Wheat Berry Salad
Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor day weekend. I spent most of mine driving around trying to get a nail puncture fixed on my tire, (why is it that no one will plug tires anymore) after a long afternoon I ended up just buying a tire plug kit and having my husband just plug it. We did of course BBQ and swim as tradition on our family labor day, and though I do love BBQ this salad recipe is a perfect meal to have after a weekend of indulging.
The wheat berries add a wonderful nuttiness to the salad and are a great source of fiber, protein, and iron. While they do take a while to cook if you use the pressure cooker method it is really just throw it all in and forget about it. If you are making it for less then four people the mixture keeps nicely in the fridge just don’t dress the greens until you are going to eat them and only do as much as you need at the time (they don’t keep well). If you are vegan you can easily leave out the feta and it is still delicious. I also like to cook extra wheat berries to eat like oatmeal for breakfast the next day (warm up with a little bit of honey or maple syrup, cinnamon and almond milk….yum). Hope your family enjoys this salad as much as mine does.
Wheat Berry Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup orange juice about 2 oranges
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp honey
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Salad
- 1 cup wheat berries cooked
- 1 15oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup roasted red pepper drained and chopped roughly
- 2 oz feta cheese crumbled about 1/2 cup
- 8 oz organic salad mix
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 seedless english cucumber, chopped
Instructions
For the dressing
- Bring the orange juice to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the juice is syrupy and reduced to 1/3 cup, 12-15 minutes
- Transfer the orange juice syrup to a small bowl and refrigerate until cool, about 10minutes. Whisk in the cilantro, lime juice, water, oil, honey, garlic, cumin, salt, paprika, and cayenne and set aside.
For the Salad
- Cook wheat berries, Pressure Cooker- Add 1 cup wheat berries and 5 cups water, 1 Tbsp oil, 3/4 tsp salt into pressure cooker, close and seal. Pressure cook on high for 40 minutesFor stovetop- Add 1 cup wheat berries and 4 quarts water, 3/4 tsp salt to a large pot, partially cover and cook stiring often, until tender but still chewy, about 80 minutes. With either method when done drain water, and rinse them under cool water. Transfer to large bowl and set aside.
- Stir the chickpeas, roasted red peppers, feta, and half of the dressing into the bowl with the cool wheat berries. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In a separate bowl, toss the salad greens with remaining dressing and divide among 4 plates. Arrange 1 cup of wheat berry mixture on top of each salad and serve.
Notes
Items I use for this recipe
