I deemed that this week is officially my Get Back On Track Week!
Over the past few weeks, my eating, exercise, and home life/work routines have been all over the place.
Wait, who am I kidding, my life has been all over the place since September actually!
My goal for the next few days is to get organized and get back on track, hopefully achieving a nice balance once again. I absolutely love the last week of the year to get organized for the new year ahead. This week, I will also be talking about my goals for 2011 and I will be going over last year’s goals to see how I did.
Many of you expressed interest in the salad that my mother-in-law made, so I thought today would be a great time to do a recipe post on a healthy salad that makes for a great ‘getting back on track’ dish! I am just in love with this salad. It is in my Top 5 all-time favourite salads for sure.
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Back On Track Wheat Berry and Bean Salad
Adapted from Alive Magazine.
Yield: 7.5-8 cups
Salad Ingredients:
- 1 cup dry wheat berries, cooked and drained
- 2 cups/500 ml cooked navy beans (I was out so I used chickpeas!)
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup fresh parsley, diced with large stems removed
- 4 green onions, diced
- Kosher salt + pepper, to taste
Dressing Ingredients:
- 2-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, to taste (I used 2 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp hot mustard (I used regular)
- 1 tbsp Tamari
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Directions: In a medium bowl, soak the wheat berries overnight in cold water. The next day, drain the wheat berries and place in a medium sized pot, covered in 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and cool.
In a large bowl, mix together the diced vegetables (cucumber, red pepper, tomato, minced garlic, parsley, green onions). Add in cooked and drained navy beans (or other bean of choice) and stir.
In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, Tamari, fresh lemon juice). Set aside.
When the wheat berries are ready, drain and rinse and then stir into the salad. Add the dressing just before serving and stir well. Now season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with additional parsley if desired.
Yield: 7.5-8 cups.
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Gather up the troops and the wheat berries that you soaked overnight! Place the wheat berries in a medium sized pot covered with 3 inches of water and simmer on medium for 1 hour.
While the wheat berries are cooking, dice your little heart out.
You want the veggies diced very small.
Stir the veggies together in a large bowl and set aside.
Now make your dressing with Tamari, EVOO, balsamic vinegar, hot mustard (I didn’t have any), and fresh lemon juice.
I decided to try reducing the oil in this recipe by half and it turned out amazing! I actually think I liked the dressing better with 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil vs. 4 tbsp. It really made the balsamic vinegar pop.
Whisk.
I realized that I didn’t have any navy beans after all, so I decided to use chickpeas instead.
After 1 hour of simmering, I drained and rinsed the wheat berries.
Add them in and stir well.
Add dressing and mix again.
Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Serve!
One of my favourite salads of all time. It has so many amazing flavours and textures and it is high in protein and fibre too! I think this was my first time trying wheat berries too. They add such a great texture to salads. I will definitely be buying more in the future!
It makes about 8 cups worth. Enough to fuel the week ahead.
Now that the holidays are drawing to a close, are you thinking about getting back on track or re-organizing your life in some way?
I want to get back to healthy eating and exercise!
That salad looks delicious! After reading your post, I flipped open my “Eating Well” magazine, and one of the featured ads was for Pompeian olive oil and vinegars. It has a recipe for a black bean, edamame and wheat berry salad, which is very similar to yours! It uses black beans and edamame with the wheat berries, and the dressing has red wine vinegar instead of balsamic.
I just started making my new year’s resolutions for 2011. I use my “my lists” app on my ipod touch to create the list, so what way I can easily refer back to it. One of my goals for 2011 is to be more present and in touch with myself–I find that my mind is always wondering, and I am never truley in the moment. Something I wish to change!
Jen
I have the same feeling after indulging in so many sweets over the past week. I am definitely needing to get back on track. I can’t wait to try this recipe! This salad and my new juicer could be just the thing to jumpstart me back on the healthy eating track!
Hi Sweetie!
Yummy looking salad :-) I’ll definately be trying that out soon. Your blog brings a smile to my face each day….and it’s just inspired me to get off my butt and hit the treadmill! Gotta start somewhere after the christmas break! Thankyouuuuu! :-) x x
Ahh yes “back on track” and “new years resolutions” familiar words this time of year! hehe
Best of luck everyone with theirs, I will be having a few of my own! BIG BIG trip in one month, so i can’t get OFF track, and i plan to join a gym and do fitness classes a couple times a week in 2011
Couple more days and I’ll be joining you on “back on track” week. This salad looks DELICIOUS!!!
I love wheatberries and I love chickpeas. I can not wait to try this salad. Your photos made my mouth water… again.
What a stunning salad! Back on Track is right.
I plan on just slowly incorporating things. No rush!
I <3 Salad! I'm having one for dinner! It just soudns oh so refreshing!
Yes, my 2011 goal is to keep my room clean!
and get my license and get on top of my grades!
Yumm this looks so delicious and fresh! I’m very much in a goal-setting mood right now as well. It’s one thing I love about new years – they motivate me to change things I don’t like and make my life better by improving things. Can’t wait to hear about how you’re going to light up 2011! :)
Oh wow! This looks delish :D thank you for sharing the recipe!
Never had wheatberries but these look delish!
one of my goals for today is to make your balsamic salad dressing. i’ve been wanting balsamic all the time lately. and more salads is my way of getting more on track. i’ve been hitting the cookies a little too hard the past few months. heh.
i think this salad would be great with quinoa for those of us who are wheat-free. thanks for the recipe!
The baslamic salad dressing is fantastic! It’s the only one I make now–you have to try it–you will love it (just don’t forget the salt like Angela recommends).
I love wheatberries so this sounds right up my alley. I really love that this is a warm salad to start and then chilled for later meals. It would be good over fresh baby spinach as well I’ll bet. I am also hooked on your garbanzo bean/sweet potato salad (the one with coconut oil and cinnamon). Angela– your pictures are amazing–they really make you want to try the recipes. I am so pressed for time that organizing gets put on the back burner. A life out of balance is really hard on us mentally. Being a single parent, I find that It’s such a balancing act trying to pay enough attention to my health and take care of my family at the same time plus work full time. I just want to say a big thank you for all of your inspiration–it really does help a lot!
PS- My mom used to make wheatberries in a wide mouthed thermos overnight so she could have them with fresh fruit and homemade yogurt in the morning–topped with nuts and a little honey. She was a whole foods pioneer!
Thanks for your kind words :)
Wheat berries as a breakfast is a fantastic idea!!! Oh wow my wheels are turning now! haha
This looks awesome! I have been sick/eating unhealthy for a week and this is just the right think to put me back on track plus I’m craving healthy food, thanks girl! :)
so colourful and healthy! I also have the urge to organize myself during the last week of december too. I have lots of resolutions to make!
Getting back on track is definitely something I need to do too! I’m off to visit my brother in Chicago for New Years so I’m trying my best to keep things really healthy between now and then. But after those festivities I plan to get SERIOUS – I feel gross right now!!
This salad looks incredibly delicious and healthful! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I was wondering what kind of camera you use and how you learned to be such a great photographer. I am thinking of getting into photography as it is something that I really love, and I admire your style. Did you take a class or are you self-taught? Your blog just keeps getting more beautiful!
Thanks and I hope you had a merry Christmas day!
Aww thank you! I am self taught…but I would love to take some professional courses at some point!
Hi, sorry to bother you again. :) What kind of camera and lenses do you use?
Thank you for the recipe. I LOVE wheatberries (and navy beans). The dressing sounds awesome. I am making this tomorrow.
Oh, my. This looks PERFECT. I’m so over the rich, indulgent foods of the holidays and ready to get back to how I normally eat. This looks like a great recipe for getting back to how I normally eat.