Spelt Salad + We Don’t Know Lazy

As promised, here’s the first recipe of the “Ten Summer Meals in 30 Minutes or Less” – Spelt Salad!

Now, if you are like me and you are thinking spelt is some kind of fish, you are thinking of SMELT and yes, Smelt Salad would probably be the most disgusting thing in the world so let’s clear things up for both of us. Spelt is a type of wheat that is packed with protein and fiber but is low in fat and while it does still have gluten, many people with allergies can enjoy spelt. What this recipe calls for are “spelt berries” but they are not berries at all and once cooked up will remind you more of brown rice or some small, dense pastas like Orzo.

Spelt Salad
Prep Time: 10 min (once spelt is prepared, see below) Cook Time: 5 min, until heated Serves: 4 as a main dish, 6 as a side

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Spelt Berries, prepare as packaging directs.**
• ¼ Cup Red Cabbage, cut into thin strips
• ½ Cup Cherry Tomatoes, cut into halves (option to use red and yellow)
• ¼ Cup Red Pepper, diced
• 1 Zucchini, sliced thin and halved
• ¼ Cup White Onion, diced
• 1-2 Clove Garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tsp Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• **If spelt is not available, you can substitute spelt berries with cooked brown rice or orzo pasta.

Method:

• Prepare spelt as directed.* Since it does take quite some time for the spelt to cook (1.5 hours), you’ll want to prep the spelt overnight.*
• In a skillet, toss together the spelt berries, red cabbage, tomatoes, onion, garlic and olive oil.
• Add salt and pepper to taste, stir over high heat until well combined and thoroughly heated.
• Serve hot or as a chilled salad.
• * I prepared the spelt berries in a rice cooker in addition to a batch cooked on the stovetop – both turned out exactly the same and I recommend the rice cooker method because you can forget about it knowing the machine will turn itself off once the berries are fully cooked. On the stove, you will need to monitor the berries, not to mention you won’t want to leave the house with the stove on. I also tried a batch in the crockpot and they turned to complete mush so don’t do that!

We Don’t Know Lazy

Now, I also have an admission to make. Over the weekend I didn’t do a single thing on my tri training plan.

I have Fridays off work now and I intended to enjoy the day to myself. What I didn’t expect to do was drop my car off to have the headlight repaired and then be stuck in town with no car for the entire day. I had all these marvelous plans of going for an afternoon swim, being able to cook up some fun creations without any distractions, basically just enjoy having a day at home. I can’t complain because I did enjoy my day THOROUGHLY – it just wasn’t what I had set out to do.

But my vacation from tri training didn’t stop there. Saturday we enjoyed a lazy morning (the boys brought me breakfast in bed, the sweeties!) before heading in to Salt Lake to soak up some rays at the farmer’s market and then at the Utah Arts Festival.

We even saw a baby Sadie while we were out and about – Julie, I had to take a picture for you!

After our Salt Lake adventures we came back into Ogden so we could partake in a FREE DATENIGHT Nick and I had won from a fundraising event for the preschool.

We spent our datenight at the golf course (my first time!) before going to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants – TONA. Honestly guys, to think that UTAH would have decent sushi?? But, TONA and a few others really are as good and in some cases better than the options back in Seattle.

Sunday started off pretty lazy – lounging with our neighbor’s friends who had a party the night before and were in desperate need of some coffee -enter Kim and Nick complete with a lineup of Starbucks mugs and a coffee pot. What was that about “love thy neighbor”? Mission accomplished.

Anyway, we found ourselves just sitting around the house for quite a while and I’m dead certain that neither Nick nor myself knows what to do with ourselves if we are home more than a few hours. We hit the road in search of fun times and ended up taking Mackenzie to Boondocks – a GREAT family fun center that has bowling, bumper cars, putt putt and an indoor arcade area.

Spencer was enthralled by the blinking lights and the tickets that popped out after every game.

Mack was enthralled by the blinking lights and the tickets that popped out after every game Typhoon ride which he did at least five times.

It costs $2.00 to ride that thing and at first I thought it was going to be really lame. Typhoon simulates various rides – rollercoasters, the Indiana Jones ride at Disney, etc – and the whole chair moves and mimics the same sensations of being on an actual ride. I have to admit, it was really fun. Then again, the best part of the ride was having Mack beside me screaming “THIS IS SOOOO MUCH FUN! ITS SO FUN! ITS SOOOOOO FUN!!!” Maybe they can pay him to make sure other people have just as much fun – as it was kids were lining up behind us to see what was so fun – pretty sure he was the best advertisement of all time.

So yeah, I did NOTHING this weekend by way of exercise but we were still ANYTHING but lazy. I guess we just don’t know how.

Coming up next on Ten Summer Meals in Thirty Minutes or Less: Margarita Pizza. Be sure to follow that link for the complete grocery list for all ten meals, that way you can follow along all week (and next) – making meal planning a breeze