When I work from home and it’s time for lunch, I normally rely on something that’s been left over in my refrigerator. It only takes a few minutes to throw a few things in a bowl to make a tasty and nutritious lunch. The other day I had two ingredients in mind and thought I would build on them depending on what I could find to make a salad. I took out the left over wheat berries (which are a whole grain similar to barley) and roasted butternut squash. I heated the wheat berries and squash in the microwave just to warm them up , and began to scour the fridge to see what other ingredients would do. I took some baby spinach, a little bit of goat cheese and the last of the cranberry sauce, and a handful of walnuts. Before I knew it I had a delicious and somewhat hearty salad! Below is my recipe, feel free to experiment with whatever you have in the fridge.
INGREDIENTS
½ cup wheat berries (barley, faro or brown rice will work too)
¼ to ½ cup of roasted butternut squash *
8 ounces of baby spinach
4 ounces of goat cheese
¼ Cup chopped walnuts
1/8 cup or more to taste of fresh cranberry sauce
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the wheat berries in a bowl with the roasted squash and reheat
- Add the spinach (it will start to wilt a bit), goat cheese and walnuts
- Gently toss and add the cranberry sauce and toss quickly one more time
- *To roast the squash – peel squash and remove seeds. Cut up the pulp into ½ cubes. Add about a ½ tablespoon of olive oil to squash a bowl and combine. Place squash on a parchment lined pan – sprinkle with cinnamon and roast at 350 for about 30 to 45 minutes.
