This week is going to be INSANE. I have a web design project with a deadline of the weekend, our anniversary dinner on Wednesday, and other plans on Friday evening AND all day Saturday (which means that I really have to have the design stuff wrapped up by Thursday night). I spent most of today working on it, and predict a few late nights this week! It’s a fun project, but I’ll be glad when the pressure of the deadline has passed.
Busy or not, though, my Meatless Monday experiment must go on! Knowing that I’d be tied up with other things today, I decided to go easy on myself and make an “everything salad” for dinner instead of trying to cook something from a new recipe.
An everything salad is just what it sounds like – a mixup of everything remotely salad-like that you happen to have on hand. In this case I had to keep it meatless, so for protein I cooked a batch of wheat berries and added a cup or so to the salad, tossed in some sunflower seeds, and grated some Grana Padano to sprinkle on top.
(P.S. – To make wheat berries, just bring three cups of water to a boil, add one cup of wheat berries, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for two hours. Easy peasy!)
Apart from the protein sources, today’s salad was a mix of romaine lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, orange pepper, green onion, fresh mushrooms, roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts, and Sicilian spiced green olives, dressed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
When dinner was prepared I realized that with all the chopping it probably ended up taking just as much time to make the salad as if I’d cooked something – but making a salad didn’t require learning anything new, so I think it was a wise choice for today. My taxed brain appreciated it… and besides, it was delicious!
Are you participating in Meatless Monday?
What did you make for dinner tonight?
Yes! We are doing a meatless monday dinner! Coconut curry over rice with roasted veggies. Its one of our go-to favorites. I’ve never made wheat berries. Sounds like its easy, and I might need to give it a try!
Kim Miller recently posted… Feeling Charitable?
Twitter: alphabetsalad
November 11, 2013
Yum, that sounds wonderful! I will definitely have to try something like that one of these Meatless Mondays. And yes, wheat berries are super easy, very tasty, and a great source of protein. I’m not sure if anyone else throws them in salads like I do – I suspect they’re more often used as a side dish – but I love them that way!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Cultivating a Spirit of Gratitude
That looks soooo good! I’ve never even heard of wheat berries, which is why I get such a thrill out of reading this blog. You’ve led me to try all kinds of different foods or at least prepared differently. Yum!
Theresa Ledford recently posted… A star in my own mind
It was deeeelicious.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
November 12, 2013
It was indeed… and there’s some left for lunch today!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Cultivating a Spirit of Gratitude
Twitter: alphabetsalad
November 12, 2013
Awww, thank you so much, Theresa! I love wheat berries – and they’re a great source of protein, so that’s an added bonus!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Cultivating a Spirit of Gratitude
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