A Tasty Side Dish With A Few Of My Favorite Ingredients

Cheesy Broccoli Barley Bake!

It's not the prettiest photo, but this side dish is delicious!

As promised, I am finally sharing the wonderful recipe which uses the yummy ingredients from my previous post. This dish isn't the quickest to make, but I promise it's worth the extra time. Besides all the cheddar chesse, it's quite nutritious too! Barley is one of the best whole grains out there and we have been cooking with it a lot more lately. It makes a great substitue for rice in many dishes. A few of it's amazing benefits include reducing heart disease and cancer risk, cholesterol and inflammation. It has powerful antioxidants and even has a low glycemic index, meaning that ulike many other "starches", it hardly effects your blood sugar levels. Check out this webiste to learn just about everything you would want to know about Barley. Vegetarian's in Paradise On Barley It has an amazing history, dating back to 8000 BC!

Now, for the recipe!

Ingredients *I try to use all organic or local products!*

1 cup uncooked pearled barley

2 tbs oil

8 oz organic cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbs (or MORE!) garlic, chopped

2 tbs whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups milk

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 large head of broccoli

Salt, as much as desired

Non stick spray or butter for greasing your dish

To Prepare

- Cook barley, about 30-45 minutes.

  (We like to use chicken stock in leiu of water for the cooking liquid, giving it a wonderful flavor!)

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees

- Heat oil in a skillet & sautee onion & garlic until onion is soft

- Add sliced mushrooms & cook for about 5 minutes

- Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture & stir until all are covered

- Add milk and stir

- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook 5 minutes

- Stir in 3/4 of the cheese and heat until melted

- Add broccoli and cooked barley and salt to taste. Mix very well!

- Pour into greased casserole dish

- Top with remaining cheese and cover

- Bake 10-15 minutes until cheese has melted and slightly browned

- Serves 4-6

Enjoy!