#pearl-barley

#pearl-barley

The more you use a good quality olive oil, the better your food will taste. Spring is the time to seek out the newest extra virgin olive oils—the current harvest from olives picked and milled in the previous fall and early winter.

These tiny packages pack a nutritional punch-so much so that the advisory committee for the 2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommended upping the daily serving size of legumes and promoting them as a protein source over meat and seafood. Navy beans, for example, are especially fiber-dense, and lentils are protein powerhouses.

You can skip the entire cumbersome step of straining your rice by placing a fine mesh sieve or strainer on top of your pot and pouring the rice directly into it, rather than into the water. Leave the sieve in the pot for the whole cooking process with a cover placed on top. The steam rising from the water will cook the rice, giving you a perfectly separated, airy result.

When I lived in a big city, I used to love treating myself to lunches at trendy salad spots. Tasty as these take-out meals were, they were terrible for my wallet, and I didn't have full visibility into or control over the ingredients that went into them. I've since turned into an avid meal-prepper and make my own lunch - almost always a fiber- and protein-packed grain bowl - for a fraction of the price.

Fiber is essential for stabilizing gut health, easing digestion, regulating bowel movements, and staggering the absorption of carbohydrate sugars into the bloodstream. By slowing down the glycemic load of these sugars flooding our bloodstreams, we can even reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Soaked and blended, cashews become a stand-in for heavy cream, keeping stuffed shells, soups, pasta sauces, and desserts luxuriously dairy-free. Toasted and roughly chopped, they add crunch to salads, curries, stir-fries, and more. There are so many reasons to love cooking with these seeds-that's right, "cashew nut" is technically a misnomer, since they grow outside the fruit rather than inside a hard shell like true nuts.

How could we keep the benefits of Chris's sad toast-fiber, healthy fats, sustaining carbs-and make something that actually tastes good? Our answer was a cookie. We started experimenting in the Test Kitchen and set out to accomplish two things: It has to taste good and make you feel good. The former came easily, as I've developed hundreds of cookie recipes, including writing a whole book on them. But the latter was more difficult.

Barley, the grain that is featured in this dish, is one of our most nutritious grains; it contributes protein, thiamine and niacin. Barley also is a rich source of dietary fiber. For a vegan rendition, use vegan yogurt and maple syrup instead of honey in the dressing and use olive oil instead of butter when sauteing the mushrooms. The dish is a main course salad and should be served at room temperature.

Sometimes all you need is to curl up on the couch with a big bowl of pasta, wearing an old sweatshirt that can handle a little tomato-sauce splatter. After all, it's comfort food with a heavy emphasis on the comfort - all carbs and sauce and warm, full feelings. But what if you could get that same satisfaction with the added benefit of a little protein boost with just one easy swap? All you have to do is reach for a box of edamame pasta.

Eating vegetables is always an excellent way to help you get your daily intake of fiber, but people who need an extra dose in their diet need to choose the most fiber-rich veggies possible. Broccoli is often named as a great source of this essential nutrient, yet you can find some superior options in the produce kingdom. Green peas are a nutritious legume that outclasses broccoli in terms of fiber content.

Need an easy lunch or dinner idea? Try brown lentils! Alex and I love eating lentils for lunches or dinners, since they're full of plant-based protein and keep us full for hours afterwards. This brown lentils recipe results in perfectly seasoned, tender lentils. You can eat them as-is, or add them as a component to tacos, salads, and more. They're a simple protein that makes an easy vegan recipe or healthy dinner!

If you're trying to eat more vegetables, consider slurping more soup. Most of them rely on vegetables as a base, and from there, it's easy to add even more for a belly-filling, nourishing meal. Without much effort, you can easily work two servings of vegetables into a single bowl. Soup also happens to be one of the most simple and soul-warming things to make, a breeze to customize and easily packed for lunches,

Dynamic duo beans and greens come together again in this pantry-friendly soup. Toasted garlic, tomato paste, and smoked paprika boost store-bought vegetable stock (use a base like Better Than Bouillon for superior potency) into a rich broth. Chickpeas and Swiss chard hang on to their texture in the brew, but use whichever white beans and hearty greens speak to you.

Now, on their own, right after you peel them off the cloves, garlic skins don't make a great snack. Technically you can eat them, but the tough, fibrous texture isn't exactly something that you'll look forward to either chewing on or choking down. If you do sample a bit, however, you will notice that despite seeming like a useless bit of waste all this time, these peels actually do contain a lot of flavor.

Looking for an easy healthy dinner recipe? About once a week, Alex and I spring for some seafood: and this salmon with capers is where it's at. The baked salmon is infused with lemon and herbs and cooked until it's perfectly moist. Then drizzle over a silky lemon caper sauce. Just a small drizzle packs a huge punch, and the modest quantity keeps it healthy. Here's how to make my of my favorite tasty salmon recipes that comes together in 30 minutes!

If you love your salty snacks (and who doesn't?), we have a game-changing idea. Potato chips are irresistibly delicious, but we all know the unfortunate truth that they're a far cry from healthy, with their sodium and unhealthy fats. But you don't have to give up the experience of enjoying a crunchy, savory snack; in fact, you can even upgrade that experience with chickpeas.

A sweet, gingery glaze accents salmon fillets and their sidekick, skin-on sliced acorn squash. The quick-to-make glaze is made by combining light brown sugar, orange juice, honey, and ground ginger in a small saucepan and bringing it to a simmer for about 8 minutes. Then it is set aside for a few minutes to thicken. Easy. If the challenge of cutting up an acorn squash sounds too daunting. substitute 6 cups of peeled and diced butternut squash; most supermarkets stock it cut into peeled chunks.