Red Bean and Wheatberry Salad

I used this post from Cheap Healthy Good as a jumping off point. And I must say, I did a pretty good job. The inspiration came from a vacation-reading of Mark Bittman's Food Matters, which has a lot of good recipes, and the common-sense idea of cooking a pot of grain and a pot of beans each week. I have a ton of beans (class project...don't ask). And I'd bought wheatberries on a whim after reading about others trying them (I'd had them before, but not recently). So this salad is made up entirely of foods that we had in the pantry and fridge already.

And the good thing about CSA veggies? That celery from 1.5 weeks ago? Still fresh.

Red Bean and Wheatberry Salad
2 c. cooked red beans (from dried): 0.30
1 c. uncooked wheatberries: 0.35
juice and zest of one lemon: 0.39
3 Tbsp olive oil: 0.33
3 large green olives, chopped: 0.30
2 pieces roasted red peppers, chopped: 0.40
1 1/2 stalks celery, chopped: 0.20
1 oz crumbled feta: 0.38
1 clove garlic, pressed: 0.10
1/3 cup salsa: 0.40
1 cube parsley pesto from freezer: 0.20
salt and pepper to taste

Total: $3.35 for about 5 cups, or $0.67 per cup. This will feed us for two dinners with some leftovers, because only the spouse eats a full cup. We ate this with roasted potatoes and beets with onions.

I cooked up one full pound of red beans, which made 6 cups. Four cups went to the freezer, destined for later dishes. The last two cups went into the salad.

Then I cooked the wheatberries on the stove in 2.5 cups of water for about an hour. There was a little water left, so I drained it. Which I probably should have done when it was still warm, but I just stuck it in the fridge and did it later. So the salad is a bit wet. I hear it's a good idea to add the olive oil when the grains are warm also, but I didn't do that.

Mix everything. Eat. Delicious.