one with a lid) and cover with the marinade mixture. Shake it up and put it in the fridge. Shake it up every so often when you happen to be near the fridge.

Greek Salad
½ cup barley, uncooked
2 green bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 can sliced black olives
1 pint grape tomatoes (or any kind of tomatoes you like)

Cook the barley in 1 ½ cup water for 50-60 minutes; drain and cool. Mix together the barley, remaining ingredients and marinated tofu in a large bowl.

Dressing
1 ½ tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried oregeno
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together and pour over salad.

This recipe was submitted to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend.

Happy Easter and Passover everyone! I don’t have any Easter goodies for you but I do have a healthy lunch recipe that you may want for next week if you eat a bit too much chocolate this weekend.

I am so in love with this lunch right now. We pretty much always eat the same thing for lunch everyday and often, once Friday rolls around, I’m a little tired of it. But that was not the case this week! This salad is filling enough to count as a meal and there is just something about the juicy oranges, roasted (local) beets, chewy kamut and crunchy roasted almonds that is simply irresistible. This is definitely going to be joining our regular lunch rotation.

Kamut is a grain closely related to wheat and you cook it just like rice. I absolutely love it on salads! If you don’t have kamut, wheat or spelt berries or wild rice would make a good substitution.

I didn’t find that it needed any dressing but if you must have some, I bet this maple balsamic one will go nicely.

Orange and Beet Salad (makes 5 lunch sized salads)

2 large heads romaine or leaf lettuce
1-2 lbs beets
1 ½ cup raw whole almonds
1 – 1 ½ cups uncooked kamut
5 navel oranges

On the weekend, wash and chop the lettuce, roast the beets (I didn’t use any oil), toast the almonds and cook the kamut. Once the almonds are cool, transfer to them to a food processor and pulse a few times to chop them up. Put your salad togehter each morning and top with orange pieces.