Cranberry-Wheatberry Salad with Chives

I found this recipe in an issue of Yoga Journal, tweaked it a bit, and fell in love.  It's a great salad to make on the weekend and have leftovers for lunch the next week.  I served it over a bed of wilted greens with smoked tofu.

Ingredients:

1 cup wheat berries (I use hard red)

2 cups water

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

large pinch of salt

1/3 cup dried cranberries, soaked for 6 hours in water, then drained

1/4 c chopped chives

1/4 c chopped parsley

freshly ground black pepper to taste, and a pinch of brown sugar optional

Place the wheat berries and water in a pot, bring to a good boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 40 minutes, until the berries are soft and chewy in texture, with no crunchiness left.  (Note: the original recipe called for 3 cups of water, and that was way too much!  I ended up having to drain the wheat berries like pasta.)  Set aside.


To prepare the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice, along with the salt.  Add the cranberries and mix well, then fold the entire thing into the wheat berries.  Mix in the chives and parsley, add pepper, and add more salt if desired.  You can serve immediately for a warm salad, or chill in the fridge before serving.  Either way, the results will be yummy!

Easy Weeknight Curry

I have never made curry before from scratch, but I just had a craving for it last night.  I decided to give it a go, and here's what I cam up with:

Easy Weeknight Tofu Curry

Ingredients:
2 tsp each fresh coriander seed and cumin seed
1 large sweet yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1 potato, scrubbed and diced
1/2 lb asparagus stalks, chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces
2 small-med tomatoes
1 block extra-firm tofu
2 T butter or ghee

1 can coconut milk (I used lite, but regular works too)
2 T your favorite curry powder
1/2 tsp of salt (more to taste as it cooks)





How to make it:

1. Toast the seeds in a fry pan with no oil, then grind up in a spice grinder or 
2. Melt the butter over low heat in a large and deep saucepan, and add the ground seeds to let the butter soak up the flavor.
3. Increase heat, add onions and potato, and saute until translucent.  Add garlic, stirring to get all ingredients covered in spice.
4. Add tofu and all other veggies except tomatoes.  Continue sauteeing and stirring until they start turning bright and colorful and softening a bit.  Then add tomatoes and curry powder.  Saute until everything is evenly coated with butter and spices.
5. Add coconut milk, salt, and more butter to taste.  Simmer for an hour or more--the more the better, because the spices get more and more infused the longer everything cooks.
6. Add more spices, salt, etc. to taste as it cooks.

Serve with rice, naan, etc. You can adjust the recipe to include any vegetables you want, use meat or paneer in place of tofu, or halve the recipe (which is what I did) My friend who doesn't like curry (which she didn't tell me until after we made it!!) thought it was absolutely delicious.  Go figure.  Oh, and it gets even better after a couple days in the fridge.  Dee-lish!