The March Challange is here.. I promised to write up my meals, with at least one recipe used that day..

Breakfast- FG-Creamy Barley Pudding, DH-Four Homemade Waffles, with Orange Marmalade, and fresh WaterMelon.

Lunch-ABC Soup with soft wheat bread.

Dinner-DH’s B-day Supper, Deep Dish Meat Pizza, Greek Salad, Nine chicken Wings with Chocolate German Cake for Dessert.

Snacks- Current in the house, Homemade Oatmeal Raison Cookies and two pieces of Rubarb Cake

Drinks- Water, Tea, Hot Chocolate

Extra’s -Made the last of the war bread into dried bread crumbs

Recipe-Creamy Barley Puddin

This is best to make the day after you cook up a nice big pot of barley and have leftovers to use up, but if not, cook up a cup of Barley in six to eight cups of water for 30 to 45 min till its cooked though, it will still be chewy, you can save the water for use in soups/stews.

2 cups of whole milk-I have made it with Cow/Goat or Sheeps Milk, I have also make it with canned milk.

2 tbsp of Brown Sugar or Honey or Maple Syrup (I find I need an extra tbsp for the maple)

1/2 cup of dried Cranberries or any other dried fruit, (I really like black currents)

a pinch of salt,  I like to put a little homegrown Lemon Mint in a tea ball and soak it in the warm simmering milk/barley for about five min, This is a way to replace the typical lemon or orange zest, as these don’t grow locally.

So take above and gently simmer for ten min, then take an extra half cup of milk, blend it with one large duck egg or a large chicken egg or two med eggs, take pot off heat.. then slowly pour in while stirring to create a creamy texture, cook another one or two min (if needed) till the pudding thick’ns up, I find that the heat from the steel pots I cook in will do the job. Makes four big servings or six dessert servings.

This can be served warm as a filling breakfast meal or it can be served chilled as a dessert.

Lets Talk about Barley for a bit shall we.. most folks talk about it as nutty, but I have always found Barley to be a mild flour when used in baking. Its very low in gluten, but when cooked Barley’s soluble fiber becomes Viscous (just like chia seeds do), this viscosity is translated in our mouth to being a buttery or fat feeling, which makes this flour a great addition to most baked goods.

Barley is currently the world’s 4th largest grain crop but its one of the oldest cultivated crops, they say that it came along at the same time as wheat around 10,000 years ago. Canada is the 3rd biggest producer of Barley behind Russia and the Ukraine.

The Babylonians used Barley as their main currency, In Europe, Barley became the chief grain used for bread, at least until the 16th century, However since Barley has almost no gluten, it was made into trenchers, which were in fact edible plates to which the rest of the meal was placed on top.

Barley water (the water in which barley was boiled in) can be used to calm upset tummies, just sip it and if you have the ability mix it half and half with a bone broth for a true healing drink.

Health notes, Barley is high in protein, a cup has as much as a glass of milk, its low in fat and high in antioxidants and fiber, including soluble fiber which is proven to lower cholesterol.  Barley is digested quite slowly and has a very low glycemic index, it has nearly twice the amount of fiber as the same serving of cooked brown rice.

Do you use Barley in your meals, if so, how do you use it, soups? Stews? Baking? Side Dish? Porridge? Please share your favorite recipe with us..