Rye berry salad

This is an antidote to the avocado milkshake and ice cream recipes I have been posting. It's just a simple, healthy, grain salad made with stuff lying in my fridge. I had picked up wheat and rye berries at Central Market ages ago and kept them in my freezer. When we were clearing out space to store the ice cream, I remembered them and decided to use some of them. Wheat and rye berries are the most natural form of wheat and rye. They take a long time to cook, but it's not active time, so this was a pretty easy meal. Pretty much any leftover cooked vegetables you have would be good in this, too.

Rye berry salad

Makes approximately two dinner-sized portions and one lunch for the next day.

1 cup whole wheat or rye berries

4 leaves kale

Sesame and vegetable oil

Cherry tomatoes (I think we had 10.)

1/2 cup cooked adzuki beans

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (I used pumpkin seeds, but I think sunflower would be better.)

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Salt and lemon juice to taste

Place the rye berries in a pan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until berries are soft enough for your liking, about an hour. (Tip: when you test a few, they should feel a little softer than you think you'd like them to be. They seem firmer when you're eating a whole bowl of them than when you test them.)

In the meantime, wash and chop the kale leaves. Saute in a generous amount of mixed vegetable and sesame oil until wilted. (This will basically become the dressing for the salad.)

Halve cherry tomatoes. When the rye berries are cooked, combine all ingredients, including the oil from the pan with the kale, and mix well. Season with salt and lemon juice to taste.