We got our first snow of the season last night, and woke up to find the backyard a winter wonderland.

I mentioned to Jason this morning how excited I was that we got snow and it’s not even cold here!  He said, “Only someone from Minnesota would think that 23 degrees is warm!” I bet a few of you on both ends of the temperature spectrum would agree with that (hello readers in FL or MN!).  It’s amazing how 23 degrees does not feel THAT cold after surviving a few -15 degree Minnesota winters.

We also agreed that the snow meant that it is officially almost Christmastime.  Because snow is a necessity for Christmas.  I’m sure of it.

The dogs were nervous about it last night, but seem to approve today.  And my carpets are thanking them for that.

My carpets are also thankful for a little package that I received yesterday.  One that I went outside to grab, only to discover that Barley had jumped up on the door, slamming it shut and locking me out.  In my pjs.  With no cell phone.  The Fed Ex man was there, too, and was nice enough to let me borrow his cell to call Jason.  But Jason had left his phone in the bedroom when he left for work yesterday morning.  So I got all MacGyver on it and ended up breaking into my living room window in slippers and a bathrobe.  Thank goodness my neighbors live far enough away that they didn’t have to witness that less-than-glorious sight.  Sigh.

Anyways.  The package.  Black & Decker sent me a vacuum to try out, just in time for some pre-party cleaning.  So if you’re looking for me today, I’ll be singing along to Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas” and getting ready for tomorrow’s holiday party!  Can’t wait!

Swift has just done his first job on the farm. About ten days ago I rode out over two separate days for short rides and at a ridden walk quietly moved some sheep around the fields. He seemed to like this which I found encouraging.

Since then over the last week he has been spotted from the house playing games by moving the two sheep who share his grazing around by walking, and occasionally trotting  after them, making faces and generally calling the shots.

This week, I had to pick out a lamb to send tomorrow for an order for a restaurant for next week. As we still have no useful sheepdog I decided it was time to see if Swift and I could get quietly gather them to the gate to save time and effort.  We went through the three fields to the far end to collect any stragglers and found a ram, on his own. Luckily for me the ram was more scared of us and after turning once to look at me and stamping his foot he scarpered off to find his ladies. So we gathered up the little group of stragglers and set off across the next empty field.

Swift gave a little squeal and mini jump half way across this field and I carefully calmed him back down not wanting him to do a bronc act or anything remotely risky. He settled once more and we very gradually at a sedate walking pace pushed all the sheep to the gate and then I rang Jethro [ the wonders of mobiles] to say time for reinforcements please and the gate to be opened.

At just the wrong moment a power walker, talking loudly on a mobile phone, went past the gate scattering the sheep and making them run, completely in the wrong direction. By this point, in order to save the day and actually get the sheep in, I decided I would risk a trot so we set off in pursuit of the scrambling sheep. I was very aware that a canter would be better from a strategic point of view but I am not yet too sure of our brakes [with the Dually halter]  and I did not want to set off any sudden hi-jinks from Swift. Anyway at a steady trot we managed to get behind the sheep, turn them and bring them back to the gate.

Once on the road we had to trot down the lane to turn an escapee while avoiding the van that had also stopped. After this final dash I jumped off and led him from the ground to push the last few lambs in. Jethro was flapping his coat and everyone else was shouting and I felt that Swift had done really well and we needed to end on a good note.

We will see if he continues to play games with the sheep out in his field. He knows he can easily move the cow so we need to build his confidence with larger groups of cattle. He has got quite used to the cattle in the sheds, and even accepted the  calves who were weaned from their mothers only 48 hours ago and despite eating barley and silage are still mooing for their Mums.

Barley is one of those grains you don’t think about a lot, but actually has good nutritional value. Barley has fiber and flavor. Great for someone watching carbs, like me. This dish isn’t pretty or glamorous, but it’s still a family favorite.

1-2 T olive oil (or butter if desired)

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 C barley, rinsed and drained

3 C stock (chicken, beef or vegetable, low sodium if desired)

Salt to taste, approximately ¼ t

White pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a medium frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the celery and onion. Saute until the onion is translucent. Place vegetables in a 3-quart covered pyrex casserole. Using the same frying pan, toast the barley and add to the vegetables. Into the covered casserole, add the stock. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Stir all ingredients to mix.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until liquid is absorbed by the barley. Fluff and stir to mix all the ingredients. Serve hot.

(Note: To reheat leftovers, add ½ C stock and place in covered casserole in 350°F oven until liquid is absorbed, approximately 30 minutes.)

The bellringers of Barley now have their own website. If you would like to learn to ring or if you are a visiting ringer, why not visit the site to find out more.

Todd Reckamp, of Ambler, spent his entire Saturday morning and afternoon drinking beer while brewing beer.
Reckamp, 26, has been brewing his own beer for 4 years now, and it has become his favorite hobby. “It’s just an awesome thing to do,” said Todd. “Oh, and please call me Tater-Todd,” he added. “It’s the coolest nickname I have ever heard.”
Tater-Todd enjoys mixing the flavors and barley/hop ratio, but it is nothing to be taken lightly. “It’s an art,” he told us. “For instance, I have to plan in advance what beer I am going to be tasting while I brew my batch for the 2nd week after that.”
Confused? Tater-Todd explains. “Ok: if I am going to be making a pilsner on the 28th, I have to make a beer on the 14th that will accomodate the flavor, most likely a stout; it’s the perfect beer to drink while brewing a pilsner. Ironically though, a pilsner is not a good beer to drink while brewing a stout. It’s confusing, and takes a lot of practice to get it right.”
Practice is right! Tater-Todd has been unable to make any weekend plans with friends due to his hectic brewing schedule. “Somebody suggested that I have my friends over to share in the brewing process, but I think they would just drink the beer to get drunk, and not appreciate the flavor that it brings to the pallet while stirring the bags of barley for the next batch.”

Good morning!  As I’ve mentioned before, my breakfasts usually consist of one of two things: cereal with banana, or oatmeal with banana.  What can I say?  I like trying new things for lunch and dinner, but for breakfast, I’m perfectly content having the same old, same old. 

BUT…I promised that if I tried something different, new, and exciting, I would post it on the blog, so allow me to introduce…the barley pancake!

We had a lot of leftover barley from our dinner last night, so I decided to utilize it in breakfast today.  Kath used to make oatmeal pancakes for breakfast a lot on her blog, which I never tried, but I imagine this is somewhat similar. 

Into my pancake went:

1/3 cup barley

1/4 cup pancake mix

1/3 cup almond milk

1 tsp. ground flax

1 tsp. chia seeds

The line-up:

I mixed all this together and let it hang out for a while so that the chia seeds geled and most of the liquid was absorbed.  Then, into a skillet it went!  I sprayed the skillet with cooking spray just to be sure that it didn’t stick.

Here it is, upon being poured:

The mixture was quite thick, and needed to be flattened down a bit with a spoon.  Then, just like with a pancake, I let it cook until the top began to bubble and I could easily slide the pancake around on the pan.  You should be able to loosen it and shift it around on the pan when you’re ready to flip.  Mine was ready after about 4-5 minutes.

Flipped:

Yum!  Once the other side was cooked (errrr…a little overcooked!), I topped it with pomegranate and maple syrup.  I think almond butter would also be delightful on this bad boy!

I mentioned this last night, but what I really love about barley is the chew.  It has even more chew than wheatberries (which are also delicious).  This pancake was definitely more dense than a traditional pancake– but that’s what I liked about it!  It kind of reminded me of calas, a New Orleans specialty.  Calas are basically sweet rice fritters that are deep fried and topped with powdered sugar (kind of like a beignet, but the rice makes them chewier).  My parents made them for us once or twice for a special breakfast treat.  Obviously this pancake is much healthier than a rice fritter, but the texture and flavor is definitely reminiscent, especially with the sweetness of the maple syrup.

And speaking of healthy…last night, I told you some fun facts about barley, but here are some about flax and chia seeds as well.

Did you know that flax…

• fights cholesterol
• fights diabetes
• fights cancer
• fights constipation
• fights inflammation
• fights menopausal symptoms
• fights heart disease
• aids your immune system

Read more about the benefits of flax here and here.

And did you know that chia seeds are high in…

• Omega-3 fatty acids
• protein
• fiber
• antioxidants
• B vitamins
• Boron
• calcium

You can read more about the benefits of this little seed here and here.  

Whew!  Talk about a healthy pancake!

I hope your morning goes well.  I have a pile of 50 freshman English papers that I’ll be wading through all day…bleh.  See you for lunch.  Have a great day!

The Best Casserole Book Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas

Reviewed by Chris Garbutt

The cover of this book goes against the usual “food porn” type – you know what I’m talking about. Photos on most cookbooks or food magazines are designed to make you slobber lustily after a perfectly staged dish. Here, we see a casserole almost empty, giving the feel of a meal well enjoyed.

It worked on me. My memories of casseroles are not pleasant. In my childhood, they were mushy excuses to get rid of leftovers – throw them all in a pot, maybe with some canned tomato soup or chicken broth, and bake. Ugh – I can still taste the canned peas and nearly dissolved carrots.

Times have changed. Beatrice Ojankangas defines casseroles as broadly as imaginable. I never really thought about it, but I guess a casserole is any meal cooked all in one dish. Here’s the Wikipedia entry.

I’m going to have to jettison my stereotypes. How about a Swedish Lingonberry Pancake Casserole? Or a Black Bean Tortilla?  This is not your mother’s casserole cookbook. The book brags more than 500 recipes, which means you could have a different comfort dish every day for the entire winter, and that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner (and dessert!).

For some reason I was attracted to the vegetarian chapter. I considered the Spiced Brown Rice and Vegetables, or the Black Bean and Red Pepper Casserole before finally settling on the Barley and Mushroom Casserole. There was little prep, and the joy of the casserole is that once its in the oven, you can go off and do other things while it bakes. The flavour of the mushrooms got a boost from homemade chicken stock (the recipe calls for vegetable stock, so it’s veggie-friendly), and a touch of white truffle oil, which I’d bought for another dish last week. And if you haven’t tried truffle oil, do it. It costs $10-20 a bottle, but a few drops will fill your mouth, and it’s amazing with mushroom dishes, or if you need to liven up a chicken breast or piece of fish.

It took a little longer than expected – either too much stock or not enough barley, so the liquid didn’t absorb the way I had hoped. But well worth the wait.

Comfort food is my default. If I’m stuck for what to cook, it’s usually a soup, stew, chili or maybe a roast chicken. But because of my particular past, casseroles were never on my radar. That has all changed.

I crack myself up.

How is your night going?  Mine is going well!  Another round of classes down…3 more to go! 

Between teaching my classes, I snacked on some Delta Biscoff cookies that I snagged on our plane ride home last weekend.  Yum!  I love those things.  Plus, I’m pretty sure Delta is the ONLY airline that still gives you any sort of a snack. 

When I got home, I was HAUNGRY, so we got to work on dinner right away.  This recipe kind of came out of nowhere, but it was really good!  Spontaneous recipes that work out well are the best! 

Barley with Mushrooms

1 cup Barley

1 tsp. olive oil

1/3 cup onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1 cup fresh spinach

1/4 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

In saucepan, combine 1 cup of uncooked barley with 3 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.  Let cook for 40 minutes to an hour, until liquid has been absorbed. 

While barley is cooking, heat olive oil in a sautee pan and add onion and garlic.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until they have begun to soften.  Add mushrooms and cook for another five minutes, until mushrooms have begun to brown and reduce.  Add spinach and cook down.  Add broth to deglaze the pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve immediately over hot barley, topping with chopped parsley and 2-3 tbsp. of cheese.

Here are some pics of the process:

The mushrooms, onions, and garlic, at the beginning of the cooking process:

And again, after it’s all been cooked down, with the spinach:

The barley, ready to go after about 40 minutes on the stove:

Plated up and lookin’ good:

After digging in:

Delicious!  It kind of reminded me of risotto, but the barley is chewier, with a denser texture than arborio rice.  I think you could definitely make it even more risotto-esque by stirring the cheese directly into the barley, rather than sprinkling it on top. 

And did you know…

•  The United Nations uses barley as a relief food for those in famine-stricken countries because of its ability to support human life better than any other single food.
• In ancient Rome, barley was used as food for gladiators and was a staple for the Roman army.
• Barley transforms into a gel in the GI tract, slowing its passage through the body, which in turn allows maximum nutrient absorption.
• It also stabilizes glucose levels and is great for use by diabetics.
• Barley is can help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, control hunger,  and boost the immune system.
• Barley is rich in soluble fiber.

Pretty cool stuff!

Hope you have a great night!

I used to romanticize rustic prairie life in my early childhood, courtesy of the Little House on the Prairie series. I imagined they ate whole loafs of hearty raisin wheat bread, dipping hunks into their rabbit stew (the rabbit supplied by Pa and his handy hunting dog, Jack!) and wrapping the rest in cheesecloth to save for breakfast.

I bet it wasn’t really that awesome, living in the untamed wilderness. But it’s fun to pretend.

My mushroom barley soup. So phenomenal, after months of Leo’s canned wonderment.

Tuscan seafood soup – with chunks of the famous Baltimore crab!

Half of Daniel’s sandwich – two kinds of meats, piles of lettuce, bell pepper, and a kind of garnish on the bottom, including pickles and fresh crushed pepper and some kind of vinaigrette.

Clearly, modernity comes with its own perks.

I have eaten this twice, once a few hours after breakfast and now for lunch!

Lentils, Barley, 99% fat free, ground turkey, bottle of water and a Grande Coffee from Starbucks:

We got to the top, and there was nothing to see.

And yet in a completely white world, there was plenty.  After spending about 10 minutes in blinding whiteness I concluded that I’m really quite happy I never settled on “Arctic Exlorer” as a career path.

We thought we were supposed to be following the red blazes, which took us tromping off willynilly into the forest.  Multiple times they would just *poof* disappear.  But the baby blue blazes, they looked solid and dependable, so we decided to follow them.

And they took us to the top.  Up through the ancient, breathing, dripping rain forest and out into the wide white world, 2,200 feet above where we started.

It’s amazing how much color there is left in a world that, at the back of your brain you would consider colorless; one that is completely fogged in, one that is “dormant.”

On the way back down we trees covered in mushrooms and a tree that could comfortably fit us both,  a tree with roots like an eagles’ talons, boulders flocked in velvet.

We never found He-Man, but for about four hours, we found a nice little respite from the real world.

More on Greylock here.

And in case you need to know what to eat after a seven mile hike, I highly recommend the Pork Roast with Mustard recipe from French Feasts along with a salad made with the outstanding dill dressing from The Veselka Cookbook, both mentioned in this post. The pork roast recipe ended up making far too much sauce.  I froze it and pulled it out this past Sunday and used it as  a gorgeous base for a turkey “paprikash” made with Thanksgiving leftovers and served over noodles.

As a side to the pork, I cobbled together my version of “egg barley.”  There’s a place in our neighborhood that serves the “barley,” which kind of resemble spätzle, with sauteed mushrooms.  But in my version, I used barley, cooked risotto style with mushroom stock and sauteed mushrooms with lots and lots of cheese melted in at the end.  And then, to fully complete the conceit of the name, we ate the leftovers for breakfast, cooked up fluffy with scrambled eggs. Delicious!

It is a truism that we are what we eat., and how disturbing is that thought to you? Consider what the average person digests each day and then remember the truism. Scarey!
Barley is a prduct that has been around for many centuries. As far back as 10,000 BC people ate it as a porridge. Barley is great in that not only do you eat the husks, you can use the rest of the plant for weaving. So this multipurpose product has been popular for a very long time.
Barley is currently the world’s fourth most important crop and an important staple in many countries. And not surprisingly so. Nutritional data for cooked barley is quite encouraging. Energy wise a cup of cooked pearled barley contains 193 calories, while the whole-grain (hulled) form contains 270 calories and contains as much protein as a cup (237 ml) of milk. The protein content for pearled Barley is 4 grams; the whole-grain has 7 grams. The pearled carries 44 grams of carbohydrates; the whole-grain has 59 grams. Weighing in on the dietary fiber, pearled barley has 9 grams while the whole-grain ranks higher with 14 grams. Barley is an excellent source of soluble fiber helpful in lowering cholesterol and in preventing constipation.
The all-important minerals calcium, potassium, and phosphorous also find higher figures in the whole grain variety. The pearled form has 17 mg calcium, the whole-grain 26 mg. Phosphorous scores for the pearled barley show 85 mg with the whole-grain at 230 mg. Potassium content for the pearled form is 246 mg while the whole grain has 230 mg.
Recently research and development has led to even more benefits from barley.
BARLEYmax™ is a high fibre wholegrain barley with resistant starch. It is a natural wholegrain with enhanced nutritional benefits, containing twice the dietary fibre of regular grains, four times the resistant starch and has a low GI.

barley

barleymax

barleymax

The author is well travelled, having grown up with parents that refused to settle in one place. He is interested in Psychology, IT, and anything that will help him battle with his recently diagnosed diabetes. This led him to research healthy foods and led him to Barley. He has a BSc in Psychology and is also very interested in human and animal behavior.

Dan made a stew that I would typically not like because I never really like lamb, I kind of think it usually tastes like feet, but he got it from this great place at our farmer’s market called Mint Creek farm, so I was committed to giving it a shot. He still won’t eat mushrooms, but whatevz, I guess I’m just more apt to push myself out of my comfort zone than he is. Anyway, this stew kicked ass. I really enjoyed the lamb, and am a big fan of tiny potatoes and tiny brussels sprouts in a stew. Here’s what he did. Based on this one whole foods recipe.:

2 pounds lamb stew meat, cut into cubes
Sea salt and ground pepper
flour for dredging
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup Summit Winter Ale (or other wintery dark beer)
1 1/2 cups chopped whatever onion
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 tiny cute potatoes the size of my thumb
1 1/2 cups Brussels sprouts, small or mini, we got some from the farmer’s market and it came on a stalk
2 tablespoons thyme leaves (leave them on the branch so you can yank them out)

Season the lamb chunks with salt and pepper and drag them through the flour so that there is a nice coating on them. Add some olive oil to the Dutch oven and brown your lamby chunks on all sides, then toss them in a bowl. Snack on a few while you’re waiting for the others to cook.

Deglaze the pan with the whole beer and reduce it by half. Add this mixture beery delight to the bowl of meat and let it sit.

Now that your dutch oven is empty again, add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil. Over high heat, add onions, celery and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. After about 3 or 4 minutes, add garlic and allow vegetables to soften slightly.
Add beef mixture back to pan along with beef broth and return to a boil. Cover with a lid. Simmer for 45 minutes or so.

Add the brussels sprouts and potatoes and simmer for 45 more minutes. Keep checking on those brussels sprouts though, because if you let them cook to long, they’ll smell like farts. Stick them with a fork every once in a while to check their tenderness. Nobody likes farty sprouts.

Don’t forget to make some barley. It’s 2.5-3 cups of water per cup of barley, cook for about 35 minutes.

On the second Saturday in November I stood atop Winslow Hill and imagined myself as an autumn leaf, vulnerable, light as a feather, about to be blown away into yonder.  With hurricane force winds blasting in from the sea, the whole of Bowleaze Cove was a bubbling mass of white water.  As I tried to photograph the scene, with just a fraction of zoom lens protruding, my camera bucked and weaved like a rebellious stallion while the wind and the rain took its revenge on me.

Later that day I went to worship once again at the awesome reality of Chesil Beach in a force 10 when the waves provide the thunder and the spray the lightning.  Behind me the valley was brimming with rain and hunkering down for the worst storm of the year.

Three days later and I’m strolling due south across the centre of the valley.  The dogs are hunting and quartering in front of me.  On my left the deep shadows are playing games in amongst the strip lynchets.  On my right a wondrous and idyllic tableau is formed by the White Horse and a field full of sheep.  Underfoot is sticky and soggy as the rainwater drains down from the hill.  Ahead of me the A353 snakes across the lip of the valley and I wonder when the next motorcyclist will be severely injured up there.  It happens on a fortnightly basis and what does the Highway Authority do?  Absolutely nothing of course.  Dorset County Council sits on its fat, collective, complacent backside while young people are grotesquely mutilated on dangerous roads.  It is nothing short of blatant, inexcusable negligence.

So while the valley is a cure for many of the stresses and strains of everyday life, it is not apart from them.  In fact, I make a plea to all driving south down the A353 to look left towards the sea.  Paradise Valley is far too distracting.

Up on the hill, the yellow gorse flowers are back and I’m marvelling again at the hardiness of the sheep.  When Capone, Carla and I go up there for an hour and a half we come back and spend the rest of the day in heated shelter.  Recently, we’ve had as long a spell of consistently high winds as I can remember.  I hate to think what it must be like for those sheep at 3 o’clock in the morning!

In an hurrah to the height of the pheasant season, this morning Carla demonstrated the superiority of her nose and hunting skills.

We climbed up and over the hump that sits on the northern shoulder of White Horse Hill.  Coming down the far side is a favourite place for deer but Carla hunted high and low to no avail.

Out into the main field where the stubbl;e is thick from the last crop of barley and suddenly she’s put up a hen pheasant, fluttering back up to the hump.  Then there are three breaking from cover, another back up the hump and two curling round towards me.  The third is rising, screaming, soaring as I swing right through it and see a clear 20 feet of lead before I pull the trigger.

Another is up quartering me from right to left, accelerating and rising, actually beneath me due to the lie of the land but tumbled cleanly out of the air as another pair break right and the last one falls to my second barrel.  Carla looks bright, fulfilled and chuffed to bits.

Of course no dogs, birds or people were injured in the making of this film that plays only on the ultimate high definition, widescreen inside your head.  Everything except the birds and the dog were imaginary!

It’s true, the baking bug hit me again this evening. But you’ll just have to read through this post to see my latest kitchen creation. I`m such a tease

I started off my morning intent on featuring something I cooked up last night – Pumpkin Butter!

I used this recipe, only switching out the water for some unsweetened applesauce, and adding a glug of maple syrup, since I was a little short on the brown sugar needed. I cooked it on the stove top on medium-low heat, and it took FOREVER to cook to a nice, spreadable consistency.

What better way to feature this delight than on a bowl of piping hot oatmeal!

I whipped up a pretty basic oatmeal combination that I knew would compliment the pumpkin butter nicely.

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter drizzle
• blob of homemade pumpkin butter
• end of a bag of chocolate chips

Gratuitous close-ups!

With a glass of refreshingly tart cranberry pomegranate juice.

Although it lacks the exact consistency of Trader Joe’s famous Pumpkin Butter, it was still delicious. I’m hoping it will keep, otherwise I’ll be eating it by the spoonful so it doesn’t go bad!

I had a little extra time to enjoy my morning, since I didn’t need to pack a lunch. I was participating in a focus group on the new common study area in our faculty building, to see what students like about it, and what could be improved. To bribe us poor students into giving up an hour of our time, we were fed lunch. Yay!

Of course, I usually eat lunch after my first class, around 11:30 am, so I knew I’d be eat my arm off hungry by the time the focus group rolled around at 1:00 pm. I was a thinker, and packed a snack.

One of my Apple Carrot Raisin Oatmeal Muffins, and a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar (just in case the lunch was totally unacceptable – gotta be prepared). And somehow that bottle of caffeine gold made it into my bag. I have no idea how that could have happened.

Fortunately, I didn’t need the Larabar, as they served up some really nice pizza – it was on thin, whole wheat crust, and had some fun toppings, like the chipotle chicken with corn, peppers and onions (love! must put corn on pizza now), a vegetarian one, and a steak, pepper, onion one. I definitely had no fear of starving.

I met up with one of my group members during our normal class time, and we hammered out an outline for our group paper, and assigned sections to the rest of the group (who were out at their schools). Here’s hoping it all goes smooth – we have all been given extensions into the first week of exams, since so many groups were having troubles contacting their schools to do their surveys. No excuse now to not get it done, and done well.

I was able to make my way home early, which was excellent (who doesn’t like getting home early). I had the pleasure of listening to these two flamboyantly gay guys behind me on the bus, one of which I think either wanted to model, was a model, or was obsessed with models. They talked the entire time about how they didn’t want to get fat, and how one guy only ate salad, maybe with a piece of bread, but didn’t like to have too much protien, etc, etc, and then went on to talk about how they needed plastic surgery to have better cheekbones, yadda, yadda. I kid you not. It took all my willpower to not turn around and just go WTF? Seriously….I just…I had no words. And it made me sad – even these guys are completely obsessed with weight and thinness and appearance. Sigh.

I came home to the smells of homemade soup. Yum! It was split pea with ham.

Mom also baked up some cornbread muffins – they were buttery and slight sweet. Delicious.

I filled out my plate with a few carrot sticks and hummus.

I did some work on our group project (fun with Google Maps!), and then the baking bug bit again. This time, I knew exactly what I needed to make.

I made the ever popular…

It’s true, I finally got around to trying out these blog favourites. I don’t know what kept me from doing so for so long – it’s not like there is anything on the ingredient list I wouldn’t normally have in the house.

The results:

I must have made slightly smaller cookies than the recipe called for, since I got 18, and the recipe said 11 – 12 cookies. Bite sized are more fun! I probably could have gotten 19, but, ya know…I may have done some dough tasting. Tee hee.

Is there any doubt I needed to try one out for an evening snack?

I had one Super Charge Me Cookie, and another fantastic cornbread muffin, that I “iced” with some pumpkin butter.

These cookies are little bites of joy. I’m a big fan of the peanut butter/maple syrup flavour combination. Plus they have chocolate and coconut – two of my favourite things! I think if I made them again, I’ll have to double the recipe. With 4 people living in this house, they will be gone in no time.

Alrighty boys and girls – this blogger needs to get some shuteye. Night!

I don’t think I have ever cooked with barley before. Barley is….very chewy. Not sure if I love it or not. Anywho, this soup was ok. I didn’t love it. I told Toby it didn’t knock my socks off. I used matchstick carrots instead of rounds, and I used vegetarian “chicken” broth.  With this we had a salad and some bread. Eh.

rating: 5
Quick Mushroom-Barley Soup
(from www.allyou.com)

Grains are loaded with fiber and nutrients, such as selenium, potassium and magnesium.  High-fiber foods help you feel full longer and slow the body’s absorption of sugars which can help stabilize blood sugar levels.  High-fiber diets have also been linked to cardiovascular health.

Add grains to your diet by choosing whole grain pastas, breads and cereals.  Or, try one of these as a side dish or salad:  amaranth, barley, bulgar, buckwheat, kamut, quinoa, wheat berries, and brown and wild rice.  Find grains in the natural foods section of your market.