Today, I worked at Emmis fitting children with bicycle helmets.  I am not sure how many we fit, but I know that at our half way point we had given out around 200!  That’s a lot of bike helmets.

After work, I headed straight home to change for Pilates.  The class was great! I always feel stronger after leaving a Pilates class, I even showed up early and was able to fit in 10 minutes on the elliptical as a warm up.  I used to use that machine all the time during the school year, but since I work out by running outside, doing a video at the apartment, or attending a class I haven’t been on one since May.  It felt good to be back on that thing 🙂

I was starving for dinner by the time I came home, and since it was scorching hot outside (someone mentioned that it was going to be 105 degrees…) I thought a refreshing summer salad would be nice.  I made Peanut Butter Finger’s “Wheat Berry Salad” but with barley, so I guess I made “Barley Salad.”

Start by cooking the barley according to package directions.  This can even be done a couple of days in advance since the salad will be cold anyways.  While the barley was cooking I then chopped up the following ingredients:

• Broccoli
• Tomato
• Artichoke Hearts
• Red Onion
• Green Onion
• Garlic Stuffed Olives
• Fat Free Pepperjack Cheese

 

I love this recipe because not only was it delicious, but it can be made with whatever ingredients you have on hand.  You can basically sub any vegetable, and a light Italian salad dressing or balsamic vinaigrette would be great in place of the homemade dressing.  Go ahead…look in your cupboard and see what you can pull together, this dish is so versatile! 🙂