Back On Track Wheat Berry and Chickpea Salad

While I usually love highly flavoured dishes, I quite enjoyed the mild flavours of this wheat berry salad. And also, why do I not eat wheat berries more often?? They might be my favourite grain. I love the chewiness. Anyway, I know summer is disappearing (or has disappeared? we've had so much rain here recently) but I would happily enjoy this salad all year long. Chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, parsley and green onions, nice and simple, and tasty.

I bought a 2 week unlimited yoga pass and am heading to my 4th class in 5 days! I'm really enjoying it so far and am trying out different types of classes. I like both the more "exercise" type classes like hot yoga, and the relaxing classes like hatha. The teacher yesterday was describing deep breaths as yawning in and sighing out, and it makes more sense to me now.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Greek Barley Salad
Orzo Salad with Chickpeas, Dill & Lemon
Tabbouleh
French Barley Salad

Back On Track Wheat Berry and Chickpea Salad
Adapted from Oh She Glows who adapted from Alive Magazine.

Yield ~8 cups

Salad
1 cup dry wheat berries
2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
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
Salt & pepper, to taste

Dressing
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

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 chickpeas and stir.

In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, 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 salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with additional parsley if desired.