Roasted Beets, Carrots, Zucchini With Stir Fried Barley

Sometimes you just want to eat something that looks really pretty. 

You know what I mean, right?

Something that is bright, colorful, and fancy schmancy. 

Of course, most of the time that means it is going to be finicky to prepare and take forever. 

And then this happened....

It's sooooo pretty. Like looking at art work. All those colors and textures. 

And, you know what it's NOT? 

It's NOT finicky and it does NOT take forever. It takes about 30 minutes or so for the veggies to roast and you make the barley while you are waiting. So, from start to finish in about half an hour. 

My recipe makes enough for 2 servings but you can easily double or even triple it.  

Oh, yeah, and for those of you looking for healthy and low cal and high fiber and all that stuff, this is all of those things. 

It's win win, baby.

Roasted Beets, Carrots, Zucchini with Stir Fried Barley

Ingredients

Barley

1/4 cup barley, uncooked

3/4 cup veggie broth

1 button mushroom, finely diced

2 green onions, finely diced

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

Veggies

2 beets, peeled, sliced thin

1 large carrot, sliced thin

1 large zucchini, sliced thin

seasoning salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Spread the sliced beets onto a cookie sheet. Place in 400 oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and flip over. Place carrots and zucchini on the cookie sheets with the beets so they are not overlapping. Spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with seasoning salt.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and flip all veggies over. Cook for about 10 more minutes - until all veggies are done.

Meanwhile, while veggies are roasting, prepare your barley.

In a small saucepan, place the uncooked barley and broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer until all liquid is absorbed and barley is tender, about 20 - 25 minutes. 

Once barley is cooked, take a non-stick frying pan and spray with cooking spray. Dump in the cooked barley, the diced mushroom and onion, and the spices. Cook and stir over medium-high heat  until onion and mushroom are soft and barley is starting to brown a little, about 5 - 10 minutes. 

Layer veggies on a serving plate and top with the stir fried barley. 

You can make is fancy schmancy like this...

Or, if you are going to be having it the next day for lunch you can put it in a container like this...

Still looks pretty, if you ask me.

For one serving (half the recipe), Myfitnesspal says the nutritional counts are: 171 calories, 40 carbs, 1 fat, and 7 protein. *whoot whoot*

A couple of notes - 

1. The first time I made this I put all the veggies in at one time and the beets were under cooked. It is better if you let them cook for 10 minutes first before you add the other veggies onto the cookies sheets. 

2. Try to get all your veggies the same thickness. 

3. You can drizzle with olive oil instead of spraying with cooking spray but that will change the nutritional values. 

Looking for some tasty and crafty links? Head over to Feeding Big and Memories By The Mile and Anyonita Nibbles and Hun...What's For Dinner! and Carole's Chatter