Kale Barley Salad with Feta and a Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette (Video)

Kale Barley Salad with Feta and a Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette (Video)

This kale barley salad has it all: crunchy sunflower seeds, creamy avocado, salty feta cheese, chickpeas and red onions, and is tossed in a tangy honey and lemon vinaigrette. Perfect for a week-day lunch!

Recipe updated 09/26/2017 to include instructions for using this recipe as a meal prep lunch.

I know that it has already been ‘back to school’ for most kids, but it’s about to be ‘back to school’ for me!

Except that my school is more like work. It doesn’t end at 3, that’s for sure. There were often long days, homework and work on week-ends. That’s because I’m doing my PhD.

I am 4 and a half years in {!}, meaning that I am hopefully within a year of finishing. There are definitely things that need to happen in this year, the least of which is writing my thesis {!!} and having my defense {!!!}. Then you have to call me doctor, or I won’t answer you

So yes…It’s time to roll up my sleeves, dust off my brain, and say hi to science again.

Besides saying good-bye to my {somewhat} relaxing morning routine with Kai, I am going to have to start packing a lunch again! And as much as I like peanut butter, PB sandwiches are a bit depressing.

That’s how this kale barley salad was inspired. It is healthy, convenient, packed with goodies. It will keep in your fridge for a few days {minus the avocado} so you can prep up a big batch and eat it for several days.

My favorite part about this kale barley salad {besides the flavor!} is the different textures. Are you a texture eater? I am! This salad has the leafy kale, creamy avocado, crunchy sunflower seeds, smooth, chewy barley. I love all the contrasting textures.

The base of the salad is kale. Maybe you are on the kale bandwagon, maybe not. I have found that the secret to eating raw kale salads is to marinate your kale in the dressing for at least 30 minutes before eating it. It also helps to give it a bit of a massage when you wash it.

I added pearl barley to the salad to give it some ‘staying power’. I hate it when I eat my lunch and am hungry an hour later! Plus I absolutely adore the texture of the pearl barley….so smooth and chewy and slightly nutty in flavor.

To add some protein to this kale barley salad, I threw in some chickpeas, feta and sunflower seeds. We ate this salad for dinner one night and Ben also added some chicken breast, but honestly, I was good with how it is.

Then…the vinaigrette! It is a tangy white wine vinegar, honey and lemon vinaigrette. Super simple, and works perfectly with the kale, feta, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, avocado.

It all comes together as a slightly lemony, sorta tangy, all-round delicious, fresh, healthy, tasty salad.

More kale salads for us!

• this Southwestern Kale Chickpea Salad with Crispy Chickpeas is one creamy dreamy salad
• or how about a simple Winter Balsamic Kale Salad with Havarti Crisps?

Products used in this recipe:

Original article and pictures take sweetpeasandsaffron.com site

Journals and Other Tools to Help you Lose Weight

Journals and Other Tools to Help you Lose Weight

Long before I started the 17 Day Diet, I was losing weight on my own without following a “diet”.

I was eating whatever I wanted to, but cutting my portions in half.

I lost weight.

It took some time to lose the weight, but one of the reasons I was successful (besides limiting portions) was the fact that I kept track of everything I ate.

I also had a daily weigh-in log so I could review past weeks to see how I was doing, to check on food intake and figure out why I was at a plateau or why I was gaining weight.

Fast forward a few years and I started my 17 Day Diet Blog. I used these same food journals and weigh-in logs that I had once created to keep track of my progress…and it still worked!

I have a lot of free tools on this blog to help you along the way. Here are just a few:

1. Food Journal

2. Weight Loss Chart

3. Contract with Myself

Weight Loss Contract To Myself for the 17 Day Diet

Now, these free tools should work just fine. However, if you’re looking for something a bit more, you may browse my store for more in-depth tools such as planned menus and recipes.

If you’re on the go like me, you’ll find all of my meal planning kits are mobile-friendly. All the food journals and daily weight trackers are fillable PDF forms that you can save on your computer or your tablet and use them daily all while saving your entries for future use and review.

I had one blog reader email me some time ago. She could not understand why she was not losing weight on Cycle 1 anymore.

Luckily, she had kept track of her exact food intake on the helpful food journals that come with Simple N’ Lean 17 that she had purchased here on the blog. She was to review her logs for the last week to see where her diet had changed.

Sure enough, she had decreased her protein intake because she simply was not hungry and her body decided it would hold on to the food she was feeding it, and as a result she stopped losing weight. Because she had been keeping track of her food intake using the food journals, she was able to quickly correct the problem and she began seeing results again.

Original article and pictures take 17ddblog.com site