Wheatberry & Chickpea Salad

With ingredients such as cherry tomatoes and zucchini, salad just tastes like summer to me.  Maybe I am jumping the gun a little but when you can get fresh produce like this from your farmers market, I say just enjoy it.
One great thing about wheatberries is that they don't change their texture.  Even the next day for lunch, the wheatberries tasted exactly the same as before.  I tweaked the recipe based on what I had on hand and it turned out really well (substituting cherry tomatoes for regular, chopped zucchini for cucumber, a little basil instead of a lot of parsley) so feel free to play around with what you have on hand.

This wheatberry and chickpea salad makes for an incredibly healthy and satisfying side dish! I served this alongside this steak and blue cheese salad which went really well together.  But it is hearty enough to stand on its own -- I had this as on top of mixed greens the next day for lunch.

Wheatberry & Chickpea Salad
Taken from: Oh She Glows
Serves 4-5

• 1/2 cup dry wheat berries, cooked and drained (I think cooked it
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas (feel free to use other cooked beans isntead) 
• 1 English cucumber, diced (I substituted zucchini instead)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 large tomato, diced (I used about 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, quartered)
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup fresh parsley, diced with large stems removed (I used about 1/8 cup of fresh chopped basil)
• 4 green onions, diced (or use red onion instead)
• Kosher salt + pepper, to taste

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, to taste (I used 2 tbsp)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp hot mustard (I used regular)
• 1 tbsp Tamari
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. Rinse the wheatberries.  Place wheatberries in medium sized pot and cover in 3 inches of water.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and cool. (This can be done up to 2 days ahead of time.)
2. Once the wheatberries are cooked, mix the diced vegetables (cucumber/zucchini, red pepper, tomato, minced garlic, parsley/basil, green onions/red onion) into the wheatberries. Add in cooked and drained beans and stir.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, Tamari, fresh lemon juice). Set aside.
4. Add the dressing before serving and stir well.  Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Garnish with additional fresh herbs if desired.