This is the 8th recipe in the PositScience Thinkfood series. It comes from Lori over at Fake Food Free. There are definitely other recipes that I would like to try on her site, AND she has a pug!!! Ok, so I might be a little obsessed with pugs…..well, dogs really…..but who can resist this face:
This is our pug Olive. She has been in a previous post, begging for my waffles, but I thought I would officially introduce you all to her. She will be 3 years old in October, and yes she has been working on that gray beard since she was about 6 months old.
Anyways.
You can find the other Thinkfood recipes that I have made on the Thinkfood Tab.
So….if you are like me and have no idea what a wheat berry is. Let me fill you in. I did some research. Here are some things I found out about them on this healthy eats blog on Foodnetwork.com:
- Wheat berries are whole wheat kernels. They look like thick, short grains — similar to brown rice.
- Since the wheat kernel is left intact, virtually none of the nutrients are stripped away. A cup of cooked wheat berries has about 300 calories and is packed with fiber, protein and iron. Tasty sprouts are loaded with vitamin E, a cell-protecting antioxidant, and magnesium, which is good for healthy bones and muscles.
Oh dear, these seem WAY too healthy for me! 🙂
I asked Lori – from Fake Food Free – if she had any advice for cooking wheat berries before I started. Since, obviously, I have never cooked them before. She told me to cook them a day ahead to make sure they were cold, or make sure to run lots of cold water over them after they are cooked.
I intended to cook them last night, and prepare the salad tonight, but that didn’t work out. So I will choose the option to rinse them with cold water after they are cooked.
This recipe was not hard to make. The wheat berries did take quite a bit of time to cook, but no real physical labor involved. Just chopping a few things, but nothing too intense.
I tried the wheat berries before I put the dressing on. Since I have never had them before, I wanted to eat them plain first to make sure that it wasn’t just the dressing that I didn’t like. Turns out, wheat berries are yet another grain that I like. Not really a surprise since I can’t really name a plain grain that I don’t like.
After putting all of the ingredients and dressing together I tried it again.
Not too bad. I definitely didn’t dislike it. I’m not a fan of tomatoes though….but they are easy to pick around. 🙂
Then I did something a little risky.
Yes, that is what it looks like. Curried wheat berries on a tortilla chip. It actually was pretty good! In fact, it tasted a bit like salsa. Someone should come up with a wheat berry salsa!
Overall it was not hard to make, and tasted pretty good.
Ease: B+, it took a while for it to cook, but other than that, nothing more than chopping and mixing.
Taste: B, pretty solid but not great.
Would I make it again? Yeah I think so. It would make a good side dish.
Are wheat berries and couscous always eaten cold?
I don’t dislike them cold, but I think I like them quite a bit more when they are warm. Just wondering if it is the particular recipe, or just generally how the grains are eaten.
Filed under: Grains, Sides and Salads Tagged: | salad, tomato, wheat berry
How awesome that you have a pug! She is adorable and I just love that gray chin. Macy’s chin is turning gray, but she is going on 8. I think it is so cute that her little chin started getting gray so early. What a face! Thanks for the mention and reviewing the recipe. Great idea to make it a dip!