Eating less red meat is a proven tip to better health. Surprise yourself with how good vegetables and grains can be by stopping in for lunch at the Ruscombe Mansion Food Coop Café one day this week!

The leaves are falling and the kids are back in school. Time to make a hearty salad. It may seem that vegetarian meals are just too much work. But main dish salads can be one-dish meals, especially when the weather isn’t yet too cool, and the leftovers make great lunch box meals as well. Here is a recipe for a hearty salad that incorporates some vegetables that are probably still available locally:

French Barley Salad
1 cup raw barley (cook in 2 cups water)
1 cup mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup of cut green beans, blanched about 5 minutes
1 cup of sliced yellow or red sweet peppers
1 half cup chopped parsley

Dressing
1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 Tbs. chopped dill
1 tsp. salt freshly ground pepper Recipe by Bonnie Eisenbise