Wheat Berry Cereal: Affordable and Healthy!

A few weeks ago, when we made our Garlic and Kale soup, we discovered the wheat berry. Little did we know what a powerful little food we had found. Wheat berries are whole wheat kernels. When ground, flour is created, but as a whole grain, you can use wheat berries as a cold or hot cereal, in salads (as a base or as a garnish), and in soups. Because the grain is whole, and therefore, no nutrients have been stripped away, there are a  number of nutritional benefits. Wheat berries are rich in iron, protein, fiber, Vitamin E, and magnesium.

Additionally, wheat berries are so inexpensive! We buy them in bulk once a month and use them every other week for our daily breakfast.

Prepared Wheat Berries
1. Soak wheat berries 4-8 hours (or overnight) with a two-inch covering of water. We soak three cups on Saturday evening which lasts for an entire week's worth of breakfasts.
2.  Drain and rinse the wheat berries. Put into a pot and cover with fresh water, with about an inch covering.
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Finish cooking for 45-60 minutes until wheat berries are tender and a bit chewy.

Wheat Berry Breakfast
1/2 cup cooked cold wheat berries
1/2 cup kefir or yogurt
dash of cinnamon
1 tsp. brown sugar or maple syrup
(optional) 1 Tbs. flax-seed oil

Combine all ingredients. Add desired fruit. In the winter time, we like to add applesauce or strawberries from the freezer. In summer, well the possibilities are endless!

Nutritional Information is based on the recipe WITHOUT flax-seed oil.

Nutrition Facts homemade Wheat Berry Breakfast
Serving Size: 1 meal
Amount Per Serving
Calories	230
Total Fat	1.5g
Saturated Fat	0.8g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	5mg
Sodium	64mg
Carbohydrate	43.4g
Dietary Fiber	8.1g
Sugars	9g
Protein	13g
Vitamin A 5% Vitamin C 3% Calcium    19% Iron 11%