Another All-occasion Main-dish Salad. Yay!!

I don't know about you, but I am so grateful for salads in the summer. they're cool and refreshing and you don't have to heat up the kitchen in order to prepare one. Here's one I quickly threw together for my dinner tonight! It was my own concoction but it turned out delicious!!!

Barley "pasta" salad

Ingredients:
1T evoo (olive oil)
1/2-1T lemon juice
1/3 C quick-cooking barley
3 oz. finely chopped chicken breast meat (fresh or canned)
1/3 C (about) diced cucumber
1/3 C (about) diced tomato (I used cherry tomato)
1/3 C (about) diced red bell pepper
1/3 C (about) diced onion
pasta salad seasoning or italian sasoning

Directions: Cook barley according to package directions. ( To avoid standing over a hot stovetop in August, I cheated and cooked it in the micowave and let the barley soak in the hot water afterwards. Then i drained the excess water. it tuned out fine.)
In a bowl, mix barley, chicken, and diced veggies. (dicing the veggies was the longest step because i used canned chicken breast.) pour olive oil and lemon juice over the mixture. season to your liking. (i used maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of pasta salad seasoning.) toss the mixture to coat. stick in the fridge until chilled.

Makes 2 servings or 1 LARGE serving. For 1 large serving, it adds up to about 400 calories. Enjoy!!