Wheatberry Salad

Oh boy, it is not easy to make a picture perfect dish!  For one thing I am not great at slicing avocado.  It was very windy yesterday so I decided not to go to the supermarket.   I did not think I was going out at all because the weather forecast said that the wind might gust over 60 miles per hour, but I had to go out because baby E just had enough at home.  The minute I put him in the stroller, he stopped crying.  And when I pushed him outside of the apartment, he started smiling.  Sigh....

Because of the bad weather, fruit stand in front of the post office was not even there.  I had no idea for the longest time that those fruit stands are not more expensive than the Fairway.  I started buying peaches and figs over the past summer.  It was great!  After wondering around with the baby for more than one hour,  my feet started to hurt.  

At home, I was thinking what I am going to cook for dinner.  I found this jar of dry wheatberry on my countertop among jars of dry bean and decide to make a salad out it.  I was so amazed how many ingredients I discovered in my fridge and pantry.  This is such a bad habit of mine to forget what I bought once I put it away.  

Wheatberry is a whole wheat kernel without the hull.  It is highly nutritious with good texture and is a good source of fiber.  And the best part is that it is so easy to cook.  One cup of dry wheatberry with 3 cup of salted boiling water for 45 minutes.  

You can put any kind of vegetable together and make a salad out out it.  I mixed the cooked wheatberry with oven roasted shiitake mushroom, sliced almond, raw carrots, cucumber.  The dressing was balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Finally, I cut some avocado and put the wheatberry salad on a bed of arugula salad which gave a peppery taste.  Viola!