Wheat Berries and Roasted Squash Pilaf

Isn't this a beautiful dish?
I thought it was and that is why I tore this recipe out of a recent issue of EveryDay with Rachael Ray and wanted to make it ASAP.

I used wheat berries instead of Farro, which added more time to the preparation, but it is completely possible to cook the berries ahead of time and then, you don't have to wait for an hour while they are cooking.

This is a fairly simple dish. Roasted butternut squash, wheat berries, fresh thyme, lemon juice, olive oil, green onions and dried cranberries.
Not too fancy, but you get a little bit of everything-chewy, sweet, salty, tart.

I really liked it. The only thing I would change about it if I made it again would be to take out the dried cranberries (I felt they added too much sweetness, since butternut squash tends to be a little sweet anyway) and add some beans, (maybe garbanzos).

My family was not so kind about this dish. My husband didn't like the squash, my son didn't like the dried cranberries, etc. So, there were a few people around the table who weren't really very pleased with the flavor combinations in this one.

I think it would be a great side dish to a holiday meal (it was intended to be featured at Thanksgiving) and I plan to make it again with a few changes.


Recipe for Farro and Roasted Squash Pilaf
* I used wheat berries instead of Farro

Wheat Berry Salad with Lemon-Cumin Tuna

I bought some wheat berries a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to try this recipe that was in Ellie Krieger's So Easy.

I took this salad to a family dinner and was really hoping that there would be leftovers for me to eat the rest of the week for lunch.
Everyone tried it and most people liked it.
Wheat berries are really chewy, so you definitely get a chewing workout. They also require quite a bit of cooking time, but I read the recipe thoroughly in advance so I knew how much time they would need.

Once again, I wasn't sure how the dried cherries would work with everything else, but they added just the right amount of sweetness and tartness with each bite.
I used canned tuna instead of chicken to top the salad and modified the lemon-cumin dressing to work with the tuna.

I really love having this type of salad for lunch during the week. Filling, nutritious and so good.


Recipe for Wheat Berry Salad
Ellie changed this up in her new book and served it on a bed of spinach leaves
* I added a can of drained, rinsed chickpeas
* I used pecans instead of walnuts
* I mixed 2 cans of tuna with lemon juice, a little olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps cumin, salt & pepper and then mixed that into the wheat berry mixture