Several years ago, when it was just Kiera and me, I remember how much the gift basket stuffed with food that was gifted to us meant. In a season that is meant for joy and happiness, it was a blessing to have some of the financial stress lifted for such a basic need so that we could focus on other things like holiday parades and snowball fights, hot chocolate and decorating a Christmas tree. I hope you’ll consider giving that gift to a child this holiday season.

The dressing for the salad comes together quickly. Homemade mayonnaise and Greek yogurt meet apple cider vinegar and a bit of orange blossom honey. Of course, there are also poppy seeds.

Mix it all together.

We use all romaine for this. It provides the right amount of crunch to contrast the chewy cranberries.

Top the romaine with toasted pecans, cranberries, scallions and blue cheese, and then wait until you’re ready to serve to add the dressing and toss.

This cranberry salad with poppy seed dressing is one both kids and adults appreciate. Something about the little bursts of cranberries paired with salty cheese bits and crunchy pecans keeps us coming back year after year for more.

This is a post about bean salad. A Mediterranean bean salad I made back in June. It has taken me this long to share it, but that’s because I had some other sharing I was obligated to do. It’s a post about Greek seasoning on chicken. It’s a post about stuffing it all together in a pita, serving it with tzatziki to make a chicken gyro and having a wonderful meal with your family and your friends and your neighbors. It’s a post about food.

This is a post about the food I feed to my family.

I made bean salad. I’d had some at Costco, of all places, and I was instantly drawn in. Beans, barley, peppers, sauce. Simple, understated and bursting with flavor. Ole was not convinced as I cooked and drained beans and barley and stashed them away in the fridge to cool. Note: I had originally planned to use three bell peppers in this recipe. That is, of course, until Ole used one of them for something else. Flexibility is key to a happy marriage.

I then made a pretty simple sun-dried tomato pesto using sun-dried tomatoes, basil and parsley from our garden, garlic cloves and oil.

Mix the pesto, the beans and barley, the peppers, a bit of vinegar to pull it all together and a Mediterranean bean salad you shall have to be eaten on pitas or with pita chips or scooped up with a spoon and a fork. And I was happy with it. I packed it up, placed it in the fridge and told Ole to make it a meal with some cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden while I was gone, but he was skeptical. He did not trust me. Turns out, I was right, but he made the chicken anyway.

A Greek-seasoned, dry-rubbed chicken, grilled and thinly sliced. This is what happens when you stock your pantry, meals become feasts in a matter of minutes. In fact, I shared that same sentiment just today how making impromptu meals from your pantry is so much easier when you stock that pantry.

He also paired it with homemade tzatziki, which is easy to make and is so much better when you make it fresh. It’s bright and lively, and it pairs nicely with said Greek-seasoned chicken.

And he put the salad on the side (except the kids and I still put it inside) and made a gyro. I do have to say it looks like a meal I’d love to eat. Ole even called to let me know the bean salad was a new favorite with the kids, and they’d begged to eat it for lunch the next day too.

The moral of the story is that my husband knows not how barley and beans can be mind-blowing. In fact, our dinner guests last month asked specifically for the recipe. My kids cheered when it showed up on the table for a third time this summer. I cried inside when everyone ate it all because it meant I couldn’t eat it for lunch the next day.

And the chicken gyro? Well, it’s pretty fantastic, and so is the man who made it.

Ole is gone, gone gone this week(end) motorcycling in the UP, and I am attempting to remain sane by taking the kids on short jaunts around the neighborhood. We already hit Conny’s Creamy Cone, and I think we’re going to attempt the beach sometime this weekend too. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!