Next to me is the September issue of Cooking Light. On the cover is a beautiful picture of pork chops braised with apples, rosemary, sage and red onion. Cooking Light is a good magazine with lots of healthy food ideas. Still, from the cover you might think that good eating is 90% meat and 10% aroma. At the same time, many healthy experts are recommending changing our diet to mostly vegetables and low glycemic load grains. Here is a simple idea for doing that.
Barley and Pear and Feta Green Salad.
1/3 C of pearl barley
The juice of one small lemon
1 T olive oil
½ C Feta crumbled
1 small pear per person peeled, cored and sliced
Your favorite Green Salad mix with extra grated carrots, shredded red cabbage and some onion (green, shallot or your choice)
Cook the pearl barley in boiling water with a pinch of salt for about 35 minutes until al dente. Drain and cool for 10 minutes then dress with the lemon juice and olive oil. When completely cool, add the Feta and chill in an air tight container. When you are ready to eat, peel, core and slice the pear; place your greens in a bowl or on a plate and top with a generous helping of barley mix and the sliced pear. Enjoy!
Barley is a great grain. It will reduce the glycemic load of almost any meal. Substituting barley for other grains is a great way reduce calories and if you need a more substantial meal, adding cooked red beans or any other legume can accomplish that easily. In fact, I did just that. I cooked up red beans for Red Beans and Rice. I used a great recipe from American Test Kitchen but I reduced the salt by 2/3 and doubled the chipotle in adobe sauce and adjusted the aromatic vegetables to my taste. But then I reimagined the rice to wild rice lightened up with cooked barley. White rice is lovely but it is very high in glycemic index and glycemic load. It digests quickly; spikes blood sugar; contributes to weight gain and leaves you hungry in a few hours. So I would encourage you to reimagine your favorite foods and don’t be afraid to change a recipe to make it better for you!
Ken Corliss, OD
Board Certified, ABO (253) 845-0585