Winter Grain Bowl w/Ginger Miso Lime Sauce

First, do not let this picture of the leftovers I am eating for lunch today turn you away from making this recipe. I forgot to take a picture when I first made the recipe a couple nights ago and it's all I've got.

So, I tried to do The Cleanse earlier this year and it didn't really work out. It is very hard to do on a consistent basis because of all the cooking. As my friend Becca put it last night, "Doing The Cleanse is social suicide" because you have to decline so many eating invitations. Although, it is much more liberal than the P90X diet everyone is doing now. Anyway, I digress. Since I have such a hard time going 100% with the cleanse, I try and incorporate cleanse recipes into my regular diet as much as possible.

One of the many things I love to eat while on the cleanse are the "grain bowls". There are four suggested grain bowls in the recipe book, but by the time I'm done mixing and matching my grain bowl doesn't really resemble the original recipe. This week I made a grain bowl and the closest recipe it resembled was the Winter Grain Bowl.

Original Winter Grain Bowl Recipe

Barley

Roasted Squash & Root Vegetables

Sauteed Kale

Adzuki Beans

Ginger Miso Lime Sauce

I changed the vegetable into summer squash, sunflower seeds instead of kale, and black beans instead of adzuki. Mostly I just wanted the sauce:

Ginger Miso Lime Sauce

3 TB light miso

1/4 c. water

3 TB olive oil

1 TB grated fresh ginger

1 tsp maple syrup

1 clove garlic crushed or minced

1/4 c fresh lime juice (I was quite liberal with this.)

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

Dissolve miso in water, add other ingredients and blend until smooth.

Another important point is that these grain bowls taste the best when the grain and the beans are made fresh. I usually soak the beans overnight and then cook them in the crock pot while I am at work.

Barley is cooked best with a 3 to 1 (water to barley) ratio. I usually add a little salt as well. Also, The Cleanse guy recommends you always add one inch of kombu seaweed anytime you are cooking beans or grains to make them more digestible. It doesn't change the flavor. Barley only takes about 20-30 minutes depending on how much you are making. It should be done by the time you have prepared everything else.