Wheatberry Salad

I wanted to make wheatberries for a long time - and my first attempt was a Mark Bittman recipe that I didn't really enjoy. I found this recipe just by searching for a wheatberry salad recipe on Google - and I love it! It's really easy, and good to cook/have around in the summer. It has a lot of olive oil - and you probably don't need to add as much as is called for - but it's delicious if you do :)


1 cup hard winter wheatberries
Kosher salt
1 cup finely diced red onion (1 onion)
6 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 scallions, minced, white and green parts
1/2 red bell pepper, small diced (I just used a whole one...what to do with 1/2 a pepper?)
1 carrot, small diced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Place the wheatberries and 3 cups of boiling salted water in a saucepan and cook, uncovered, over low heat for approximately 45 minutes, or until they are soft. Drain. (The package on the wheatberries I bought said to cook for 25 minutes - which was enough. This may differ greatly depending on the kind of wheatberries you get - just test them and they're ready when they're nice and chewy!)

Saute the red onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat until translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the remaining 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar.

In a large bowl, combine the warm wheatberries, sauteed onions, scallions, red bell pepper, carrot, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper. Allow the salad to sit for at least 30 minutes for the wheatberries to absorb the sauce. Season, to taste, and serve at room temperature.

Original recipe here 

Dave's Cooking Debut

Last weekend I tried to buy food for too many recipes...since Dave and I are going to Acadia this weekend, I didn't need much (and I already had a bunch of food from the week before). So, last minute at the grocery store, I tried to eliminate items for one of my recipes I was planning to make. I mixed up two things - bought dill that I didn't need, and didn't buy jicama, which I did need. However, Dave came to the rescue! I was just going to make this recipe without the jicama, but Dave is very resourceful and helped me use up the extra food I had lying in my fridge. We added some leftover quinoa (that I had made when making Quinoa Pancakes, see below) and two plum tomatoes that I was planning to use for caprese salads (...and failed. I have too much basil and was trying to use it). This may not be the prettiest dish you've ever seen, but it's quite tasty. There's a lot of cumin, but you can barely taste it with all the lime juice flavor. Dave also chose to add some Kashi Country Cheddar crackers (you can see in the photo) - I chose to keep those separate.

Anyway - this is a super simple recipe, and very versatile as I now know :)


Cumin-Lime Black Bean, Jicama, and Corn Salad

1 can corn, drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced jicama
1 avocado, diced
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
Dash of salt and pepper
(OR in lieu of jicama: 2 tomatoes, 1-2 cups of quinoa, or whatever you have in your fridge.)

In a medium sized bowl combine corn, black beans, jicama, and avocado. In a separate bowl, whisk together lime juice and cumin. Pour juice over bean and corn mixture. Season with just a dash of salt and pepper. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour (or not...still delicious) before serving.

Original recipe here 

NOTE: This does not keep well. The lime juice causes the avocado to taste acidic after a day or so. Next time I make this, I'm going to keep the dressing separate until ready to eat.