Barley and Spinach Salad & Mothers Day 2014

Posted by Judy | Bebe Love Okazu on May 14, 2014 in Blog, Confessions, Salad, Travel & Local Adventures | 4 comments

I hope everyone had a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend!

We enjoyed a nice weekend spent with family and we also took Bebe to her first Dodgers game. Of course, she had more fun looking through the binoculars at the outfielders and eating frozen yogurt while playing with our family, but she was a good cheerleader and had a blast.

Here are some photos of our family at the game. Or skip down to the salad recipe at the bottom of the post.

Me and my Mommy.

Bebe and Mommy.

Photographer and my favorite uncle. 

Nothing beats frozen yogurt in a pink L.A. baseball hat.

The family in Dodger Blue.

Bebe and her other family.

Bebe and one of her favorite uncles.

And of course, the Mother’s Day Dodger giveaway – a clutch.

Over the last month and a half we’ve been extremely busy on the weekends and we’ve also spent a lot of time driving back and forth from Los Angeles.

I guess you could say I’m looking forward to at least one Sunday when we can stay home, maybe take a walk to the park or go for a swim and simply relax. In some ways I’ve been feeling burnt out and the types of lunches I’ve been eating at home have been full of odds and ends leftovers and an occasional green smoothie to increase my nutrient intake.

Today, I scavenged through the pantry and found a bit of quick-cooking barley, so I combined that with thinly sliced spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, and almonds and voila! A fresh and easy salad.

This post really doesn’t require a recipe.

All that’s needed are fresh veggies of your choice, a splash of flavored herb olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a dash of salt and pepper. In fact, you won’t find any measurements in the recipe box below; just a guideline of how to throw together a quick yet nutritious salad. I even considered adding chia seeds into my salad, but let’s just say the almonds were already on the counter and I didn’t feel like pulling out the chia seeds from the pantry (out of sheer laziness).

After I made this salad, I realized I had cilantro in the fridge. That would have been a refreshing addition to the salad in case you’re thinking of re-creating this.

Note, I’ve been taking photos with my iPhone due to issues I’ve been having with my camera, so please bear with me as I try to get things back on track.