Roasted Squash & Wheatberry Salad

A friend gave me an acorn squash from his garden, and I used it as the inspiration for this hearty salad.

I used to cook wheatberries all the time, but they somehow fell off my radar. Probably because I was eating them in bread form from Great Harvest all those years!

I recently realized I could cook them in my rice cooker. So simple! I LOVE my ricer cooker, and it was one of the best appliance purchases I made.

This book is the ultimate rice cooker companion, and I consult it before cooking anything. The authors recommended soaking the wheatberries in hot water in the rice cooker bowl before setting it on the brown rice setting.

After the rice cycle, they were perfectly tender.

Meanwhile, I roasted the acorn squash in the oven after tossing it in olive oil, brown sugar, and salt.

The veggies in this recipe could be changed depending on what you have on hand – peppers, grated carrots, tomatoes, chopped spinach, etc.

I eat the acorn squash skin because once it’s roasted it’s pretty tender, but you could always peel it if you prefer.

I made a citrus dressing with some freshly squeezed OJ I had on hand.

Serve as a hearty salad, a side dish, or with any kind of protein on top!

Squash and Wheatberry Salad

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Ingredients (one big salad)

• 1 cup wheatberries
• 1 acorn squash
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt plus more for garnish
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

For the dressing

• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp mustard
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Soak and cook wheatberries in your preferred method. I used a rice cooker, and soaked them in hot water for an hour before running them through a brown rice cycle with 2 cups of fresh water and a pinch of salt.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3. Slice squash in half and remove seeds. Microwave for 2 minutes to soften for cutting.
4. Cut squash into salad-size pieces and toss with brown sugar, salt, and olive oil.
5. Roast squash for about 45 minutes, until tender and golden on the edges.
6. Chop bell pepper and slice tomatoes.
7. Shake dressing in a jar until well mixed and toss dressing with all salad ingredients until well coated. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve warm or chilled.

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Happy chewing!!

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