Oh hey, have you heard about my exciting 28 Day Vegetarian Challenge? If you work with me, are my friend or are married to me, chances are you have and get the idea. K, just making sure.
Now that we have that out of the way, let me introduce brand new ingredient number one:
Wheat Berries, come on doowwwnnnn!
And oh, hello, what do we have here…?
Ha…tricked you, its fakon. (Fake+bacon). While thinking about this recipe, I couldn’t deny that bacon would be the perfect add-in, but alas, not allowed in the challenge. Enter facon. (Which I’ve also never used…might count that in week 4 if I’m lazy, just sayin.)
Then I had the brilliant idea to sautee my kale in the facon oil as to not waste any of the essence of meat. Hmm..maybe this challenge is going to be harder than I thought.
I did spend like $200 at the grocery store yesterday in preparation for this, so I should probably go ahead and get excited about it. At least when my husband is looking…
Yes, dear, I absolutely needed 47 bags of frozen vegetables. I know that’s a lot but, I can’t have meat, and am going to be super hungry. Yes, fine, you can get a new Xbox game.
Plus as long as I can still use olive oil and goat cheese I think I’ll fair just fine. (Check in with me in about three weeks to confirm that statement.)
Wheat Berry Salad
(Inspired by Macheesmo)
You’ll Need:
1 cup uncooked soft white wheat berries
2 cups roughly chopped kale
1 tsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 orange bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3 strips vegetarian bacon substitute
1 avocado
1 lemon
1-2 tbsp goat cheese
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
Cook wheat berries according to package. (I placed mine in water with a 1/4 tsp of salt, brought to a boil, reduced to simmer and cooked for about 70 minutes.) When finished cooking, drain and set aside.
Evenly dice onion and pepper, slice the avocado and combine in a large bowl. Sautee bacon over medium heat for about 4 minutes in a coated pan. Remove and crumble into bowl with peppers and onion. Add about a tsp of coconut oil to pan over med heat, and sautee kale with the oil from the bacon. Sprinkle nutmeg over kale, then sautee, stirring to distribute flavor. Once fairly wilted, remove from heat and combine with other ingredients. Add about a tbsp of lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon and toss. Spoon in cooked wheat berries and drizzle with olive oil. Crumble goat cheese on top and toss all ingredients to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
So yeah, this was pretty fantastic. Who knew wheat berries were so delicious? They have a really unique texture and flavor to them that I really like. I will most definitely be eating this for lunch all week. Lots of good flavor and very filling, which is key, especially when you take meat out of your diet. Or if you are a chronic afternoon snacker. Which I am. (You can take my meat, but you’ll never have my Nutella.)…
